READING MODULE AND IMAGE READING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THEREWITH

• US 20180152581A1
• Filed: 11/29/2017
• Published: 05/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions, Inc. (Kyocera Corporation)
• Original Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions, Inc. (Kyocera Corporation)
• Inventors: MURASE, Takaaki, OUCHI, Kei
• Granted Patent: US 10,237,438 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 17/002 Arrays of reflective systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 17/06 using mirrors only , i.e. having only one curved mirror used in non-imaging applications G02B19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/02885 Means for compensating spatially uneven illumination, e.g. an aperture arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0305 with multiple folds of the optical path
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0306 using a plurality of optical elements arrayed in the main scan direction, e.g. an array of lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/113 using oscillating or rotating mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0081 Image reader H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence

Abstract

A reading module has a light source, an optical system, and a sensor. The optical system images, as image light, reflected light of light radiated from the light source to a document. In the sensor, the image light imaged by the optical system is converted into an electrical signal. The optical system has a mirror array and an aperture stop portion. In the mirror array, reflection mirrors are coupled together in an array in the main scanning direction. The aperture stop portion has a first aperture adjusting the amount of the image light reflected from a reflection mirror and a second aperture shielding stray light entering the first aperture from an adjacent reflection mirror. Between the first and second apertures, a reflection reduction mechanism is provided that reduces reflection, toward the first aperture, of light other than the image light traveling from the second to first aperture.

Claims

1. A reading module comprising:

a light source which radiates light to a document;

an optical system which images, as image light, reflected light of the light radiated from the light source to the document; and

a sensor in which a plurality of imaging regions for converting the image light imaged by the optical system into an electrical signal are arranged next to each other in a main scanning direction, wherein

the optical system comprises;

a mirror array in which a plurality of reflection mirrors whose reflection surfaces are aspherical concave surfaces are coupled together in an array in the main scanning direction; and

a plurality of aperture stop portions each provided in an optical path of the image light between a reflection mirror and an imaging region of the sensor, the plurality of aperture stop portions each having;

a first aperture which adjusts an amount of the image light reflected from the reflection mirror; and

a second aperture formed on a mirror array side of the first aperture, the second aperture shielding stray light that enters the first aperture from an adjacent reflection mirror, and

between the first aperture and the second aperture, a reflection reduction mechanism is provided that reduces reflection, toward the first aperture, of light other than the image light traveling from the second aperture to the first aperture.

2. The reading module of claim 1, wherein

the first aperture and the second aperture are openings provided in an aperture stop main body on a sensor side and on the mirror array side thereof respectively.

3. The reading module of claim 2, wherein

the reflection reduction mechanism is a space formed between the first aperture and the second aperture in the aperture stop main body.

4. The reading module of claim 3, wherein

in the aperture stop main body, a rib is formed to protrude from an inner wall surface perpendicular to the first aperture and the second aperture into the space toward a region through which the image light passes, and

the rib is inclined in a direction approaching the region from the second aperture to the first aperture.

5. The reading module of claim 4, wherein

let an angle, with respect to the main scanning direction, of light traveling from the reflection mirror to enter the second aperture be θ

, then an inclination angle α

of the rib with respect to the main scanning direction fulfills a formula below,

0≤

tan α

<

{−

1+√

(1+tan² θ

)}/tan θ

.

6. The reading module of claim 3, wherein

in the aperture stop main body, inclined surfaces are provided which are arranged opposite each other in the main scanning direction across a region through which the image light passes, the inclined surfaces being inclined with respect to the main scanning direction as seen from a direction of an optical axis.

7. The reading module of claim 2, wherein

the reflection reduction mechanism is irregularities formed on an inner wall surface perpendicular to the first aperture and the second aperture in the aperture stop main body.

8. The reading module of claim 2, wherein

the second aperture is a rectangular opening, and

inner surfaces of the second aperture arranged opposite each other in the main scanning direction are inclined in a direction approaching the region toward the first aperture.

9. The reading module of claim 2, wherein

the first aperture is a circular opening, and

an inner circumferential surface of the first aperture is formed to be increasingly wide toward the sensor.

10. The reading module of claim 1, wherein

the optical system is a telecentric optical system where the image light is parallel to an optical axis on a document side of the mirror array, and forms an inverted image on the sensor.

11. The reading module of claim 10, wherein

imaging magnifications of the reflection mirrors for the respective imaging regions are set at reduction magnifications, and

a light shielding wall is provided which is formed to protrude from a boundary between adjacent imaging regions toward the aperture stop portions, the light shielding wall shielding stray light which is to be incident on the imaging regions.

12. The reading module of claim 11, wherein

image data read in the imaging regions of the sensor undergoes magnification enlargement correction through data interpolation according to the reduction magnifications to reverse the data into erect images, and then the images in the imaging regions are connected together to form a read image corresponding to the document.

13. The reading module of claim 1, wherein

an optical path of the image light traveling toward each reflection mirror and an optical path of the image light traveling toward an aperture stop portion run in a same direction,

a turning mirror which bends the image light reflected from the reflection mirror toward the aperture stop portion is arranged at a position facing the mirror array, and

the turning mirror bends the image light twice or more times on a same reflection surface thereof, including bending the image light traveling toward the reflection mirror and bending the image light reflected from the reflection mirror toward the aperture stop portion.

14. An image reading device, comprising:

a contact glass fixed to a top surface of an image reading portion;

a document conveyance device which is openable/closable upward with respect to the contact glass, the document conveyance device conveying a document to an image reading position of the contact glass; and

the reading module of claim 1 arranged to be reciprocable under the contact glass in a sub-scanning direction, wherein

the reading module is capable of reading an image of a document placed on the contact glass while moving in the sub-scanning direction, and

the reading module is capable of reading an image of a document conveyed to the image reading position while remaining at rest at the position facing the image reading position.

15. An image forming apparatus comprising the image reading device of claim 14.