Optical scanning device and optical reading system provided with the optical scanning device
AssigneeOlympus Corporation
InventorAkifumi Kabeya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical scanning device according to an embodiment of the present invention has a support spring composed of S-shaped leaf springs. The support spring is bent at the middle, providing an L-shaped spring, which is composed of two independently working components. One component dominantly biases the scanning mirror body. The other component dominantly swings the scanning mirror body. So configured, the support spring restricts a motion of the shaft around which the scanning mirror body swings, and biases the scanning mirror body onto the shaft and inhibits the body from moving in the axial direction of the shaft.
Claims20
An optical scanning device having:
- a scanning mirror which has a plane mirror configured to reflect an incident light beam and direct the light beam toward an object existing in front of the device, and a concave mirror configured to receive and condense the light beam reflected by the object;
- a scanning mirror body which holds the scanning mirror and which is mounted on a shaft implanted in a base;
- a drive mechanism which swings the scanning mirror body around the shaft;
- and
- a support spring which is secured, at one end, to a back of the scanning mirror body and, at the other end, to a fastening member implanted in the base and which has a plurality of bent parts, each shaped like a plate and having a surface intersecting at right angles with a direction in which the scanning mirror body swings.
An optical reading system comprising:
- a light source which emits a light beam;
- a deflecting mirror which deflects the light beam emitted from the light source;
- an optical scanning device which keeps swinging and directing the light toward an object, thereby scanning the object with the light beam, and which receives and condenses the light beam reflected by the object;
- and
- an optical detecting unit which receives the reflected light condensed by the optical scanning device,
- the optical scanning device having:
- a scanning mirror which has a plane mirror configured to reflect an incident light beam and direct the light beam toward an object existing in front of the device, and a concave mirror configured to receive and condense the light beam reflected by the object;
- a scanning mirror body which holds the scanning mirror and which is mounted on a shaft implanted in a base;
- a drive mechanism which swings the scanning mirror body around the shaft;
- and
- a support spring which is secured, at one end, to a back of the scanning mirror body and, at the other end, to a fastening member implanted in the base and which has a plurality of bent parts, each shaped like a plate and having a surface intersecting at right angles with a direction in which the scanning mirror body swings.
An optical reading system having:
- a light source which emits a laser beam;
- a plane mirror which reflects the laser beam emitted from the light source, directing the laser beam toward an object;
- a support spring which is secured at one end to the plane mirror and at the other end to a fastening member;
- a drive mechanism which swings the plane mirror around a shaft;
- and
- a photodetector which receives a light reflected from the object,
- the support spring having a leaf-spring part arranged in a plane that intersects at right angles with a direction in which the scanning mirror swings, having a rectangular cross section whose long sides extend parallel to the shaft around which the scanning mirror swings, and being bent several times in that plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.