Small sized imaging device which detects position information and image information

• US 6,710,320 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2002
• Issued: 03/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Kurata, Shunsuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Allen, Stephone B.
• Application Number:
  US10/137,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20020153473A1
• Time in Patent Office: 691 Days
• Field of Search: 250/208.1, 250/559.45, 250/559.46, 250/559.29, 250/559.3, 250/239, 250/216, 250/330, 250/341.8, 348/126
• US Class Current: 250/208.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/028 by measuring lateral position of a boundary of the object G01B11/022, G01B11/024, G01B11/04 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/342 the sensed object being the obturating part

Abstract

An imaging device is provided which includes an LED, a telecentric lens which collimates LED light and converts light reflected by an object, a half mirror which reflects the LED light toward the telecentric lens and allows transmission of the reflected light converged by the telecentric lens, a diaphragm, and a two-dimensional imaging element.

Claims

1. An imaging device comprising:

a tubular casing having openings at respective ends and an optical axis extending in an axial direction thereof,

an LED light source which is provided in a vicinity of a side wall of the casing and which emits light toward an internal region of the casing;

an optical path-splitting element which is provided in an inclined manner at an intersection between an optical path of the light emitted from the LED light source and the optical axis of the casing, said optical path-splitting element reflecting the light emitted from the LED light source to cause said light to travel in a traveling direction toward an object located in a direction of the optical axis, and said optical path-splitting element also allowing transmission of reflected light which is reflected back by the object and which is incident on the optical path-splitting element from a direction opposite to the traveling direction of the light emitted from the LED light source and reflected by the optical path-splitting element;

a lens located in one of the openings of the casing, said lens collimating the light emitted from the LED light source and reflected by the optical path-splitting element and causing the collimated light to travel toward the object, and said lens also converging the reflected light which is reflected back by the object; and

a two-dimensional sensor section which is located in another one of the openings of the casing, and which performs an image pick-up operation with respect to the reflected light reflected back by the object, converged by the lens and transmitted through the optical path-splitting element.

2. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the optical axis of the optical path-splitting element defines a vertical direction, the lens is provided in a vicinity of an upper end of the optical path-splitting element, and the two-dimensional sensor section is provided in a vicinity of a lower end of the optical path-splitting element.

3. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the optical path-splitting element is inclined 45°

with respect to the optical axis of the casing and has a center shifted from the optical axis in a direction away from the LED light source, and the LED light source is located in a lower region which is opposite to a region to which the optical path-splitting element is shifted and in which the reflected light converged by the lens does not travel.

4. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the LED light source is located in a vicinity of a path of the-reflected light converged by the lens.

5. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the lens is a telecentric lens.

6. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the lens is a Fresnel lens.

7. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the two-dimensional image sensor section comprises a CMOS and a relay imaging lens.

8. An imaging device according to claim 1, wherein:

the two-dimensional image sensor section acquires two-dimensional image data by imaging the reflected light reflected back by the object, converged by the lens and transmitted through the optical path-splitting element; and

wherein the imaging device further comprises an image processor section which extracts image data corresponding to at least one line from the two-dimensional image data acquired by the two-dimensional image sensor section.

9. An imaging sensor according to claim 1, wherein the LED light source is an infrared LED that emits infrared light, and the two-dimensional image sensor section includes an infrared-passage filter that allows passage of infrared components of the reflected light reflected back by the object.