Picture reading apparatus with flaring light elimination capability

A picture reading apparatus which comprises:

• a housing;
• a light source located in said housing and emitting light wherein said light source comprises an array of light emitting diodes;
• a contact glass against which a document is positionable wherein said light emitting diodes emit light towards said contact glass so that the document is scanned by the emitted light along a main scanning line;
• a lens array in which a plurality of lenses are arranged consecutively at equal intervals therebetween along the main scanning line, each of said plurality of lenses converging a reflected light which is reflected from the document through the contact glass;
• a roof mirror array, located in said housing and positioned substantially perpendicularly to the light source, in which a plurality of roof-like reflection surfaces reflecting the converged light from the lens array back to the lens array are arranged, corresponding to said plurality of lenses, at equal intervals therebetween along the main scanning line;
• a restricting plate provided between said lens array and said roof mirror array and eliminating flaring light between adjacent lenses of said lens array wherein said roof mirror array and said lens array are accommodated in said housing to form a roof mirror lens array;
• a sensor located on said housing and receiving the converged light reflected by said roof mirror array, said sensor converting said received light into a picture signal indicative of a picture contained in the document;
• an optical separation mirror located in said housing and reflecting the converged light from the lens array to said sensor separately from an optical path of the light reflected from the document and led to the lens array;
• and
• a light shield provided between said light emitting diodes and said separation mirror, said light shield being spaced from both said light emitting diodes and said sensor, said light shield preventing part of the emitted light from said light emitting diodes from entering directly the inside of said roof mirror lens array wherein said separation mirror, said light emitting diodes, and said light shield layer are located within a lower portion of said housing and wherein an internal space in said housing containing said light emitting diodes is bounded by said contact glass, said light emitting diodes and said separation mirror.

A picture reading apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a light source located in said housing and wherein said light source comprises an array of light emitting diodes along a main scanning line;
• a contact glass with which a document is positionable wherein said light emitting diodes emit light towards said contact glass so that the document is scanned by the emitted light from said light emitting diodes along a main scanning line;
• a lens array in which a plurality of lenses are arranged consecutively at equal intervals therebetween along the main scanning line, each of said plurality of lenses converging a reflected light which is reflected from the document through the contact glass;
• a roof mirror array located in said housing and positioned substantially perpendicularly to the light source, in which a plurality of roof-like reflection surfaces reflecting the converged light from the lens array back to the lens array are arranged, corresponding to said plurality of lenses, at equal intervals therebetween along the main scanning line;
• a restricting plate provided between said lens array and said roof mirror array, said restricting plate eliminating flaring light between adjacent lenses of said lens array wherein said roof mirror array and said lens array are accommodated in said housing to form a roof mirror lens array;
• a sensor located on said housing and receiving the converged light reflected by said roof mirror array, said sensor converting said received light into a picture signal indicative of a picture contained in the document;
• an optical separation mirror reflecting the converged light from the lens array to said sensor separately from an optical path of the light reflected from the document and led to the lens array;
• and
• a light shield located in said housing and provided between said light emitting diodes and said separation mirror, said shield being spaced from said sensor and preventing part of the emitted light from said light emitting diodes from entering directly the inside of said roof mirror lens array wherein said separation mirror, said light emitting diodes, and said light shield are located within a lower portion of said housing and said light shield is spaced from said light emitting diodes and wherein an internal space of said housing containing said light emitting diodes is bounded by said contact glass, said light emitting diodes and said separation mirror.