JPH1062707A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To read images with simple constitution at high accuracy by controlling the reflected light from an original for reading so as to make the light incident on a light quantity detecting element by successively changing over the directions of the reflection surfaces of the respective reflection sections of a reflection type spatial optical modulation element. SOLUTION: The light from a light source 12 of an image reader 10 is condensed to the original 16 for reading by a condensing optical system 14 and is imaged and is made incident on the reflection type spatial optical modulation element 20 by an imaging optical system 18. The reflected light of the incident light on the reflection type spatial optical modulation element 20 is partly made incident on the light quantity detecting element 21 by the control of the reflection type spatial optical modulation element 20. At this time, the reflection type spatial optical modulation element 20 is fixed and the transmission wavelength of the light source 12 is changed by successively rotating a color filter 13 and the reflected light quantity is detected by the light quantity detecting element 21 in synchronization therewith, by which the reading of the images is executed while the colors of respective pixels are separated to R (red), G (green) and B (blue). Then, the reading of the color images is executed with the simple constitution at the high accuracy by utilizing the reflection type spatial optical modulation element 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image reading apparatus, CC
An image reading device using a D (charge coupled device) and a contact image sensor, and an image reading device using a polygon scanner used for an electrophotographic method for reading an image have been developed.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-6577 proposes an image processing apparatus which forms an image using a reflective spatial light modulator.

[0004]

However, CC
D: Although the contact image sensor is small, it can only be used for reading an image and cannot be used for other purposes such as writing an image.

Further, the polygon scanner has an advantage that it can be used for both writing a latent image and reading an image in an electrophotographic system, but has a disadvantage that it is difficult to obtain high reading accuracy because it is driven by a motor.

On the other hand, in the image processing apparatus described in JP-A-62-6577, the reflective spatial light modulator is used only for image formation, and cannot read an image.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an image which can be read with high accuracy by a relatively simple structure using a reflective spatial light modulator. It is an object to provide a reading device.

[0008]

In order to achieve this object, an image reading apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a light source for irradiating light to a reading original, and a reflected light from the reading original. -Type spatial light modulator in which a plurality of reflectors for inputting light are swingably arranged and supported, and a light-amount detector for detecting the amount of reflected light reflected from each reflector of the reflective-type spatial light modulator And control means for sequentially switching the direction of the reflection surface of each reflection portion of the reflection type spatial light modulation element and controlling the reflected light from the reading original to enter the light quantity detection element. . Therefore, the light source irradiates the reading original with light, and the reflection type spatial light modulator enters reflected light from the reading original. Then, the control means sequentially switches the direction of the reflection surface of each reflection portion of the reflection type spatial light modulation element, and controls the reflected light from the reading original to be incident on the light quantity detection element. The image of the reading original can be read by detecting the incident light by the detecting element.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading apparatus, comprising: a light source; and a reflection type spatial light modulation element in which a plurality of reflection portions for receiving light emitted from the light source are swingably arranged and supported. Control means for sequentially switching the direction of the reflection surface of each reflection portion of the reflection-type spatial light modulation element so as to reflect the light from the light source and irradiate the light on the original for reading; and reflection from the original for reading. A light amount detecting element for detecting the light amount of light. Therefore, the light source irradiates the reflective spatial light modulation element with light, and the control means sequentially switches the direction of the reflective surface of each reflective portion of the reflective spatial light modulator to reflect the light from the light source. And irradiates the original for reading. Then, the light amount detecting element can read the image of the reading original by detecting the amount of reflected light from the reading original.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus, the reflective spatial light modulator is configured by arranging a plurality of reflective portions two-dimensionally. Therefore, it is possible to read the entire image of the reading original without relatively moving the reading original and the reflective spatial light modulator.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus, the reflection type spatial light modulator is configured by arranging a plurality of reflection portions in a one-dimensional manner. A moving means for relatively moving the spatial light modulating element in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the reflecting portions; Therefore, by repeating the one-dimensional reading of the image in the arrangement direction of the reflection section and the relative movement of the read document and the reflective spatial light modulator by the moving means, the entire document for reading is read. Images can be read.

The image reading apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the light source includes color changing means for selectively irradiating light of a plurality of specific colors, and the color of the light to irradiate the reading original. Are sequentially switched by the color changing means to read an image, thereby reading a color image. Therefore, the color changing means can read a color image by selectively irradiating a plurality of lights of a specific color, and sequentially switching to read the image.

In the image reading apparatus according to the present invention, the light source may be constituted by a white light source, and the color changing means may be constituted by a plurality of switchable color filters provided near the white light source. Have been. Therefore, by switching the color filters, light of a specific color can be emitted with a simple configuration.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The image reading apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment
As shown in FIG. 1, the light source 12 includes a light source 12, a color filter 13, a condensing optical system 14, a reading document 16, an image forming optical system 18, a reflective spatial light modulator 20, and a light amount detector 21.

The color filter 13 includes red 13R, green 13G,
It is composed of blue 13B and is configured to selectively transmit only light of a specific color by being rotated by a motor (not shown).

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the reflection type spatial light modulator 20 comprises a swingable reflection element 22, address electrodes 24a and 24b, and a ground electrode 26. Further, each of the reflection elements 22 corresponds to 1 in the read image.
It corresponds to a pixel. Incidentally, the reflection element 22 constitutes the reflection section of the present invention.

The reflection element 22, the address electrodes 24a, 2
4b, the ground electrode 26 can be formed by etching aluminum by a method such as plasma.

A bias voltage VB is applied to the reflection element 22 and the ground electrode 26. First, the address electrode 24
When the voltage of VB + .DELTA.V is applied to a, the reflection element 22 swings to the left and the voltage of the address electrode 24a is returned to VB. Then, when the voltage of VB + .DELTA.V is applied to the address electrode 24b, the reflection element 22 is reflected. Swings downward. By applying voltages φa and φb as shown in FIG. 3 to the address electrodes 24a and 24b, respectively, the reflection element swings continuously. When light is incident from a specific direction, the light can be modulated by swinging the reflection element 22.

Here, it is also possible to form the reflection element 22 from a magnetic material, and to swing the reflection element 22 by a magnetic field generated when a current flows through the wiring of the aluminum pattern.

The swing of the reflection element 22 can be controlled by writing data in a static RAM disposed immediately below the reflection type spatial light modulation element 20 (not shown). As an example, when the static RAM and the reflection elements 22 are two-dimensionally arranged as shown in FIG. 4, when "1" is written in the static RAM, the reflection element 22 makes incident light incident on the light quantity detection element 21. If the incident light does not enter the light amount detection element in the case of “0”, the array is specified by writing 0 to the data of all the storage elements and writing 1 to the storage portion corresponding to the reflection element at a specific position. It is possible to detect the data of the pixels of the part. As an example, assuming that all data in FIG. 4 is "0", (m-1, n-1)
By writing "1" only to the data of (m-1, n-
Pixel data corresponding to 1) can be read.

Further, by sequentially controlling the reflection element 22 as described above, a two-dimensional image can be converted into serial signal data as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a case where the light quantity detection element 21 can detect four levels of light quantity, where Δt is a time interval for switching the reflection element.

Next, the details of the above control contents are shown in the flowchart of FIG. The following operation is executed according to a program stored in advance in the ROM of the CPU that controls the respective components.

First, the original 16 for reading is set (S
102: S represents a step, the same applies hereinafter), and then the color filter 13 is set at an initial position so that, for example, the light of the light source 12 passes through the red 13R (S104). Next, the reflective spatial light modulator 20 is initialized by writing “0” into, for example, a static RAM (S10).
6). Next, measurement is started by writing "1" to the initial position of the reflective spatial light modulator 20, for example, (1, 1) of the array (S108). At this time, the reflected light amount of the specific pixel of the document 16 is detected by the light amount detection element 22 (S
110), then measure the pixels in the next row (S112, S112)
114: N). When the row for one column ends (S114:
Y), the process moves to the next column (S116, S118: N), and when all columns are completed (S118: Y), the red measurement is completed. Next, the same measurement is repeated by changing the color filter 13 (S120, S122: N). When all the color filters to be measured are completed (S122: Y), the measurement is completed. Note that S106 to S118 function as control means of the present invention.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the image reading apparatus 10 condenses the light from the light source 12 on the read original 16 by the condensing optical system 14 and the reflection type spatial light modulating element by the imaging optical system 18. An image is formed and incident on 20. A part of the reflected light of the light incident on the reflection type spatial light modulation element 20 is incident on the light quantity detection element 21 by the control of the reflection type spatial light modulation element 20. Here, the reflection type spatial light modulator 20 is fixed, the color filter 13 is sequentially rotated to change the transmission wavelength of the light source 12, and in synchronization with this, the amount of reflected light is detected by the light amount detection element 21 so that Pixel color is R (red), G
(Green) and B (blue) can be read out of the image. Therefore, a high-precision color image can be read with a relatively simple configuration using the reflective spatial light modulator 20.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in detail above, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the light source 12 illuminates the entire original 16 to be read, and only a portion corresponding to one pixel of the reflected light is incident on the light quantity detecting element 21 by the reflective spatial light modulator 20. However, the arrangement of the reading document 16 and the reflective spatial light modulator 20 can be exchanged to form the image reading apparatus 11 shown in FIG. In this case, the light from the light source 12 is applied to the entire reflection type spatial light modulation element 20, and the specific reflection element 22 of the reflection type spatial light modulation element 20 is controlled in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment to thereby control the specific type. The light of only the pixel portion is incident on the original 16 for reading, and the reflected light from the original 16 is detected by the light amount detecting element 21 so that the content of each pixel can be detected in series.

In the above-described embodiment, the reflection type spatial light modulation element 20 is formed by arranging the reflection elements 22 two-dimensionally.
The reflective element 22 is arranged one-dimensionally, and a transport mechanism for transporting the reading original 16 in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the reflective element 22 is separately provided, and the arrangement direction of the image reflective element 22 is provided. By repeating the one-dimensional reading in and the transport of the original 16 by one pixel column by the transport mechanism, an image of the entire original 16 can be read. The transport mechanism constitutes the moving means of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the reading of a color image has been described.
It is also possible to configure as a monochrome reading device without using the above.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, the image reading apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a light source for irradiating light to a reading original, and a reflected light from the reading original. A reflective spatial light modulation element in which a plurality of reflecting portions to be swingably arranged and supported, and a light amount detecting element for detecting the amount of reflected light reflected from each reflecting portion of the reflective spatial light modulating device, Control means for sequentially switching the direction of the reflection surface of each reflection portion of the reflection-type spatial light modulation element so as to control the reflected light from the original for reading to be incident on the light quantity detection element. Therefore, a highly accurate image can be read with a relatively simple configuration using the reflective spatial light modulator. In addition, it is possible to read an image with a smaller number of light quantity detection elements than the number of each reflection element of the reflection type spatial light modulation element. Further, it is also possible to configure the reflection type spatial light modulation element so as to also serve as image writing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading apparatus, comprising: a light source; and a reflection type spatial light modulation element in which a plurality of reflection portions for receiving light emitted from the light source are swingably arranged and supported. Control means for sequentially switching the direction of the reflection surface of each reflection portion of the reflection-type spatial light modulation element so as to reflect the light from the light source and irradiate the light on the original for reading; and reflection from the original for reading. A light amount detecting element for detecting the light amount of light. Therefore, a highly accurate image can be read with a relatively simple configuration using the reflective spatial light modulator. In addition, it is possible to read an image with a smaller number of light quantity detection elements than the number of each reflection element of the reflection type spatial light modulation element. Further, it is also possible to configure the reflection type spatial light modulation element so as to also serve as image writing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus, the reflective spatial light modulator is configured by arranging a plurality of reflective portions in a two-dimensional manner. Therefore, it is possible to read the entire image of the reading original without relatively moving the reading original and the reflective spatial light modulator.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus, the reflection type spatial light modulator is configured by arranging a plurality of reflection portions in a one-dimensional manner. A moving means for relatively moving the spatial light modulating element in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the reflecting portions; Therefore, it is possible to configure the image reading apparatus by using the one-dimensionally arranged reflective spatial light modulators having a simpler configuration.

In the image reading apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the light source includes a color changing unit for selectively irradiating a plurality of specific color lights, and the color of the light irradiating the reading original is changed. Are sequentially switched by the color changing means to read an image, thereby reading a color image. Therefore, the color changing means can read a color image by selectively irradiating a plurality of lights of a specific color, and sequentially switching to read the image.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image reading apparatus, the light source includes a white light source, and the color changing unit includes a plurality of switchable color filters provided near the white light source. Have been. Therefore, by switching the color filters, light of a specific color can be emitted with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a configuration of an image reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a reflective spatial light modulator.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing a method of controlling the swing of the reflection element of the reflection type spatial light modulation element.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the arrangement of the reflection elements of the reflection type spatial light modulation element.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an output of a light amount detection element.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an image reading process.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a configuration of an image reading apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image reading apparatus 11 Image reading apparatus 12 Light source 13 Color filter 16 Reading original 20 Reflection type spatial light modulation element 21 Light quantity detection element 22 Reflection element

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A light source for irradiating light to a document to be read, a reflective spatial light modulator in which a plurality of reflecting portions for receiving reflected light from the document to be read are swingably arranged and supported, The reading original is switched by sequentially switching the direction of the light amount detecting element for detecting the amount of reflected light reflected from each reflecting portion of the spatial light modulating element and the reflecting surface of each reflecting portion of the reflective spatial light modulating element. Control means for controlling the reflected light from the light source to enter the light quantity detection element. 2. A light source, a reflective spatial light modulator in which a plurality of reflectors for receiving light emitted from the light source are swingably arranged and supported, and a reflective spatial light modulator of the reflective spatial light modulator. Control means for sequentially switching the direction of the reflecting surface to control the light from the light source to reflect and irradiate the document for reading, and a light amount detecting element for detecting the light amount of the reflected light from the document for reading An image reading apparatus comprising: 3. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the reflection type spatial light modulation device is configured by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of reflection portions. 4. The reflection type spatial light modulation device is configured by arranging a plurality of reflection portions one-dimensionally, and when reading an image, the reading document and the reflection type spatial light modulation device are connected to each other by the reflection portion. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a moving unit configured to relatively move in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light source further includes a color changing unit for selectively irradiating a plurality of light of a specific color, and the color of the light irradiating the reading document is sequentially switched by the color changing unit. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus is configured to read a color image. 6. The light source according to claim 5, wherein the light source comprises a white light source, and the color changing means comprises a plurality of switchable color filters provided near the white light source. An image reading device according to claim 1.