TWM536823U - Image scanning apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Image scanning device

The present invention relates to an image scanning device, and more particularly to an image scanning device capable of controlling shadow brightness.

Conventional image scanning devices are generally used to scan a planar image of an object, so that the light source is designed to have a fixed angle and uniformly illuminate the surface of the object. However, when a conventional image scanning device is applied to an object having a height difference on a scanning surface, a contrasting strong or blunt shadow may be generated, so that the surface of the object may not be truly presented.

In view of this, it is an extremely urgent task to provide an image scanning device capable of controlling the brightness of a shadow.

The present invention provides an image scanning device that utilizes a first light source having a different light intensity and a second light source to control the brightness of a shadow in the scanned image.

The image scanning device of the embodiment of the present invention comprises a first light source, a second light source and an image capturing unit. The first light source provides a first light having a first light intensity to illuminate a surface of an object, wherein the surface has at least one surface height. The second light source provides a second light having a second light intensity to illuminate the surface, wherein the first light intensity is different from the second light intensity to form at least one shaded area on the surface. The image capturing unit is disposed on the same side of the surface as the first light source and the second light source, and the image capturing unit captures an image of the object.

In the following, the specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings are explained in detail, and it is easier to understand the purpose, technical content, characteristics and effects achieved by the present invention.

The various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In addition to the detailed description, the present invention may be widely practiced in other embodiments, and any alternatives, modifications, and equivalent changes of the described embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention. quasi. In the description of the specification, numerous specific details are set forth in the description of the invention. In addition, well-known steps or elements are not described in detail to avoid unnecessarily limiting the invention. The same or similar elements in the drawings will be denoted by the same or similar symbols. It is to be noted that the drawings are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the actual dimensions or quantities of the components. Some of the details may not be fully drawn in order to facilitate the simplicity of the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an image scanning device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first light source 10 , a second light source 20 , and an image capturing unit 30 . The first light source 10 provides a first light L1 having a first light intensity to illuminate a surface A1 of an object A; for example, the object A is a solid oil painting, stone grain or specimen having a high degree of scanning object. Wherein, the surface A1 has at least one surface height H1; for example, the surface A1 has a plurality of area surfaces A10, A11, A12, and the area surface A10 can be selected as a reference surface, and thus the surface height of the area surface A11 with respect to the area of the area surface A10 That is, H1, and the height of the surface of the area surface A12 with respect to the surface A10 of the area is H2, but is not limited thereto.

At the same time, the second light source providing 20 provides a second light L2 having a second light intensity to illuminate the surface A1, wherein the first light intensity of the first light L1 will be different from the second light intensity of the second light L2. Since the light intensities of the left and right light sources are different, the surface surfaces A11 and A12 having the surface heights H1 and H2 will form a plurality of shadows B1 and B2 on the surface A1. For example, the light sources of the first light source 10 and the second light source 20 have a fixed light intensity, or the relative value of the light intensity of the first light L1 can be set to 100% through the dimmer, and the light of the second light L2 is The relative value of the intensity is only 50%, so a plurality of shadows B1, B2 will be formed on the surface A1 near one side of the second light source 20. In one embodiment, the first light source 10 and the second light source 20 are disposed obliquely with respect to the surface A1 for obliquely illuminating the object A to generate a plurality of shadows B1 and B2 having different brightness levels on the surface A1. But not limited to this.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the first light source 10 , the second light source 20 , and the image capturing unit 30 are disposed on the same side of the surface A1 , and the image capturing unit 30 captures an image of the object A. For example, the image capturing unit 30 is disposed between the first light source 10 and the second light source 20 . In an embodiment, the image capturing unit comprises a linear photosensitive element or a one-sided photosensitive element. In one embodiment, the image capturing unit 30 includes a charge coupled device (CCD), which can be combined with a single lens or a lens group, but is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the image capturing unit 30 includes a contact image sensor (CIS), which requires only a plurality of tiny rod lenses to image and is closer to the object A, so that the light path of the illumination light L is greatly shortened. And directly improve the contrast of the scanned image.

It can be understood that this creation has many features and effects compared to the conventional technology, please refer to FIG. The conventional scanning device can only control the light intensity of the single light source 10 to adjust the overall brightness of the captured image. According to the design of the conventional scanning device, the user can reduce the brightness of the shadows B1 and B2 to deepen the shadow effect, only by The light intensity of the first light L1 is lowered to control the brightness of the shadows B1, B2, but the brightness of the area A10 at this time will also decrease at the same time, so that an overall scanned image with good contrast cannot be obtained. In contrast, the image scanning device according to an embodiment of the present invention utilizes a first light source 10 and a second light source 20 having different light intensities to control the brightness of the shadows B1 and B2 in the scanned image, and simultaneously adjust the overall scanned image. Brightness, thereby controlling its contrast. That is, the user can adjust the first light intensity and the second light intensity to generate the shadows B1 and B2, and the brightness of the area A10 does not decrease significantly with the brightness of the shadows B1 and B2, thereby maintaining the overall The scanned image has good contrast. In other words, the first light source 10 and the second light source 20 in the image scanning device of the present invention can form a soft illumination, that is, a softer shadow B1, B2.

In the above embodiment, the first light source and the second light source having different light intensities are used to generate a shadow effect in the scanned image. However, in some embodiments, the image scanning device can automatically adjust the first light source and the second light source. The light intensity, while maintaining good contrast, can still achieve the shadow imaging that the user wants to produce, as described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 , the image scanning device of the present embodiment includes a first light source 10 , a second light source 20 , an image capturing unit 30 , and a dimmer 40 . The first light source 10, the second light source 20, and the image capturing unit 30, the technical features of each component and the connection relationship between them are as described above, and details are not described herein. The dimmer 40 is electrically connected to the first light source 10 and the second light source 20. The dimmer 40 controls at least one of the first light intensity and the second light intensity according to a dimming signal. For example, the dimmer 40 is a pulse width modulation (PWM) dimmer, but is not limited thereto. In one embodiment, the dimmer 40 can set the light intensity of the second light L2 to 25% of the light intensity of the first light L1, thereby reducing the brightness of the shadows B1, B2 to make the shadow deeper.

Understandably, in special applications, the user wants to get a "hard" shadow instead of a soft shadow, which can also be realized by a dimmer. It can be understood that the outline of the "hard shadow" is clearer. The sharp, shaded areas are darker and have a higher contrast. Referring to FIG. 3, in an embodiment, the dimmer 40 approaches the brightness of the second light source 20 to zero, so that a harder shadow can be formed, which can be modified by a general knowledge, but not limit.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, in an embodiment, the image scanning device further includes a processing unit 50. The processing unit 50 is electrically connected to the dimmer 40 and the image capturing unit 30, and the processing unit 50 outputs the dimming signal to the dimmer according to the brightness information of the shadows B1 and B2 in the image acquired by the image capturing unit 30. 40. It can be understood that if the user is allowed to manually adjust the light intensity of the first light source and the second light source, it is easy to adjust to the optimized scan image setting due to the fatigue of the operator's eyes or the estimation of the loss. Therefore, in the embodiment, the image scanning device receives the image of the image capturing unit 30 by the processing unit 50, and feedbacks the light intensity of the first light source and the second light source to control the contrast and imaging of the scanned image. The brightness of the shadows gives you a scanned image with good shadow and contrast.

Referring to FIG. 4, in an embodiment, a driving unit (not shown) is connected to the image capturing unit 30, and the driving unit drives the image capturing unit 30 to move along the scanning direction Y to scan the object A. For example, the driving unit further includes a link assembly (not shown) connected to the image capturing unit 30. In another embodiment, the first light source 10 and the second light source 20 are connected to the driving unit through the link assembly, and the object A can be scanned synchronously with the image capturing unit 30 to obtain a scanned image with higher contrast. Those who have the usual knowledge can modify the transformation by themselves, but not limited to this.

In another embodiment, the image scanning system further includes a platform 60 having a light transmissive material, wherein the object A is disposed on the platform 60. For example, the image capturing unit 30 and the object A are respectively disposed on opposite sides of the platform 60 to implement a reflective image scanning device.

In summary, the image scanning system of the present invention utilizes a first light source and a second light source having different light intensities to control the brightness of the shadow in the scanned image, and simultaneously control the contrast of the scanned image. Therefore, the image scanning system of the present invention can scan a shadow image of the surface height of an object to provide a wider scanning application for the user, for example, to apply a high degree of oil painting, stone pattern or specimen scanning, but not Limited.

The embodiments described above are only for explaining the technical idea and characteristics of the present invention, and the purpose thereof is to enable those skilled in the art to understand the contents of the present invention and implement them according to the scope of the patent. That is, the equivalent changes or modifications made by the people in accordance with the spirit revealed by this creation should still be covered by the scope of the patent of this creation.

A‧‧‧ objects
A1, A10, A11, A12‧‧‧ surface
B1, B2‧‧ shadow
L1‧‧‧First light
L2‧‧‧second light
H1, H2‧‧‧ surface height
Y‧‧‧ scan direction
10‧‧‧First light source
20‧‧‧second light source
30‧‧‧Image capture unit
40‧‧‧Dimmer
50‧‧‧Processing unit
60‧‧‧ platform

1 is a schematic view showing an image scanning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an image scanning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an image scanning apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a schematic view showing an image scanning apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

A‧‧‧ objects

A1, A10, A11, A12‧‧‧ surface

B1, B2‧‧ shadow

L1‧‧‧First light

L2‧‧‧second light

H1, H2‧‧‧ surface height

10‧‧‧First light source

20‧‧‧second light source

30‧‧‧Image capture unit

Claims (10)

An image scanning device comprising: a first light source for providing a first light having a first light intensity to illuminate a surface of an object, wherein the surface has at least one surface height; and a second light source Providing a second light having a second light intensity to illuminate the surface, wherein the first light intensity is different from the second light intensity to form at least one shaded area on the surface; and an image capture The unit is disposed on the same side of the surface as the first light source and the second light source for capturing an image of the object. The image scanning device of claim 1, further comprising: a dimmer electrically connected to the first light source and the second light source to control the first light intensity and the first according to a dimming signal At least one of the two light intensities. The image scanning device of claim 2, wherein the dimmer is a pulse width modulation (PWM) dimmer. The image scanning device of claim 2, further comprising: a processing unit electrically connected to the dimmer and the image capturing unit for outputting the dimming according to the brightness information of the shaded area in the image Signal to the dimmer. The image scanning device of claim 1, further comprising: a driving unit for driving the image capturing unit to move relative to the object to scan the object. The image scanning device of claim 1, wherein the image capturing unit is disposed between the first light source and the second light source. The image scanning device of claim 1, wherein the first light source and the second light source are disposed obliquely with respect to the surface. The image scanning device of claim 1, wherein the image capturing unit comprises a charge coupled device or a contact image sensor. The image scanning device of claim 1, wherein the image capturing unit comprises a linear photosensitive element or a one-sided photosensitive element. The image scanning device of claim 1, further comprising a platform, the platform having a light transmissive material, wherein the object is disposed on the platform.