Annular light guide illuminator and optical scanner
AssigneeSicpa Holding SA
InventorsMilan Vasic, Nicola Duca
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosed annular light guide illuminator (10) is operable to guide light from its entry surface (12) to its exit surface (16) for illuminating a zone (17) at its distal end (19), and comprises a truncated-cone-shaped inner cavity (18) of which base opens onto said distal end (19), and of which truncated summit (20) opposite to said base opens onto an inner hole portion (21) for back transmitting light reflected/emitted from said zone. An optical scanner implementing said illuminator is also disclosed.
Claims17
Annular light guide illuminator operable to guide light received at an entry surface to an exit surface for illuminating a zone at a distal end of said light guide illuminator, and to allow for the transmission, through an inner hole portion of said light guide illuminator, of light reflected/emitted from said zone, wherein:
- said exit surface is a boundary surface portion of a truncated-cone-shaped inner cavity, a base end of which opens onto said distal end and a truncated summit end of which positioned opposite to said base end opens onto said inner hole portion;
- said exit surface has a curved generatrix with a concavity oriented toward the inner cavity;
- and
- said exit surface is operable to refract light received from the entry surface to irradiate said zone with a substantially uniform light intensity distribution.
An annular light guide illuminator operable to guide light received at an entry surface to an exit surface for illuminating a zone at a distal end of said light guide illuminator, and to allow for the transmission, through an inner hole portion of said light guide illuminator, of light reflected/emitted from said zone, wherein:
- said exit surface is boundary surface portion of a truncated-cone-shaped inner cavity, a base end of which opens onto said distal end and a truncated summit end of which positioned opposite to said base end opens onto said inner hole portion;
- a curved generatrix of a portion of said exit surface has its concavity oriented toward the inner cavity;
- said exit surface is operable to refract light received from the entry surface to irradiate said zone with a substantially uniform light intensity distribution;
- and
- an RF antenna, mounted on a portion of its peripheral boundary surface, adapted to receive and transmit an RFID signal from/to an RFID chip at said zone.
An optical scanner comprising:
- an annular light guide illuminator operable to guide light received at an entry surface to an exit surface for illuminating a zone at a distal end of said light guide illuminator, and to allow for the transmission, through an inner hole portion of said light guide illuminator, of light reflected/emitted from said zone, wherein:
- said exit surface is a boundary surface portion of a truncated-cone-shaped inner cavity, a base end of which opens onto said distal end and a truncated summit end of which positioned opposite to said base end opens onto said inner hole portion;
- a curved generatrix of a portion of said exit surface has its concavity oriented toward the inner cavity;
- said exit surface is operable to refract light received from the entry surface to irradiate said zone with a substantially uniform light intensity distribution;
- and
- a light source operable to illuminate the entry surface of said light guide illuminator;
- a photo-detector operable to receive light transmitted by said optical device;
- and
- said annular light guide illuminator is adapted to receive an optical device to collect and transmit light reflected/emitted from the irradiated zone and transmitted through the inner hole;
- a RF control circuit for sending an RFID signal to an RFID chip at said zone, through said RF antenna;
- and
- a RFID reader operable to read an RFID signal received from said RFID chip.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.