Serial copier, scanner, and printer employing continuous media transport

摘要

A copier, scanner, or printer has serial scanning and/or printing heads. A uniform relative motion is maintained in a longitudinal direction between the head(s) and the scanning and/or printing media. The head(s) move cyclically back and forth at an acute angle to the longitudinal direction, so that each scanning element and/or each printing element scans or prints a pixel line perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. The acute angle and the rate of relative uniform motion are preferably adjustable according to the width of the area to be scanned or printed. For color copying, scanning, or printing, the scanning and/or printing elements are grouped according to color, and are aligned so that the same pixel lines are scanned or printed in different colors.