OPTICAL SCANNING SYSTEM

• US 3,783,295 A
• Filed: 09/30/1971
• Issued: 01/01/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: David Henry Casler
• Original Assignee: David Henry Casler
• Inventors: Casler, David Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Lawrence, James W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nelms, D. C.
• Application Number:
  US05/184,994
• Time in Patent Office: 824 Days
• Field of Search: 250/219CR,219QA,219FR,219DF,219DQ,234,235 235/61.11E 178/7.6 350/7,6 356/23,24,25,26 340/146.3
• US Class Current: 382/321
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/12 Details of acquisition arrangements; Constructional details thereof

Abstract

An optical character scanning system including synchronously scanned illumination and image paths. An operator viewing station is included in the image path and a strobing means is included in the illumination path to allow the operator to directly view a character being scanned by the scanning system. The planes defined by the illumination and image paths form unequal angles with the axis of a rotating polygon mirror used as a deflector. Two illumination sources are placed at equal angles to the mirror axis. Different wavelengths are used for machine scanning and operator viewing.

Claims

1. An optical scanning system comprising:

first source means for providing incident radiation of an invisible frequency;

second source means for providing incident radiation of a visible frequency;

first focusing means positioned in the path of said incident radiation, an axis of said first focusing means lying in a first plane, for focusing said incident radiation onto an area of a document thereBy illuminating said area;

second focusing means, an axis of said second focusing means lying in a second plane, said second plane forming an angle with respect to the surface of said document which is different from an angle formed between said surface and said first plane, for focusing substantially diffusely reflected radiation from said document onto a detector array thereby forming an image of said area of said document on said detector array;

deflection means interposed between said focusing means and said document and between said second focusing means and said document for simultaneously deflecting said incident and said reflected radiation to cause said illuminated area and the image of said illuminated area to move across said document;

beam splitter means interposed between said deflection means and said detector array to deflect a portion of said reflected radiation to an operator viewing station;

control means connected to said deflection means for activating said second source means in synchronism with said deflection means so that radiation from said source means illuminates only selected areas of said document.

2. The optical scanning system of claim 1 wherein said first focusing means is positioned so that said first plane forms a non-zero angle with respect to a line normal to said document for directing incident radiation upon said document at a non-zero angle with respect to a line normal to the surface of said illuminated area.

3. The optical scanning system of claim 2 wherein said second focusing means is positioned so that said second plane is normal to the surface of said document thereby causing said focusing means to focus diffusely reflected radiation which has been reflected from said document at a direction substantially normal to the surface of said illuminated area.