U.S. patent number RE29,067 [Application Number 05/587,118] was granted by the patent office on 1976-12-07 for compact flatbed page scanner.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated. Invention is credited to Hugh Alexander Watson.
United States Patent |
RE29,067 |
Watson |
December 7, 1976 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Compact flatbed page scanner
Abstract
A compact flatbed page scanner for facsimile transmission is
described. The apparatus uses a linear charge coupled imaging
device (CCID) for both light detection and electronic scanning
across the width of the page. Compactness is achieved by folding
the optical path from the scanned line to the CCID. A moving
carriage below a horizontal glass plate supporting the document to
be scanned carries: the linear CCID, a lens for focusing an image
of one scanning line of the page onto the CCID, an assembly of bar
mirrors for folding the path of the light beam from the scanning
line to the lens, and tubular lamps for illuminating the scanning
line. The motion of the carriage beneath the horizontal glass plate
permits scanning an array of parallel lines, equally spaced over
the length of the page. In the apparatus described, scanning a
complete page may be performed from 4 seconds to several minutes,
depending on the bandwidth available for transmission.
Inventors: |
Watson; Hugh Alexander
(Berkeley Heights, NJ) |
Assignee: |
Bell Telephone Laboratories,
Incorporated (Murray Hill, NJ)
|
Family
ID: |
23767419 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/587,118 |
Filed: |
June 13, 1975 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
Reissue of: |
445051 |
Feb 25, 1974 |
03867569 |
Feb 18, 1975 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
358/483 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
1/00907 (20130101); H04N 1/03 (20130101); H04N
1/0305 (20130101); H04N 1/1017 (20130101); H04N
1/1026 (20130101); H04N 1/1043 (20130101); H04N
1/1048 (20130101); H04N 1/1052 (20130101); G02B
13/24 (20130101); G02B 17/023 (20130101); H04N
1/00885 (20130101); H04N 1/193 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04N
1/03 (20060101); H04N 1/10 (20060101); H04N
1/191 (20060101); H04N 1/193 (20060101); H04N
001/10 () |
Field of
Search: |
;178/DIG.27,7.1,7.6,7.88,7.89 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Britton; Howard W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Canepa; Lucian C.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A compact flatbed scanner for facsimile scanning comprising:
a. a housing;
b. a transparent plate mounted on the housing for supporting
material to be copied, the transparent plate defining the
approximate image plane of the material to be copied;
c. a moving scanning assembly supported within the housing beneath
the transparent plate, the scanning assembly comprising:
1. at least one lamp for illuminating at least a portion of the
image plane,
2. a linear charge coupled imaging device for detecting variations
in intensity of light reflected from a scanning line on the image
plane and having electrical contacts adapted to provide electronic
scanning over the length of the scanning line, and
3. an optical system for focusing the light reflected from the
scanning line onto the linear charge coupled imaging device, the
optical system comprising a plurality of long, narrow mirrors for
folding the optical path from the scanning line to the linear
charge coupled imaging device;
d. means for mechanically displacing the scanning assembly relative
to the image plane in a direction parallel to the image plane and
perpendicular to the scanning line to permit scanning a succession
of parallel lines from one end of the image plane to the other;
and
e. electrical circuitry for sequentially reading out each scanning
line detected by the linear charge coupled imaging device by
forming an electrical signal representative of the variations in
intensity of light reflected from the image plane along a
succession of scanning lines.
2. A compact flatbed scanner for facsimile scanning comprising:
a. a housing;
b. a transparent rigid plate fixedly mounted on the housing for
supporting material to be copied the transparent plate defining the
approximate image plane of the material to be copied;
c. a moving scanning assembly and slidably mounted within the
housing beneath the transparent rigid plate, the scanning assembly
comprising a casing supporting:
1. a fluorescent lamp excited by a DC power-supply for illuminating
at least a portion of the material to be copied,
2. a linear charge coupled imaging device for detecting variations
in intensity of illumination from a scanning line on the image
plane and having electrical contacts adapted to provide
side-to-side scanning over the length of the scanning line, the
linear charge coupled imaging device comprising from 750 to 2500
storage elements,
3. an optical system for focusing the light reflected from the
scanning line onto the linear charge coupled imaging device, the
optical system comprising (a) a plurality of long, narrow mirrors
of decreasing length for folding the optic path by a factor of at
least two, from the image plane to the linear charge coupled
imaging device and (b) a lens for forming an image of the scanning
line, and
4. electrical circuitry for sequentially reading out each scanning
line detected by the linear charge coupled imaging device by
forming an electrical signal representative of the variations in
intensity of the light reflected from the image plane along a
succession of scanning lines, the electrical circuitry
comprising:
i. logic circuitry for sequential read out of the variations in
intensity of light incident upon the linear charge coupled imaging
device,
ii. interface circuitry between the logic circuitry and the linear
charge coupled imaging device for forming signal levels compatible
with the linear charge coupled imaging device and for biasing
selected electrodes on the linear charge coupled imaging device,
and
iii. amplifying circuitry for amplifying signals generated by the
linear charge coupled imaging device and which provide an analog
measure of the intensity of light incident upon the linear charge
coupled imaging device; and
d. means for mechanically displacing the scanning assembly relative
to the material to be copied in a direction parallel to the
transparent rigid plate and perpendicular to the scanning line, to
permit scanning a succession of equally spaced parallel scanning
lines from one end of the image plane to the other. .Iadd. 3. A
compact flatbed scanner for facsimile scanning comprising:
(a) a housing;
(b) a transparent plate mounted on the housing for supporting
material to be copied, the transparent plate defining the
approximate image plane of the material to be copied;
(c) a moving scanning assembly supported within the housing beneath
the transparent plate, the scanning assembly comprising:
(1) means for mounting at least one lamp for illuminating at least
a portion of the image plane,
(2) a linear solid state imaging device for detecting variations in
intensity of light reflected from a scanning line on the image
plane and having electrical contacts adapted to provide electronic
scanning over the length of the scanning line, and
(3) an optical system for focusing the light reflected from the
scanning line onto the linear imaging device, the optical system
comprising a plurality of long narrow mirrors for folding the
optical path from the scanning line to the linear imaging
device;
(d) means for mechanically displacing the scanning assembly
relative to the image plane in a direction parallel to the image
plane and perpendicular to the scanning line to permit scanning a
succession of parallel lines from one end of the image plane to the
other; and
(e) electrical circuitry for sequentially reading out each scanning
line detected by the linear imaging device by forming an electrical
signal representative of the variations in intensity of light
reflected from the image plane along a succession of scanning
lines..Iaddend..Iadd. 4. A scanner as in claim 3 wherein said solid
state device comprises a silicon device having multiple
light-sensitive elements disposed in a linear array..Iaddend.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the art of facsimile scanners, and
particularly concerns apparatus for scanning graphic copy to
produce corresponding electrical signals for transmission to a
suitable graphic copy receiver.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Early scanners used for facsimile transmission have used a
cylindrical drum around which the subject copy is wrapped, such as
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,846, issued Feb. 9, 1971 to D. O.
Kingsland. The copy-carrying drum is rotated and a photoelectric
element is moved parallel to the axis of the rotating cylinder. The
photoelectric element measures the light reflected from the subject
copy along a succession of parallel scanning lines. However, since
only separate sheets can be scanned on drum scanners, recent
improvements have centered on flatbed facsimile scanners, which are
more suitable for scanning pages in books, magazines, material
mounted on stiff paper, and the like. For example, in one such
scanner, rotating polygonal mirrors comprising individual
reflecting surfaces have been employed to scan an optical beam
across a page and reflect a spot image onto a stationary detector
to provide fast side-to-side scanning. As the mirrors rotate, each
mirror surface scans one line of information. Slow end-to-end
scanning is obtained by mechanically moving the copy horizontally;
see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,160, issued Aug. 4, 1970 to R.
Willey. However, in such systems, as the light spot is deflected to
the side of the page, it tends to become defocused, that is,
blurred, distorted, and/or enlarged, because the distance from the
rotating mirror to the page changes. This degradation becomes less
severe as the distance from the page to the rotating polygon mirror
is increased. However, an increase in the size of the scanner is
required, and thus a compromise must be made between a small spot
and a compact arrangement.
In other systems, a stationary wide-angle lens is used to focus an
entire line or even a complete page onto a detector; see, e.g.,
U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,426, issued Feb. 9, 1971 to J. Lavergne.
However, the distance between the document and the lens is dictated
in part by lens geometry, and is typically on the order of 20 cm or
more. Furthermore, with a stationary wide-angle lens, it is
difficult to illuminate the page in such a manner that white areas
at the ends and corners of the page produce the same signal level
at the detector as white areas at the center of the page.
The distance between the document and a lens is also dictated by
the size of the detector. Compactness of the facsimile scanner can
be achieved where the detector has approximately the same
dimensions as a scanned line, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
3,512,129, issued May 12, 1970 to E. E. Garfield. There, the
detector is a linear array of photocells. However, a linear array
of conventional photocells, with typically 500 to 2000 individual
cells and associated circuitry, is difficult and costly to produce
and maintain and would be of relatively large size.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the invention, a compact flatbed page scanner
for facsimile transmission is provided with a detector employing a
linear charge coupled imaging device (CCID). The CCID accomplishes
light detection and electronic side-to-side scanning of a single
line, hereafter called a scanning line. The device is considerably
less than the width of the page in size. Compactness of the scanner
is achieved by folding the optical path from the scanning line to
the CCID. The document to be scanned is placed face down on a
horizontal glass plate. A moving carriage below the glass plate is
employed to permit scanning a succession of parallel lines equally
spaced from one end of the page to the other. The carriage carries
the linear CCID, a lens for focusing an image of one scanning line
of the page onto the CCID, an assembly of long, narrow mirrors for
folding the path of the light beam from the scanning line to the
lens, and tubular lamps for illuminating the scanning line. In the
apparatus described, scanning a complete page may be performed from
4 seconds to several minutes, depending on the bandwidth available
for transmission.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a partial schematic diagram of the flatbed page scanner,
illustrating the associated electronic control and detection
circuitry;
FIG. 2 depicts in perspective a partially exploded view of a
compact flatbed page scanner, including a movable carriage, in
accordance with the invention;
FIG. 3 in cross section along 3--3 of FIG. 2 is a detailed view of
a portion of the movable carriage; and
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of logic circuitry used to
control a CCID.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention and drawing are described in terms of an operational
flatbed scanner. It should be understood that the dimensions and
particular parameters given are merely exemplary.
With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, a description follows of the
construction and performance of a compact facsimile scanner 10 for
scanning a document 11 supported face down on a transparent (e.g.,
glass) plate 12 (FIG. 2). The transparent plate defines the
approximate image plane of the document. A scanning assembly, or
carriage 13, moves beneath the material to be copied and carries
(a) lamps 14 for illuminating a portion of the material to be
copied, or scanning line 16, (b) a detector 17 for receiving an
image of the scanning line, (c) a lens 15 for focusing the image of
the scanning line onto the detector, and (d) a plurality of bar
mirrors 18a-d (FIG. 3) for folding the light path from the scanning
line to the lens. The scanning assembly travels at a uniform speed
in the direction of the length of the document so that a succession
of equally spaced parallel lines can be scanned from one end of the
document to the other while keeping the line being scanned at any
instant focused on the detector.
In accordance with the invention, an integral feature of the
inventive apparatus is the use of a linear charge coupled imaging
device (CCID) 17 for detecting varying light intensity
corresponding to a scanning line on the subject copy or material to
be scanned, and for generating an analog electrical signal that is
representative of the light reflected from the page along the
scanning line. The CCID device thus combines light detection and
electronic scanning across the width of the document. Although not
a necessary part of this description, the theory and operation of
CCIDs are described in Vol. 49, The Bell System Technical Journal,
pp. 587-600 (1970). Basically, a CCID stores minority carriers (or
their absence) in a spatially defined potential minimum at the
surface of a homogeneous semiconductor and moves this charge about
the surface by moving the potential minimum. The magnitude of the
charge, which is proportional to the light intensity, is then
detected at some location. A linear CCID with a number of potential
minima, or elements, can be used to scan one entire horizontal line
at a time. Mechanical motion can be employed to step or translate
the line being scanned at any instant so that a succession of
equally spaced parallel lines are scanned over the length of the
subject copy, or document, to code the entire frame, making it
analogous to a high-resolution area scanner. The number of elements
comprising the CCID is constrained by (a) the minimum in the number
of elements desired for high resolution and (b) the maximum in the
number of elements allowed by the finite charge transfer efficiency
that can be realized with the device technology, beyond which the
number of elements cannot be increased without suffering a loss of
image quality. Typically, the number of elements in a linear CCID
used in accordance with the invention may vary from 750 to
2500.
For illustrative purposes, the detector 17 comprises a dual line
gate linear imaging device, such as that shown in Vol. 9, Journal
of Vacuum Science and Technology, pp. 1166-1181 (1972). This
detector employs a four-phase 1500-element linear CCID, as
described in further detail by G. E. Smith, in U.S. Pat. No.
3,761,744 issued Sept. 25, 1973. In the configuration of this
detector, the light-generated charges are integrated on central
depletion regions and simultaneously transferred laterally into two
light-shielded shift registers, one on either side of the central
region. The charges are then moved serially in each register, and
along the two registers in parallel, to a common output.
The scanner scans 2000 lines along a 22 .times. 28 cm page (81/2
inches .times. 11 inches) -- a total of 3 million picture elements
of 0.14 mm .times. 0.14 mm size on the original. The scanner may be
easily modified to scan a 22 .times. 36 cm page (81/2 inches
.times. 14 inches). This is accomplished by making the glass plate
12 and the distance traveled by the carriage correspondingly
longer. The nominal rate at which lines are scanned is about 160
lines/sec, requiring a 12.5 sec scanning time per 22 .times. 28 cm
page using 160 kHz in video bandwith for transmission to remote
receiving apparatus (not shown). The scanning speed can be
increased with simple adjustments to 4 sec/page or decreased to
several minutes per page to accommodate different transmission
bandwidths.
The optical path from a single point on the scanning line 16 to the
image of that point of the surface of the CCID 17 consists of a
conical bundle of rays between the point on the scanning line and
the lens 15 and a second conical bundle of rays between the lens 15
and the image of the point on the surface of the CCID. The totality
of all such bundles of rays originating on the scanning line and
passing through the lens aperture occupies a volume of space which
is relatively flat and thin and which at no point is thicker than
the lens aperture. Similarly, the totality of all bundles of rays
passing through the lens aperture and incident upon the
light-sensitive region of the CCID occupies a volume of space which
is relatively flat and thin and which at no point is thicker than
the lens aperture. By using relatively long and narrow mirrors to
fold the optical path between the scanning line and the lens
aperture and possibly by using mirrors to fold the optical path
between the lens and the detector, the maximum dimensions of the
carriage can be made relatively small. Thus, also in accordance
with the invention, the optical path is folded by a plurality
(e.g., four) front surface relatively long and narrow mirrors
18a-d, preferably of decreasing length to conserve space and
weight, and directed to the lens 15 for focusing the scanning line
16 onto the linear CCID 17. The entire optics, illuminating lamp 14
and three electronic circuit boards are fully contained in the
scanning assembly 13, which is a movable and enclosed carriage. In
this example, the dimensions of the carriage are 8 cm (H) .times.
23 cm (W) .times. 11 cm (L); the dimensions of the four mirrors are
about 1 cm (W) .times. 17 cm (L) (18a), 0.7 cm (W) .times. 13 cm
(L) (18b), 1.5 cm (W) .times. 8 cm (L) (18c), and 2 cm (W) .times.
4 cm (L) (18d). The carriage is supported on a pair of tracks 29 by
rollers 24 and translated along the tracks by a servomotor drive
system 23 to obtain the end-to-end scan. The entire scanner is
housed in a 10 cm (H) .times. 25 cm (W) .times. 43 cm (L) box 20
with a 22 cm .times. 28 cm glass window 11 on top.
External to the scanner box is an auxiliary box (not shown), having
dimensions, for example, of 10 cm (H) .times. 25 cm (W) .times. 12
cm (L), which houses all of the necessary power supplies (not
shown), low-pass notch filter 80 for properly conditioning the
video signal, and various connections to remote controls and
signalling. The auxiliary box can either be connected at connector
25 as a plug-in to the main scanner box or remotely from the main
box using a multiple wire cable.
1. MECHANICAL DETAILS
The carriage is guided in the scanner box by a set of three-bearing
rollers 24 to provide smooth rolling motion (y) with substantially
no side-play (.DELTA..sub.x), bounce (.DELTA..sub.z), pitch
(.DELTA..theta..sub.x) or roll (.DELTA..theta..sub.y). The movement
of the carriage is controlled by a figure-eight cable loop 22
driven by a servomotor 23 with carriage position sensing. The cable
is attached to the carriage on two sides to restrict play in the
scan direction (.DELTA..sub.y) and to restrict carriage yaw
(.DELTA..theta..sub.z). The drive pulley of the cable is threaded
and locked to the cable to prevent slippage. The carriage position
readout is a multiturn potentiometer (not shown) attached to the
pulley shaft providing a linear one-to-one relationship of the
potentiometer resistance to the carriage y-position. The
pulley-potentiometer-shaft is driven by the miniature permanent
magnet DC servomotor 23 via a worm gear set and a slip clutch. The
slip clutch prevents damage to both the drive mechanism and the
carriage in the event that the carriage motion is accidentally
blocked. The worm gear set provides a compact, minimum play gearing
system to reduce a high speed (6000 rpm) motor to the relatively
low speed (30 rpm) pulley speed during scanning. The minimum travel
time is about 4 sees, limited by the servomotor power supply
capacity, and is used mainly for retrace.
2. OPTICS
An f/4 enlarging lens having a 28-mm focal length conveniently
serves as the imaging lens 15. The 1500 element CCID 17 is 24 mm
long and is located in the image plane. The length of the optical
path from a 22 cm scanning line 16 to the lens is about 28 cm.
However, as described earlier in accordance with one aspect of the
invention, the optical path is folded to reduce the height of a
flatbed scanner that would otherwise be required to accommodate a
28 cm optical path. In this embodiment, the path is folded by four
mirrors 18a-d, which permits scanning assembly, or carriage, 13 to
be reduced to a height of 8 cm. It will be appreciated, of course,
that by a different arrangement of the mirrors, or by the use of
additional mirrors, a further reduction in the height of the
carriage 13 and scanner case 20 can be effected. Alternative means
using a plurality of mirrors other than those shown in FIG. 3 for
folding the optic path can easily be envisioned. Also, the mirrors
may be of the focusing type, to eliminate lens 15, if desired.
The mirrors are conveniently aligned with a laser beam alignment
jig and are bonded to the carriage frame 13. The linear CCID 17 is
bonded to a mount 30 which is supported by a holder 31 (FIG. 3).
Minor misalignment corrections can be achieved by sliding the mount
30 in the holder 31.
The scanning line 16 being imaged is illuminated by a cold-cathode
warm white fluorescent lamp 14. The lamp is 8 mm in diameter bent
into a U-shape. The lamp is excited by a 1000 V DC power supply
(not shown) with a variable ballast resistor switchable (by a lamp
control signal generated in control electronics 70) from 20
K.OMEGA. to 160 K.OMEGA.. A DC power supply is preferred, since it
minimizes flicker usually associated with 60 hertz power supplies.
The lamp is self-starting and normally idles at 3.5 mA of
excitation current at a luminosity of 0.6 mW/cm.sup.2 at the
document. During the retrace and scanning cycle, a high voltage
transistor is switched into the circuit and shorts out 140 K.OMEGA.
of series resistor; this turns the lamp on to high intensity at a
luminosity of 3.2 mW/cm.sup.2 and draws 20 mA of current.
Shielding (not shown) is used so that only light reflected from the
scanning line can enter the enclosed part of the carriage 13.
Direct light from the fluorescent lamp and light reflected from the
underside of the horizontal glass plate cannot enter the
carriage.
By partially masking the fluorescent lamp near the middle of the
scanning line, the illumination of the central part of the scanning
line can be reduced below that at the ends of the scanning line in
such a way that white areas at the ends of the scanning line
produce the same signal level from the CCID as white areas at the
center of the scanning line.
3. ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
The major circuits are conveniently constructed on four circuit
boards: the logic 40, driver 50, preamp 60 and control 70 boards.
All boards are approximately 5 cm .times. 7.5 cm in size. The first
three boards are mounted in the carriage 13. The movement of this
carriage end-to-end by the servomotor permits scanning a succession
of parallel lines over the length of the page. Interconnection of
the circuit boards and lamp is made to external power supplies by
cable 26, which terminates at connectors 25 and 28.
The function and performance of each board as employed in an
operational version of a compact flatbed page scanner constructed
in accordance with the invention are now described. Details of the
particular circuits would be readily apparent to the skilled worker
in the art and hence are omitted.
a. Logic Circuit Board
The logic board 40 is constructed exclusively with digital TTL
(transistor-transistor logic) electronics. As shown in FIG. 4, its
function is separated into high frequency clock 41, four
overlapping phase clock generators (.phi..sub.1 -.phi..sub.4) 42,
for sequentially biasing the scanning circuitry on the CCID 17,
phase start-stop control 43, a binary counter 44 to count the
number of clock doublets (four-phase/two-picture elements), and a
decoder section 45 to start and stop certain events, such as video
blanking, horizontal synchronization pulse (horiz sync),
parallel-to-serial transfer gating (.phi..sub.5), and image store
gating (.phi..sub.6) at proper timing sequences which are based on
the contents of the binary counter. The Table below illustrates
these events at corresponding clock counts.
Table ______________________________________ CCID Drive Pulse
Timing Sequence Counter* Events
______________________________________ 0 .PHI..sub.1 - .PHI..sub.4
running 768 Blanking pulse goes high (.fwdarw.H) 1024 .PHI..sub.1 -
.PHI..sub.4 stops at (L.H.H.L.) relative phase Parallel-to-serial
gate (.PHI..sub.5).fwdarw.H 1025 Image store pulse
(.PHI..sub.6).fwdarw.L 1027 .PHI..sub.5 .fwdarw.L Horizontal sync
pulse .fwdarw.L 1028 Reset pulse on -- resets counter to 0 (cycle
repeats) .PHI..sub.1 - .PHI..sub.1 running Blanking pulse .fwdarw.L
.PHI..sub.6 .fwdarw.H Horizontal sync pulse .fwdarw.H
______________________________________ *Note: Each count
corresponds to the transfer of two picture elements for the
1500-element CCID
Since all timing is referenced to the high-frequency clock, a
change in scan speed is easily accomplished by a single adjustment
of the clock frequency. In the event that extremely stable
operation is required, the clock frequency can be derived from
crystal oscillators. In the case of transmission of video on a
high-speed synchronous digital channel, the high-frequency clock
can be phase-locked to the channel clock.
b. Driver Circuit Board
Since the CCID is an MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) device, its
driving signal levels are in general not compatible with the TTL
signal levels of the logic circuit board. Also, in order to achieve
maximum charge transfer efficiencies and minimum dark currents,
most of these levels, .phi..sub.1 -.phi..sub.6, must be
individually fine-tuned in both high and low states. There are DC
bias levels to the input gate, input diode, output gate, and output
diode on the CCID which must also be optimized. All these functions
are performed by the driver interface board 50. The driver
amplifiers for the four clock phases are pnp-npn complimentary
amplifiers capable of 30 V output into a 200 pF capacitor with a
rise and fall time of about 20 nsec. The periods of the clock
pulses are about 5 .mu.sec.
c. Preamp Circuit Board
The preamp circuit board 60 serves the function of amplifying the
relatively weak current arriving at the output terminal of the
serial charge-transferring CCID. The input from the CCID output
diode is AC capacitor-coupled to avoid problems associated with
small signals (less than 10 mV into 2 M.OMEGA.) riding on large DC
bias. Due to the AC coupling, the DC levels must be restored to
give video fidelity. This is accomplished during the horizontal
(side-to-side) retrace time when the signal output level is reduced
to the background noise level.
d. Control Logic Board
The control board 70 controls the motion of the end-to-end scan
servomotor drive 23. This board also generates vertical
synchronization (vert sync) signals for external controls and
synchronization. The board also intensifies the illuminating lamp
14 during scanning (normally, the lamp idles at low intensity, as
previously described, to prolong life, reduce heat, and insure
quick turn on to full intensity).
Scanning of the document is initiated by activation of the scan
switch 71, which is conveniently mounted on one end of the scanner
case 20, as shown in FIG. 2.
There are two modes of operation of the scanner. For each momentary
contact of the scan pushbutton switch 71, the carriage cycles once.
However, if the scan switch is held closed, the carriage can
repeatedly scan the same page for the purposes of adjustment and
initial setup and for producing multiple copies. A preset carriage
position switch may also be employed to move the carriage to an
adjustable preset position.
Upon closure of the scan switch by the operator after loading the
document to be copied or transmitted, the scanner first starts a 4
sec retrace cycle (a fast slew from the bottom to the top of the
page). This time could be used to preview the document being
scanned so as to provide an opportunity for presetting video level
and gain controls and for analyzing the spatial content of the
document. These features have not been implemented in the model
being described, however. The scanner carriage longitudinal
position can also be operated in an external control mode for
applications such as random access addressing. The scanning
linearity is better than 1 percent.
4. LOW-PASS NOTCH FILTER
The low-pass notch (LPN) filter 80 (housed in the auxiliary box) is
used at the output end of the video preamp to filter out the
non-video clock signal feedthrough (nominally at about 185 kHz) on
the top end of the video passband and also high-frequency noise
outside the video passband. To eliminate clock feethrough from the
CCID without losing too much video bandwidth, the notch frequency
is set on the clock frequency. Low-pass notch filters are described
in detail elsewhere and do not form a part of the invention; see
Vol. 51, Bell Laboratories Record, pp. 104-111 (April 1973).
5. PERFORMANCE
The scanner may communicate with various receivers, such as a laser
microrecorder as described in D. Maydan-M. I. Cohen-R. E. Kerwin
U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,784 issued Mar. 13, 1973. The scanner has also
been connected to a storage display unit (Tektronics Type 611). The
scanner provides sufficient resolution for scanning a typewritten
page for display on either of these display systems.
Calculations have been made of the resolution obtainable with this
scanner. These show that 6 pt spartan medium type (average lower
case letter size 0.8 .times. 0.8 mm) is resolvable.
* * * * *