Method of diagnosing a state of a horizontal synchronizing signal for an optical scanner

1. A method of diagnosing a state of a horizontal synchronizing signal for an optical scanner, the optical scanner including:

a rotary polygon mirror having a rotation sensor;

a control clock competing with a signal of the rotation sensor to control the rotary polygon mirror to a constant speed;

a laser beam which illuminates the rotary polygon mirror to be used in a scanning operation;

a scanning beam detector which detects the laser scanning beam at a prescribed position, the scanning beam detector outputting a horizontal synchronizing signal to trigger a control of a scanner;

a video signal state checking portion which checks an ON/OFF state of the video signal;

a counter which counts a number of pulses of the horizontal synchronizing signal; and

a storage device which stores data,

the method comprising:

presetting an effective period of outputting the horizontal synchronizing signal by counting the control clock for the rotary polygon mirror, the counting being triggered by a previous detected horizontal synchronizing signal;

counting the number of pulses of the horizontal synchronizing signal every effective period of outputting the horizontal synchronizing signal;

storing, in the storage device, the number of pulses of the horizontal synchronizing signal and the ON/OFF state of the video signal in the effective period;

checking the data including the number of pulses of the horizontal synchronizing signal and the ON/OFF state of the video signal stored in the storage device when detecting abnormality of the horizontal synchronizing signal so as to recognize a cause of the abnormality; and

determining a cause of a detected abnormality of the horizontal synchronizing signal based on a result of the checking the data.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein p pulses of the control clock of a frequency f are generated for one rotation of the rotary polygon mirror.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the polygon mirror has m faces, and

wherein p/m pulses of the control clock are output from the output of one horizontal synchronizing signal to an output of a next horizontal synchronizing unit.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:

detecting a logical level of a video signal corresponding to the laser beam when a horizontal synchronizing signal effective signal is set to an ON state.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

setting a horizontal synchronization insufficiency detection signal to an ON state.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

setting the horizontal synchronizing signal effective signal to an OFF state after a tolerance time elapses from when the horizontal synchronizing signal is output.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the logical level of a video signal corresponding to the laser beam is detected.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said determining a cause of the detected abnormality comprises determining whether the detected abnormality of the horizontal synchronizing signal is caused by a state where a laser beam source does not emit the laser beam or a state where the horizontal synchronizing signal vanishes in a laser beam path or a transmission path.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said laser beam comprises one of a plurality of laser beams.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

counting the pulses of the horizontal synchronizing signal that are output during a period when a logical sum of an n number of the horizontal synchronizing effective signals is in the ON state.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the number of pulses of horizontal synchronizing signals is deleted when the logical sum becomes the OFF state.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

setting the horizontal synchronization insufficiency detection signal to an ON state when the number of pulses of horizontal synchronization signals is less than n; and

setting a horizontal synchronization excess detection signal to an ON state when the number of pulses of horizontal synchronization signals is greater than n.

13. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

setting the horizontal synchronization insufficiency detection signal to an OFF state when the number of pulses of horizontal synchronization signals is n; and

setting a horizontal synchronization excess detection signal to an OFF state when the number of pulses of horizontal synchronization signals is n.

14. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

setting the horizontal synchronization insufficiency detection signal to an OFF state when a normal state is detected; and

setting a horizontal synchronization excess detection signal to an OFF state when the normal state is detected.