Importance

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Abstract

A first optical head comprising: a laser diode (LD) array, including N LDs having N emitting portions respectively arranged in a line at a predetermined interval, for emitting N laser beams of single mode; an optical system for forming a single spot as a pixel on a recording medium from the N laser beams such that images of the N emitting portions are contracted and overlapped each other; and a driver for driving the N LDs according to a single video signal. A second optical head comprising: M LD arrays, each including N LDs having N emitting portions respectively arranged in a line and emitting N laser beams of single mode from the N emitting portions; an optical system for forming M single spots as M pixels on a recording medium from the M of N laser beams such that images of the N emitting portions of each LD arrays are contracted and overlapped each other on the recording medium; and a driver for driving the M LD arrays according to M video signals respectively. Image recording apparatus having a scanning portion using the first or second optical head are also disclosed. In a third optical head, if some of LDs in one LD array deteriorates, a CPU increases drive current supplied to other LDs to compensate the output power. When the drive current exceed the maximum, the CPU stops the recording operation and indicates information.

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First Claim