In an image forming apparatus, a scanning optical system forms on a photosensitive member N beam spots. Each beam spot scans along a scan line on the photosensitive member for one cycle. A center-to-center distance of any neighboring two beam spots is separated by M scan lines. M is a natural number larger than or equal to two. For each cycle, the memory controller reads adjacent sets of line data for N scan lines from the page memory, writes the adjacent sets of line data for N scan lines to the storage areas identified by a plurality of successive addresses of the line memory, selects addresses identifying storage areas storing unadjacent sets of line data having non-successive two scan lines separated by M scan lines; and outputs the unadjacent sets of line data stored in the storage areas identified by the selected addresses to the N laser emitting members.

A housing of an optical scanning device includes a first abutting portion and a second abutting portion. In the optical scanning device, an optical axis adjustment and a focal position adjustment in a main scanning direction and a sub scanning direction are conducted in a state where a part of a holder that holds a light source unit for emitting multi-beam light abuts on the first abutting portion and in a state where a part of a peripheral edge of an optical element that has both a collimator lens function and a cylindrical lens function abuts on the second abutting portion. Furthermore, a beam pitch of the multi-beam light is adjusted by rotating the holder around an optical axis in a state where the holder abuts on the first abutting portion.

A scanning optical apparatus includes a first light source unit, a second light source unit, a rotary polygon mirror and a casing provided with a bottom surface on which said deflection unit is disposed. The second light source unit is disposed at a position away from the bottom surface more than the first light source unit with respect to a rotational axis direction of the rotary polygon mirror. The casing is provided with first and second supporting surfaces for supporting the first and second light source. Both the first and second supporting surfaces are faced in a direction away from the bottom surface.

An image forming apparatus includes a light-emitting chip, a substrate on which a plurality of light emitting chips are mounted, a controller, and a switch. The light-emitting chip includes a light-emitting portion, which emits light exposing a photosensitive drum surface based on supply of a driving current to the light-emitting portion, and a driving portion that drives the light-emitting portion. The controller controls the driving portion by transmitting a signal to the light-emitting chip and outputs a digital signal corresponding to a target amount of light of the light-emitting portion to the light-emitting chip. Based on a control signal from the controller, the switch switches a connection state between the voltage source and the D/A converter to a first state where the voltage source supplies the reference voltage to the D/A converter, and a second state where an electrical connection between the voltage source and the D/A converter is disconnected.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming part to form a pattern including at least one white dot line and at least one black dot line on an image forming medium using a photoconductive drum. A registration sensor is to sense an amount of light reflected from the image forming medium. A processor is to determine a state of the photoconductive drum based on the amount of sensed light in the pattern.

A device for recording information in a data carrier, comprising a data carrier receptacle for partially receiving the data carrier in a planar manner; a data carrier cover arranged relative to the data carrier receptacle, which is designed for holding the data carrier between the data carrier receptacle and the data carrier cover; a laser source for the controlled emission of a laser beam designed to effect irreversible changes of the data carrier with the laser beam; and a mount that receives the data carrier receptacle to be pivotable about a pivot axis. The data carrier receptacle has two or more positions, that allow the data carrier receptacle to be received in the mount in such a way that the data carrier receptacle can be repositioned about the pivot axis in a pivotable manner.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming part to form a pattern including at least one white dot line and at least one black dot line on an image forming medium using a photoconductive drum. A registration sensor is to sense an amount of light reflected from the image forming medium. A processor is to determine a state of the photoconductive drum based on the amount of sensed light in the pattern.

In an image forming apparatus, a scanning optical system forms on a photosensitive member N beam spots. Each beam spot scans along a scan line on the photosensitive member for one cycle. A center-to-center distance of any neighboring two beam spots is separated by M scan lines. M is a natural number larger than or equal to two. For each cycle, the memory controller reads adjacent sets of line data for N scan lines from the page memory, writes the adjacent sets of line data for N scan lines to the storage areas identified by a plurality of successive addresses of the line memory, selects addresses identifying storage areas storing unadjacent sets of line data having non-successive two scan lines separated by M scan lines; and outputs the unadjacent sets of line data stored in the storage areas identified by the selected addresses to the N laser emitting members.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a light-emitting chip includes: a plurality of light-emitting portions and a drive circuit. The drive circuit includes: first to fourth transferring unit, a first switch configured to switch between a first state in which start signals output by the fourth and third transferring units are output to the second and first transferring unit, respectively, and a second state in which the start signal output by the fourth and the third transferring units are output to the third and second transferring unit, respectively, and a second switch configured to switch between a third state in which the first and third transferring units and the first signal line are connected, and a fourth state in which the first and third transferring units and a second signal line are connected.

In an optical scanning device, a housing has a structure divided into an upper stage and a lower stage by a mounting plate on which a deflector, a first optical system and a second optical system are mounted. A first optical system reflection mirror and a second optical system reflection mirror are mounted in the other of the upper stage and the lower stage in which the deflector is not mounted. Each of the first optical system and the second optical system is disposed across a region including the upper stage and the lower stage. The first optical system reflection mirror and the second optical system reflection mirror are disposed with the deflector located therebetween. The first optical system reflection mirror is disposed on a side of the second optical system, and the second optical system reflection mirror is disposed on a side of the first optical system.