Registers – Coded record sensors – Particular sensor structure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-28
2003-09-16
St. Cyr, Daniel (Department: 2876)
Registers
Coded record sensors
Particular sensor structure
C235S462450
Reexamination Certificate
active
06619551
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hand scanner which is used for computers, facsimiles and others for reading images.
Since the hand scanner is manually moved for reading an image, it is advantageous to read images on filed papers or in a book.
FIG. 6
is a plan view showing a conventional hand scanner, and
FIG. 7
is a sectional side view of the scanner.
Referring to
FIGS. 6 and 7
, a hand scanner
50
has a case
51
in which a roller
52
is rotatably mounted and a linear image sensor
55
is provided. The axis of the roller is disposed in the Y-direction, and the periphery of the roller projected from an opening
51
a
and mounted on a printed sheet
60
. The linear image sensor
55
comprises a plurality of optical sensors such as the CCDs which are aligned in the Y-direction within the width W.
The shaft of the roller
52
is connected to an encoder disk
53
through gears. The rotation of the encoder disk
53
is converted to an electric signal by a photointerrupter
54
.
The scanner having the width W larger than the width of the printed sheet is used. The roller
52
is manually moved on the printed sheet
60
in the X-direction. The rotation of the roller
52
is converted into an electric signal by the photointerrupter
54
as a travel distance of the scanner. During the movement of the scanner, outputs of the CCDs are sequentially transferred by a shift register (not shown) to read an image on the sheet
60
.
There is no problem in the case where the width W is larger than the width of the printed sheet
60
. However, if the width of the sheet is larger than the width W of the scanner, it is difficult to read the image on the sheet.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, the width of a printed sheet
61
is larger than the width W of the scanner
50
. In order to read an image
56
, the scanner must separately scan an upper portion
61
a
and a lower portion
61
b
. First the upper portion
61
a
is read out, and then the lower portion
61
b
is read out.
The image data of the upper portion
61
a
and the lower portion
61
b
are once stored in a computer or a facsimile machine. However, since the width w of an overlap portion
61
c
is unknown, the overlap portion can not be erased. Therefore, when the read out images are printed, upper image
56
a
and lower image
56
b
are printed as it is as shown in FIG.
10
. Consequently, the images
56
a
and
56
b
must be corrected by composition of both images.
The composition operation will be described hereinafter with reference to FIG.
9
. After scanning the upper portion
61
a
and the lower portion
61
b
at steps S
11
and S
12
, it is determined whether the composition is executed after the printing of the images at a step S
13
. If it is the case, the images are printed at a step S
14
. The overlap portion is cut off, and both sheets are manually joined at a step S
15
to form the original image. It should be noted that when image data are stored in the facsimile machine, the program inevitably proceeds to the step S
14
from the step S
13
.
When the image data are composed before printing, the program proceeds to a step S
16
, where the image data may be composed by software in a computer system and by a manual difficult operation.
As described above, in the conventional scanner, when scanning a paper sheet having a larger width than the scanner, it is necessary to execute difficult manual operation to compose separate images to an original image.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a hand scanner which may compose image data to an original image without manual operation.
According to the present invention, there is provided a hand scanner having an image reading portion in which a linear image sensor is provided for reading an image on a paper sheet, comprising, an X-roller disposed in an X-direction, a Y-roller disposed in a Y-direction perpendicular to the X-direction, both the X-roller and Y-roller being disposed in a horizontal plane, a spherical ball contacted with the X-roller and the Y-roller and provided to be contacted with the paper sheet, first detector means for detecting an angular position of the X-roller to produce an X-position signal for determining an X-coordinate, second detector means for detecting an angular position of the Y-roller to produce a Y-position signal for determining a Y-coordinate on the paper sheet.
In an aspect of the invention, the scanner further comprises urging means for urging the spherical ball to the X-roller and Y-roller so that both the rollers are rotated together with the spherical ball.
Each of the first and second detector means comprises an encoder disk provided on a shaft of either of the X- and Y-rollers and a photointerrupter for detecting an angular position of a corresponding encoder disk.
The X-roller, Y-roller and the spherical ball may be disposed adjacent the image reading portion.
The urging means comprises a roller and a spring for urging the roller to the spherical ball.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4793812 (1988-12-01), Sussman et al.
patent: 5111005 (1992-05-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5355146 (1994-10-01), Chiu et al.
patent: 5850289 (1998-12-01), Fowler et al.
patent: 6270013 (2001-08-01), Lipman et al.
patent: 3628139 (1988-06-01), None
patent: 4107018 (1991-12-01), None
patent: 2586497 (1987-02-01), None
Citizen Electronics Co. Ltd.
Cyr Daniel St.
Dennison, Schultz & Dougherty
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