Hand-held scanner with a speed control device
AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsNobuo Nakayama, Kenzi Nagamine, Kazuya Ueda, Fuminari Saito
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hand-held scanner, namely, a hand-operated optical reader, capable of selectively and partially reading a necessary portion of a document. The hand-held scanner is equipped with a speed control device capable of producing a load for controlling the moving speed of the hand-operated scanning unit for approximate uniform motion to enable a compact and inexpensive apparatus to reproduce an original picture easily and accurately.
Claims16
A hand-held scanner moved on a document by a motive force given by an operator for inputting an image on the document, comprising:
- a scanning unit comprising a light source for emitting light to irradiate the document, and means for converting reflected light from the document to electric signals;
- a guide roller mounted on the scanning unit and rolling on the document by the motive force given by the operator to move the scanning unit;
- and
- speed control means coupled to the guide roller for producing a resistance force in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the guide roller when the guide roller is rolled on the document and the speed of rotation of the guide roller exceeds a predetermined rotating speed thereby controlling the scanner to move at a constant speed.
A hand-held scanner used by manual movement thereof over the surface of a document to be copied, comprising:
- a scanning unit comprising a light source for transmitting light onto the surface of the document to be copied, means for converting light reflected from the document into electrical signals and a casing in which said light source and said converting means are housed;
- at least one guide roller rotatably mounted on said casing, said at least one guide roller having a cylindrical outer surface which rolls in contact with the surface of the document to be copied when said scanning unit is moved manually across the document to be copied;
- and
- speed control means disposed on said casing and connected to said at least one guide roller for producing a force resisting rotation of said at least one guide roller when the speed of rotation of said at least one guide roller exceeds a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.