Hand-holdable optical scanner particularly useful as electronic translator
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An optical scanner comprising a hand-holdable housing including:
- a scanner head for scanning a record medium;
a roller engageable and rotated by said record medium when scanned by said scanner head, said roller including an optically-sensible marking for use in measuring the rotary movement of the roller;
an illuminator for illuminating said record medium and roller including said marking thereon;
an optical sensor for sensing information on the record medium and said marking on the roller and for producing an output corresponding thereto;
a first optical system including a focusing lens for focusing light reflected from said record medium onto said optical sensor; and
a second optical system for focusing light reflected from said roller onto said optical sensor, said second optical system including said focusing lens of the first optical system;
said second optical system further including a lens-mirror member having;
a first face facing said focusing lens for receiving light reflected by said roller;
a second face facing said optical sensor for transmitting light exiting from said lens-mirror member to said optical sensor; and
a third reflecting face for receiving the incoming light from said first face and for reflecting same through said second face to the optical sensor;
at least one of the faces being light-converging to partially focus the received light such as to compensate for a shorter distance between the focal lens and the roller than between the focal lens and the record member.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical scanner including a scanner head, a roller engaged by a record, the roller including optically readable marks, light sources and sensor which illuminate and sense both roller and the record, a lens for focusing light from the record onto the sensor, and a lens mirror for focusing light from the roller onto the sensor.
101 Citations
10 Claims
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1. An optical scanner comprising a hand-holdable housing including:
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a scanner head for scanning a record medium;
a roller engageable and rotated by said record medium when scanned by said scanner head, said roller including an optically-sensible marking for use in measuring the rotary movement of the roller;
an illuminator for illuminating said record medium and roller including said marking thereon;
an optical sensor for sensing information on the record medium and said marking on the roller and for producing an output corresponding thereto;
a first optical system including a focusing lens for focusing light reflected from said record medium onto said optical sensor; and
a second optical system for focusing light reflected from said roller onto said optical sensor, said second optical system including said focusing lens of the first optical system;
said second optical system further including a lens-mirror member having;
a first face facing said focusing lens for receiving light reflected by said roller;
a second face facing said optical sensor for transmitting light exiting from said lens-mirror member to said optical sensor; and
a third reflecting face for receiving the incoming light from said first face and for reflecting same through said second face to the optical sensor;
at least one of the faces being light-converging to partially focus the received light such as to compensate for a shorter distance between the focal lens and the roller than between the focal lens and the record member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
a first light source for illuminating said record medium;
a second light source for illuminating said roller;
and a control system for periodically energizing said first light source during predetermined times, and said second light source during other predetermined times, to enable said optical sensor to sense both the information on the record medium and the marking of the roller.
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8. The optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein said optical scanner includes a linear array of optical sensor elements extending parallel to the rotary axis of said roller, and said optically-sensible marking includes at least one line extending helically on the outer face of said roller.
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9. The optical scanner according to claim 8, wherein said roller includes at least one reference line extending around the circumference of the roller at the opposite ends of said helical line.
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10. The optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein said housing further includes electrical circuitry programmed to first check the output of the optical sensor when the scanner head is out of contact with the record medium to assure the output is below a first predetermined threshold, and then to check the output of the optical scanner when the scanner head is in contact with the record medium to assure that the output is above a second predetermined threshold, before the electrical circuitry processes the output of said optical sensor.
Specification