Abstract: An optical printer comprises a mechanical scanner, which scans a modulated light beam across a recording medium in a main or horizontal direction at a fixed speed. An acousto-optic deflector performs auxiliary scanning of the beam in a vertical direction onto the mechanical scanner at a constant rate and is connected to a deflection signal generator. The deflection signal generator adjusts the stroke length of auxiliary scan in accordance with the magnification ratio and simultaneously adjusts the frequency of auxiliary scanning by the reciprocal of the magnification rate of the character to be printed. Furthermore, optical density is maintained constant for various character sizes by providing auxiliary gate pulses proportional to the square of the relative character size, which are AND gated with a character information signal to effect a light modulation signal for modulating the beam.

Abstract: Apparatus for generating a character pattern where the character pattern comprises a plurality of dots where certain ones of the dots fall within the character outline and others of the dots fall outside of the character outline, the apparatus comprising first storing means for storing preselected ones of the dots; decoder means responsive to at least some of the stored dots for reconstructing the dots not stored in the first storing means; pattern combining means responsive to the stored dots and the reconstructed dots for generating the character pattern therefrom whereby the memory capacity of the first storing means is lessened by having to store therein only the preselected ones of the dots; second storing means for storing the reconstructed dots; and the decoder means being further responsive to reconstructed dots previously stored in the second storing means for effecting the reconstruction of the dots not stored in the first storing means.