Optical: systems and elements – Deflection using a moving element
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-23
2002-06-04
Phan, James (Department: 2872)
Optical: systems and elements
Deflection using a moving element
C358S474000, C358S475000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06400484
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a scanner and, in particular, discloses a scanner having a movable reflecting surface module for scanning transparent and reflective documents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG.
1
through FIG.
3
.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional scanner
10
.
FIG. 2
is a functional block diagram of the scanner
10
.
FIG. 3
is a cross-sectional view of the scanner
10
line
3
—
3
. The scanner
10
comprises a casing
12
with a transparent platform
14
onto which is placed a document
13
to be scanned, a scanning module
16
, a driving device
18
installed inside the casing
12
for moving the scanning module
16
, a control circuit
20
installed inside the casing
12
for controlling the operations of the scanner
10
, and a reflecting surface module
26
installed over the transparent platform
14
.
The scanning module
16
is movably installed inside the casing
12
and comprises a light source
22
for illuminating the document
13
on the transparent platform
14
, an image sensing module
24
to scan images from the document
13
and produce corresponding scanning signals, and a reflector module
28
installed inside the casing
12
to reflect light from the document
13
to the image sensing module
24
. The reflecting surface module
26
includes a first reflector
23
and a second reflector
25
, both being installed on either side of the reflecting surface module
26
. The first reflector
23
reflects light upwardly emitted from the light source
22
horizontally to the second reflector
25
, which then reflects the light downward to the transparent platform
14
.
When a user wishes to scan a reflective document, the user must remove the reflecting surface module
26
and put on an upper cover (not shown), which has the same size as the transparent platform
14
. The light then coming up from the light source
22
will illuminate the document
13
and be reflected down. Through the reflector module
28
, the light is then reflected to the image sensing module
24
to produce corresponding image signals.
When the user wishes to scan a transparent document
13
, the user must install the reflecting surface module
26
onto the transparent platform
14
so that light coming up from the light source
22
will pass down through the document
13
via the first reflector
23
and the second reflector
25
. Then reflected by the reflector module
28
, the light is sent to the image sensing module
24
to produce corresponding image signals.
When scanning a transparent document, the reflecting surface module
26
is fixed onto the transparent platform
14
. The scanning area cannot be larger than the reflecting surface module
26
, which is also limited by the sizes of the first reflector
23
and the second reflector
25
. Larger first and second reflectors
23
and
25
permit a larger area to be scanned on the transparent platform
14
.
To increase the scanning area of transparent documents for the scanner
10
, the area and height of the reflecting surface module
26
must be increased correspondingly. As the area of the reflecting surface module
26
gets larger, the document area covered by the reflecting surface module
26
can also be increased. With increasing heights of the reflecting surface module
26
, the area for installing the first reflector
23
and the second reflector
26
becomes larger. In this manner, the scanning area for transparent documents is increased. In any case, the efficiency of use of the area of the reflecting surface module
26
is always below 50%. Accordingly, the conventional method to increase the scanning area for transparent documents in the scanner
10
results in increasing manufacturing costs. Such a scanner also becomes inconvenient due to the large volume of the reflecting surface module
26
.
Furthermore, as shown in
FIG. 3
, since the document
13
and the transparent platform
14
are not totally transparent, when scanning a transparent document light emitted from the left side of the light source
22
will be partially reflected downward and detected by the image sensing module
24
. The image signal noise is thus increased, lowering the quality of the scan.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a scanner with a reflecting surface module movably installed. An a transparent platform to solve the aforementioned problems in the prior art.
Briefly, the present invention discloses a scanner with a casing having a transparent platform onto which is placed a document to be scanned, a scanning module movably installed inside the casing, a reflecting surface module located above the transparent platform, a driving device installed inside the casing to move the scanning module, and a control circuit installed inside the casing to control operations of the scanner.
The scanning module has a housing moveably installed inside the casing, a first light source and a second light source installed in parallel inside the housing, the first light source and the second light source illuminating the document on the transparent platform, an image sensing module installed inside the housing to scan images from the document on the transparent platform to produce corresponding scanning signals, and a reflector module installed inside the housing to reflect the images from the document on the transparent platform to the image sensing module. The reflecting surface module is removably fixed to the housing and located above the transparent platform to reflect light upwardly emitted from the first light source down to the document, the reflecting surface module being driven when the housing of the scanning module is moved. If the document is predominantly transparent, the control circuit will turn on the first light source and turn off the second light source, and light upwardly emitted from the first light source is reflected downward by the reflecting surface module and passes through the transparent document to the image sensing module to produce the corresponding scanning signals. If the document is predominantly reflective, then the control circuit will turn on the second light source and turn off the first light source, and light emitted from the second light source is reflected downward from the document and reflected to the image sensing module by the reflector module to produce the corresponding scanning signals.
It is an advantage of the present invention that by having the reflecting surface module removable fixed above the transparent platform to the housing of the scanning module, the size of scanning area can cover the entire transparent platform for transparent documents and reflective documents alike. Furthermore, the size of the reflecting surface module is reduced, and the overall scanning quality is decreased.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5606450 (1997-02-01), Chen
patent: 6185011 (2001-02-01), William
Tseng Lin-Ta
Wang Ping-Chih
Hsu Winston
Mustek Systems Inc.
Phan James
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