Radiation image scanning apparatus and method

A reading apparatus for obtaining image data stored on a surface, comprising:

• (a) a radiation source for directing a line of stimulating radiation onto a stimulable image carrier on the surface, generating a line of image-bearing radiation thereby;
• (b) a sensing head for obtaining image data from the line of image-bearing radiation excited from the image carrier, the sensing head including an array of sensors and having a plurality of channels, each channel sensing a segment of the line of image-bearing radiation, each channel comprising:
• (i) inverting optics for inverting the segment of the line of image-bearing radiation to form an inverted line segment image;
• and
• (ii) a corresponding sensor from the array of sensors for providing image data for the inverted line segment image;
• (c) an image processor for accepting the image data obtained from each of the sensing head channels and forming a line of image data according to the line of image-bearing radiation;
• and
• (d) a transport mechanism for controllably urging the image carrier past the sensing head for obtaining sequential lines of image data.

A reading apparatus for obtaining a line of image data stored on a surface, comprising:

• (a) a radiation source for directing a line of stimulating radiation onto a stimulable image carrier on the surface, generating a line of image-bearing radiation thereby;
• (b) a first sensing head and a second sensing head for obtaining image data from the line of image-bearing radiation excited from the image carrier, each sensing head including an array of sensors and having a plurality of channels, each channel sensing a segment of the line of image-bearing radiation, and each channel comprising:
• (i) inverting optics for inverting the segment of the line of image-bearing radiation to form an inverted line segment image;
• and
• (ii) a corresponding sensor from the array of sensors for providing image data for the inverted line segment image;
• and
• (c) an image processor for accepting the image data obtained from each of the first and second sensing head channels and forming a line of image data according to the line of image-bearing radiation.

A method for obtaining a line of image data stored on a surface, comprising:

• (a) emitting a line of stimulating radiation onto a stimulable image carrier on the surface, generating a line of image-bearing radiation thereby;
• and
• (b) generating image data from the line of image-bearing radiation excited from the image carrier by:
• (i) optically inverting substantially congruent segments of the line of image-bearing radiation to form a plurality of images of inverted line segments using separate inverting optics for each substantially congruent segment;
• (ii) sensing radiation from and providing output data for each image of the plurality of images of inverted line segments using a separate light sensor element of a sensor formed from an array of light sensor elements;
• and
• (iii) forming a line of image data according to the output data for congruent images in the plurality of images of inverted line segments.

A method for obtaining an image formed from successive lines of image data stored on a surface, comprising a repeated sequence of:

• (a) emitting a line of stimulating radiation onto a stimulable image carrier on the surface, generating a line of image-bearing radiation thereby;
• (b) generating image data from the line of image-bearing radiation excited from the image carrier by:
• (i) optically inverting congruent segments of the line of image-bearing radiation to form a plurality of images of inverted line segments using separate inverting optics for each substantially congruent segment;
• (ii) sensing radiation from, and providing output data for, each image of the plurality of images of inverted line segments using a separate light sensor element of a sensor having an array of light sensor elements;
• and
• (iii) forming a line of image data according to the output data for congruent images in the plurality of images of inverted line segments;
• and
• (c) urging the surface forward incrementally in a direction that is substantially orthogonal to the line of image-bearing radiation.