Scanner and scanner data generating method

• US 10,462,321 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Nishida, Kazutoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnes, Ted W
• Application Number:
  US16/001,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20180359384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/126 including curved mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/003 Light absorbing elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/124 plural reflecting elements forming part of a unitary plate or sheet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00997 Light control, e.g. shielding from ambient light or preventing light leakage
• 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 1/04 Scanning arrangements , i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versaH04N1/387 takes precedence

Abstract

A scanner having: a first mirror having multiple concavities configured to reflect light from a document; a sensor configured to sense light reflected by a concavity of the first mirror; and a wall disposed to the first mirror and protruding from between the multiple concavities.

Claims

1. A scanner comprising:

a first mirror having multiple concavities configured to reflect light from a document;

a sensor configured to sense light reflected by a concavity of the first mirror; and

a wall disposed to the first mirror and protruding from between the multiple concavities,

the sensor including multiple sensor chips corresponding one-to-one with the concavities of the first mirror,

light from a defined range of a main scanning line of the document being reflected by a first concavity of the first mirror and incident to a first sensor chip corresponding to the first concavity, and being reflected by a second concavity of the first mirror and incident to a second sensor chip corresponding to the second concavity,

the first concavity and the second concavity being aligned adjacently in a main scanning direction;

the sensor chips being aligned in the main scanning direction, and

the wall protruding from between the first concavity and the second concavity to a height Hdm equal to (0<

H_dm<

L−

(q+W_dm)/(2 tan θ

₂)) where

L is a distance to the first mirror from a virtual plane, which is a position where an image formed through the first mirror on the sensor chip is in focus,

q is the length of the defined range on the main scanning line in the virtual plane,

θ

₂ is the angle, in a plane including a principal ray from an end of the defined range and the main scanning line, between a perpendicular to the main scanning line and the principal ray, and

W_dm is a width in the main scanning direction of the wall disposed to a position equidistant from the first concavity and the second concavity.

2. The scanner according to claim 1, further comprising:

a second mirror having multiple concavities, and configured to reflect to the sensor, by the corresponding concavities, light reflected by the multiple concavities of the first mirror; and

an aperture that is different from the walls and is positioned between the first mirror and the second mirror on the optical path.

3. The scanner according to claim 2, further comprising:

a different wall that is different from the wall and is disposed to the second mirror and protruding from between multiple concavities of the second mirror.

4. The scanner according to claim 1, further comprising:

a third mirror having multiple concavities configured to reflect light from the document to a concavity corresponding to the first mirror; and

an aperture that is different from the walls and is positioned between the third mirror and the first mirror on the optical path.

5. The scanner according to claim 1, wherein:

the walls are adjacent to concavities of the first mirror on both sides of the wall.

6. The scanner according to claim 1, wherein:

the walls protrude from a ridge between concavities of the first mirror.

7. The scanner according to claim 1, wherein:

a protruding end of the wall is shaped conforming to the shape of the ridge formed by concavities of the first mirror.

8. A method of generating scanning data using a scanner including a first mirror having multiple concavities configured to reflect light from a document, a sensor configured to sense light reflected by a concavity of the first mirror, and a wall disposed to the first mirror and protruding from between the multiple concavities, comprising:

reading the document by the sensor and generating scanning data of the document,

a protruding end of the wall being shaped conforming to the shape of the ridge formed by concavities of the first mirror.

9. A scanner comprising:

a first mirror having a plurality of concavities configured to reflect light from a document;

a sensor configured to sense light reflected by a concavity of the first mirror; and

a wall disposed to the first mirror and protruding from between the plurality of concavities,

a protruding end of the wall being shaped conforming to the shape of the ridge formed by concavities of the first mirror.

10. The scanner according to claim 9, wherein:

the plurality of concavities of the first mirror includes a first concavity and a second concavity that are aligned in a main scanning direction,

the sensor includes a plurality of sensor chips corresponding one-to-one with the concavities of the first mirror, the plurality of sensor chips includes a first sensor chip corresponding to the first concavity and a second sensor chip corresponding to the second concavity, and the first sensor chip and the second sensor chip are aligned in the main scanning direction, and

light from a defined range of a main scanning line of the document is reflected by the first concavity of the first mirror and incident to the first sensor chip, and is reflected by the second concavity of the first mirror and incident to the second sensor chip, and the defined range is a range where a part of an area of the document on the main scanning line read by the first sensor chip and a part of an area of the document on the main scanning line read by the second sensor chip overlap each other.