Illuminator and image reader employing it
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation
InventorsTatsuki Okamoto, Akira Ota
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An illuminator includes a light guide having a circular cross-section, a scatterer that is provided on a portion of the circumference of the circular cross-section and that radiates scattering light toward the inside of the light guide, and a condensing lens that condenses light emitted from the light guide and transforms the light into a linear beam, a planar beam, or a point-like beam. In the illuminator light from the light source is effectively utilized, and the light can efficiently illuminate the required illumination area. In addition, an image reader apparatus can perform high-speed reading using such an illuminator.
Claims8
An illuminator comprising:
- a light guide having a circular cross-section;
- a scatterer that is provided on a portion of a circumference of the circular cross-section and that radiates scattering light toward the inside of the light guide;
- and
- a condensing lens that condenses light emitted from the light guide and transforms the light into a linear beam, wherein a plurality of cylindrical light guides each separately illuminated by its own light source, and a plurality of cylindrical lenses are axially connected, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.