JPH02131068A - Read scanning unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for the use of an expensive Selfoc lens and to reduce a cost by providing an optical guide path whose optical axis is in parallel with a substrate face and having a face with a metal vapor-deposited thereto tilted by 45 deg. with respect to the substrate face. CONSTITUTION:An LED 7 lights up an original 16 and the light having the information of the face of the original 16 is led upward through a guide path 8, the light is bent by a metal vapor-deposit face 8a having an angle of 45 deg. with respect to a photosensor substrate 9 and led to a photosensor 10. A signal from the photosensor 10 is sent to a circuit board 11 via an elastic connector 12. The waveguide path 8 consists of a core 18 having a high refractive index and a clad 17 with a low refractive index and the light is propagated in the core 18 while being reflected totally. Then the light reflected in the metal vapor- deposit face 8a is led to the sensor 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reading and scanning unit used in facsimiles, image scanners, and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, close-contact image sensors using SELFOC lenses (manufactured by Nippon Sheet Glass) have become widely used as reading scanning units.

An example of the above-mentioned conventional reading and scanning unit will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a contact type image sensor using a SELFOC lens, where 1 is a SELFOC lens, 2 is an LED, 3 is a photosensor board, 3a is a photosensor, 4 is a circuit board, and 5 is a base. , 6 are manuscripts. The original 6 is illuminated by the LED 2, and reflected light having information on the surface of the original 6 is guided by the SELFOC lens 1 to the sensor 3a on the sensor board 3.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above configuration, the SELFOC lens used in the optical system must have an accurate refractive index distribution in the diametrical direction of the lens, the manufacturing equipment is complicated, and the manufacturing takt time is low. Long and expensive.

Further, a process of inserting and fixing the lens into each lens holding hole of the frame member so that the optical axis direction thereof is accurately oriented is required, further increasing the cost. In addition, in order to obtain predetermined imaging characteristics, the shape of the SLA is difficult to reduce;
Cannot be made compact as a unit.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a photosensor substrate on which photosensor electrodes are provided, the optical axis is parallel to the substrate surface, and metal is vapor-deposited on the substrate surface. 45 against
The optical waveguide is characterized by having an optical waveguide having a plane of .

Function The present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, and is arranged at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the substrate surface.
Light containing the information of the document is incident from the end of the waveguide, which has a surface on which metal is vapor-deposited at an angle of , and the optical axis is parallel to the substrate surface. 90
The light is bent and incident on the photosensor on the photosensor substrate, and information is transmitted. Since this low-cost optical waveguide functions as an optical system like a SELFOC lens, the cost of the reading scanning unit can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, the shorter the optical waveguide, the better the characteristics, so it is easier to make the unit more compact.

Embodiment A reading scanning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a reading scanning unit in an embodiment. In FIG. 1, 7 is an LED, 8 is an optical waveguide, 8a is a metal vapor deposition surface, 9 is a photosensor substrate,
10 is a photo sensor, 11 is a circuit board, 12 is an elastic connector, 13 is a base, 14 is a light shielding cover, 15 is a presser plate, and 16 is a manuscript.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the reading scanning unit in the embodiment, and 17 is the cladding part of the waveguide 8;
18 is a core part of the waveguide 8, 19 is a connection electrode, and 20 is a covering sheet such as microsheet glass for improving wear resistance, which is used to prevent the waveguide 8 from being worn out due to contact with the surface of the original 16. It is. 21 indicates an optical axis.

The operation of the reading scanning unit configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

By illuminating the original 16 with the LED 7, light having information on the original 16 surface is guided upward by the waveguide 8, and the light is bent by the metal vapor deposition surface 8a having an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the photosensor substrate 9. , photosensor 10
guided by. A signal from the photosensor 10 is sent to the circuit board 11 via the elastic connector 12.

The waveguide 8 is composed of a core portion 18 with a high refractive index and a cladding portion 17 with a low refractive index, and light travels through the core portion 18 while being totally reflected. And metal vapor deposition surface 8a
The light reflected by the sensor 10-1 is guided to the sensor 10-1. At this time, by setting the pitch of the core portions 18 of the optical waveguide 8 to 125 μm or less, the information on the surface of the original 16 can be clearly read by the photosensor 10. This optical waveguide can be manufactured at relatively low cost by appropriately selecting the core material and cladding material. Moreover, this device has almost the same reading performance (resolution, etc.) as the reading scanning unit that applies the SELFOC lens, which is currently used mainly in facsimile machines.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the optical axis 21 is parallel to the surface of the substrate 9, and metal is vapor-deposited on the photosensor substrate 9 on which the photosensor 10, electrodes 19, etc. are provided.
By providing an optical waveguide 8 having a surface 8a at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the surface, information on the 16 sides of the original can be transmitted to the photosensor 10.
Since it is possible to transmit information on a one-to-one basis and the reading scanning unit can be configured, there is no need to use an expensive SELFOC lens (a low-cost reading scanning unit can be obtained. Also, it can be made compact like SLA). Since there are no difficult parts, it can be easily made compact as a unit.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention can transmit information on the document surface to the photosensor on a one-to-one basis, and can configure a reading scanning unit, so there is no need to use an expensive Selfoc lens. A low cost reading and scanning unit can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a reading scanning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of its essential parts, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional reading scanning unit. 8... Optical waveguide, 8a... Metal vapor deposition surface, 9... Photo sensor substrate, 10...
Photo sensor, 21... Optical axis.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The optical waveguide is provided on a photosensor substrate on which a photosensor, electrodes, etc. are provided, and whose optical axis is parallel to the substrate surface and where metal is vapor-deposited and whose surface is at an angle of 45 degrees to the substrate surface. Read scanning unit.