Optical scanning device

Claim 2

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, rotatable radiation detection means positioned on the axis of said drum to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan of said image-forming rays, and synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said detection means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan.

Claim 3

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, radiation detection means including a rotatable means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan of said image-forming rays, synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan, each of said reflecting means being a reflecting surface, each of said reflecting means being tilted at successively different angles with respect to the axis of said drum whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means performs a different line scan.

Claim 4

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, radiation detection means including a rotatable means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan of said image-forming rays, synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan, each of said reflecting means being a reflecting surface, each of said reflecting means being tilted at successively different angles with respect to the axis of said drum whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means performs a different line scan.

Claim 5

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, radiation detection means including a rotatable means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan Of said image-forming rays, synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan, each of said reflecting means comprising a reflecting surface and a prism, a first side of said prism being in spaced relation to said reflecting surface and a second side of said prism being angularly disposed with reference to said first side, the prisms in each of said reflecting means having first and second sides disposed with successively different angularities whereby image-forming rays of radiation are refracted at successively different angles to reflect from the reflecting surface in each of said reflecting means at successively different angles as said drum rotates.

Claim 6

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, radiation detection means including a rotatable means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan Of said image-forming rays, synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan, each of said reflecting means comprising a reflecting surface and a prism, a first side of said prism being in spaced relation to said reflecting surface and a second side of said prism being angularly disposed with reference to said first side, the prisms in each of said reflecting means having first and second sides disposed with successively different angularities whereby image-forming rays of radiation are refracted at successively different angles to reflect from the reflecting surface in each of said reflecting means at successively different angles as said drum rotates.

Claim 7

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, radiation detection means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan of said image-forming rays, said radiation detection means including a rotatable mirror, relay focusing system, and a plurality of radiation detectors, and synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable mirror with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan, the rotatable mirror being located approximately on the axis of the drum and the relay focusing system and being positioned relative to the rotatable mirror whereby the image-forming rays of radiation from said reflecting means are incident upon the rotatable mirror and reflected by the rotatable mirror through the relay focusing system to be detected by the radiation detectors.

Claim 8

An optical scanning system comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means having an optical axis coaxial with said drum for directing image-forming rays of radiation onto said reflecting means from a source of radiation, radiation detection means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, at least one of said reflecting means being adapted to reflect radiation at a different angle than the other reflecting means toward said detection means whereby as the drum rotates each of said reflecting means together with said detection means performs a line scan of said image-forming rays, said radiation detection means including a rotatable mirror, relay focusing system, and a plurality of radiation detectors, and synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable mirror with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficient to permit sequential detection of radiation during an individual line scan, the rotatable mirror being located approximately on the axis of the drum and the relay focusing system and being positioned relative to the rotatable mirror whereby the image-forming rays of radiation from said reflecting means are incident upon the rotatable mirror and reflected by the rotatable mirror through the relay focusing system to be detected by the radiation detectors.

Claim 9

An optical scanning system providing both horizontal and vertical scan of an object comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means for directing image-forming rays of radiation from said object sequentially on to each of said reflecting means, radiation detection means including rotatable means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, selection means for progressively directing portions of the image produced by said focusing means to said radiation detection means, and synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficiently large to permit successive detection of radiation of all points along an individual line scan.

Claim 10

An optical scanning system providing both horizontal and vertical scan of an object comprising a rotatable drum having a series of independent reflecting means located around its circumference, focusing means for directing image-forming rays of radiation from said object sequentially on to each of said reflecting means, radiation detection means including rotatable means positioned to receive image-forming rays of radiation which are reflected from said reflecting means, selection means for progressively directing portions of the image produced by said focusing means to said radiation detection means, and synchronizing means for synchronizing the rotation of said rotatable means with the rotation of said reflecting means through an angle sufficiently large to permit successive detection of radiation of all points along an individual line scan.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 5 including means for displaying a raster scan of said image.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 2 including means for displaying a raster scan of the image produced by said focusing means.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 5 in which said selection means is combined with said focusing means and includes a compound focusing lens having prismatic portions in which a pair of prisms rotate in opposite directions about their common optical axis with the same rate of rotation to refract image-forming rays of radiation from said object over a continuously varying angle of refraction, each of said prisms having substantially identical physical forms and being positioned in symmetrical spaced relation whereby the horizontal components of the optical refraction produced by each prism are made to cancel, and the vertical components of the optical refraction produced by eAch prism combine to provide vertical scan.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 8 including means for displaying a raster scan of the image formed by said focusing means.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 9 including means for rotating said prisms and means for synchronizing said angle of refraction with the display of said raster scan.

Claim 20

The apparatus as defined in claim 12 including a relay lens and mirror system to transmit the radiation from the third reflecting means to the radiation receiving means.

Claim 21

The apparatus as defined in claim 12 in which the first and third reflecting means are adapted whereby the third reflecting means can be located approximately at the center of the first reflecting means.

Claim 22

The apparatus as defined in claim 13 in which the third reflecting means is positioned on the optical axis of the primary focusing means to provide a more linear scan pattern.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 15 including means for displaying a raster scan of the image formed by the primary focusing means.

Claim 24

An optical scanning system providing verticalLy displaced horizontal line scans of an object comprising a series of reflecting means positioned about an axis with their reflecting surfaces facing said axis, focusing means for directing image-forming rays of radiation emitted by said object to form an image of said object upon an image surface spaced apart from said focusing means, a movable support structure for sequentially carrying each of said reflecting means between said focusing means and said image surface to reflect portions of said image-forming rays to continuously provide an image at a common point on said axis, detection means positioned on said axis to detect the radiation emitted by said object, each of said reflecting means having an orientation relative to said movable support structure whereby each of said reflecting means scans a different portion of said object, said reflecting means being angled relative to each other such that each of said reflecting means together with said detection means provides a different one of said horizontal line scans.

Claim 25

An optical scanning system providing verticalLy displaced horizontal line scans of an object comprising a series of reflecting means positioned about an axis with their reflecting surfaces facing said axis, focusing means for directing image-forming rays of radiation emitted by said object to form an image of said object upon an image surface spaced apart from said focusing means, a movable support structure for sequentially carrying each of said reflecting means between said focusing means and said image surface to reflect portions of said image-forming rays to continuously provide an image at a common point on said axis, detection means positioned on said axis to detect the radiation emitted by said object, each of said reflecting means having an orientation relative to said movable support structure whereby each of said reflecting means scans a different portion of said object, said reflecting means being angled relative to each other such that each of said reflecting means together with said detection means provides a different one of said horizontal line scans.

Claim 26

An optical scanning system providing vertically displaced horizontal line scans of an object comprising a series of reflecting means, focusing means for directing image-forming rays of radiation emitted by said object to form an image of said object upon an image surface spaced apart from said focusing means, a movable support structure for sequentially carrying each of said reflecting means between said focusing means and said image surface to reflect portions of said image forming rays to continuously provide an image at a common point, an oscillating reflector moving in synchronism with the motion of each of said reflecting means and positioned at said common point to further reflect the radiation emitted by said object, detection means including at least one radiation detector located at a fixed point away from said common point for receiving rays of radiation from said oscillating reflector, said reflecting means being angled relative to each other such that each of said reflecting means together with said oscillating reflector and said detection means provides a different one of said horizontal line scans.

Claim 27

An optical scanning system providing vertically displaced horizontal line scans of an object comprising a series of reflecting means, focusing means for directing image-forming rays of radiation emitted by said object to form an image of said object upon an image surface spaced apart from said focusing means, a movable support structure for sequentially carrying each of said reflecting means between said focusing means and said image surface to reflect portions of said image forming rays to continuously provide an image at a common point, an oscillating reflector moving in synchronism with the motion of each of said reflecting means and positioned at said common point to further reflect the radiation emitted by said object, detection means including at least one radiation detector located at a fixed point away from said common point for receiving rays of radiation from said oscillating reflector, said reflecting means being angled relative to each other such that each of said reflecting means together with said oscillating reflector and said detection means provides a different one of said horizontal line scans.