Laser assembly for a laser printer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10471735-B2
Application number	US-201815992808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2018
Priority date	Nov 17, 2017
Publication date	Nov 12, 2019
Grant date	Nov 12, 2019

Abstract

An example laser assembly for a laser printer may include a plurality of lasers to emit respective photons; a prism to redirect the respective laser beams emitted from the plurality of lasers toward a collimator lens of the laser printer to generate a photon beam; and one or more processors to: determine a timing schedule for individually activating the plurality of lasers based on a resolution setting of the laser printer, and when printing at a resolution corresponding to the resolution setting, control activation of each of the plurality of lasers to emit the respective photons according to the timing schedule to form the photon beam.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a device, an amount of time needed for a laser, of a set of lasers, to reach a particular threshold;
determining, by the device and based on the amount of time, a timing schedule for activating each laser of the set of lasers to print at a particular resolution;
identifying, by the device, a threshold amount of power that is based on an amount of power needed to energize a junction of a laser, of the set of lasers, to emit photons; and
activating, by the device and based on determining the timing schedule, the set of lasers by applying the threshold amount of power to the set of lasers.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the device is a laser printer.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the threshold amount of power is less than or equal to an amount of power needed to cause the laser to generate a laser beam.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a resolution setting, of the device, that indicates the particular resolution at which the device is to print.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
identifying a characteristic of an image that is to be printed,
where identifying the resolution setting comprises:
identifying the resolution setting based on identifying the characteristic of the image.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the set of lasers, from a plurality lasers, based on the particular resolution.

7. The method of claim 1 ,
where the device includes a laser assembly with a particular quantity of lasers, and
where the set of lasers includes a quantity of lasers that is half or less than half of the particular quantity of lasers.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a printing request from a user device,
where determining the timing schedule comprises:
determining the timing schedule based on receiving the printing request.

9. The method of claim 1 ,
where activating the set of lasers generates a photon beam, and
where the method further comprises:
adjusting an intensity of the photon beam based on the timing schedule.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to:
determine an amount of time needed for a laser, of a set of lasers, to reach a particular threshold;
determine, based on the amount of time, a timing schedule for activating each laser of the set of lasers to print at a particular resolution;
identify a threshold amount of power that is based on an amount of power needed to energize a junction of a laser, of the set of lasers, to emit photons; and
activate, based on determining the timing schedule, the set of lasers by applying the threshold amount of power to the set of lasers.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , where the device is a laser printer.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , where the threshold amount of power is less than or equal to an amount of power needed to cause the laser to generate a laser beam.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , where the one or more instructions further cause the device to:
identify a resolution setting, of the device, that indicates the particular resolution at which the device is to print.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , where the one or more instructions further cause the device to:
identify a characteristic of an image that is to be printed; and
identify, based on identifying the characteristic of the image, a resolution setting that indicates the particular resolution.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , where the one or more instructions further cause the device to:
determine the set of lasers, from a plurality lasers, based on the particular resolution.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 ,
where the device includes a laser assembly with a particular quantity of lasers, and
where the set of lasers includes a quantity of lasers that is half or less than half of the particular quantity of lasers.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 ,
where the one or more instructions further cause the device to:
receive a printing request from a user device,

where the one or more instructions to determine the timing schedule cause the device to:
determine the timing schedule based on receiving the printing request.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 ,
where activating the set of lasers generates a photon beam, and
where the one or more instructions further cause the device to:
adjust an intensity of the photon beam based on the timing schedule.

19. A laser printer comprising:
a laser assembly that includes a plurality of lasers; and
a controller to:
determine an amount of time needed for a laser, of a set of lasers, to reach a particular threshold; and
activate, based on the amount of time, the set of lasers by applying a threshold amount of power to the set of lasers,
the threshold amount of power being based on an amount of power needed to energize a junction of a laser, of the set of lasers, to emit photons.

20. The laser printer of claim 19 , where the set of lasers is identified based on a resolution that indicates a particular resolution.

Assignees

• Capital One Services Llc
• Capital One Servies Llc

Inventors

• Wurmfeld David Kelly

Classifications

• B41J2/455 Primary

  using laser arrays {, the laser array being smaller than the medium to be recorded} · CPC title

• B41J2/473

  using multiple light beams, wavelengths or colours · CPC title