Continuous scanning module, scanning system comprising said module and related scanning method

A scanning system comprising:

• a scanning module comprising a polygonal scanning drum rotating around a respective rotation axis at substantially constant speed and provided with a plurality of first reflecting side faces, wherein at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum is associated with said polygonal scanning drum, said at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum rotating around a respective rotation axis parallel to the rotation axis of the polygonal scanning drum, synchronously with the polygonal scanning drum at an angular speed substantially equal to that of the polygonal scanning drum and in a same direction, wherein said at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum is provided with second reflecting side faces, each of said second reflecting side faces receiving an image from a corresponding first reflecting face of said polygonal scanning drum and reflecting said image towards a scanning path, wherein the first reflecting side faces of said polygonal scanning drum have different dimensions in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the polygonal scanning drum, to acquire, in subsequent time intervals, images of different portions of a field of view, wherein motion of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum compensates image forward motion due to rotation of the polygonal scanning drum during an image integration time of each portion of the field of view;
• at least one lens;
• and
• at least one sensor, said at least one lens conveying the image acquired by the scanning module towards said at least one sensor and focusing the image on an image plane of said at least one sensor, wherein during an image acquisition or integration time by means of the at least one sensor, the image focused by said at least one lens on said at least one sensor does not change, due to a combination of a rotational motion of the polygonal scanning drum and a rotational motion of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum, the image forward motion due to the rotation of the polygonal scanning drum during an acquisition time being compensated by the rotation of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum.

A continuous scanning module comprising:

• a polygonal scanning drum rotating around a respective rotation axis at substantially constant speed and provided with a plurality of first reflecting side faces, wherein at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum is associated with said polygonal scanning drum, said at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum rotating around a rotation axis coinciding with the rotation axis of the polygonal scanning drum and synchronously therewith at an angular speed substantially equal to an angular speed of the polygonal scanning drum and in an opposite direction, wherein said at least one forward motion compensation drum is provided with second reflecting side faces, each of said second reflecting side faces receiving an image from a corresponding first reflecting face of said polygonal scanning drum and reflecting the image towards a scanning path, wherein bending mirrors are provided, arranged for conveying the image, reflected by the first reflecting faces of the polygonal scanning drum, towards the second reflecting faces of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum, wherein the first reflecting side faces of said polygonal scanning drum have different dimensions in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the polygonal scanning drum, to acquire, in subsequent time intervals, images of different portions of a field of view, wherein motion of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum compensates an image forward motion due to rotation of the polygonal scanning drum during an image integration time of each portion of the field of view.

A scanning system, comprising:

• a continuous scanning module comprising a polygonal scanning drum rotating around a respective rotation axis at substantially constant speed and provided with a plurality of first reflecting side faces, wherein at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum is associated with said polygonal scanning drum, said at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum rotating around a rotation axis coinciding with the rotation axis of the polygonal scanning drum and synchronously therewith at an angular speed substantially equal to an angular speed of the polygonal scanning drum and in an opposite direction, wherein said at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum is provided with second reflecting side faces, each of said second reflecting side faces receiving an image from a corresponding first reflecting face of said polygonal scanning drum and reflecting the image towards a scanning path, wherein bending mirrors are provided, arranged for conveying the image, reflected by the first reflecting faces of the polygonal scanning drum, towards the second reflecting faces of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum, the first reflecting side faces of said polygonal scanning drum having different dimensions in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the polygonal scanning drum, to acquire, in subsequent time intervals, images of different portions of a field of view, wherein motion of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum compensates the image forward motion due to rotation of the polygonal scanning drum during an image integration time of each portion of the field of view;
• at least one lens;
• and
• at least one sensor, wherein the at least one lens conveys the image acquired by the scanning module towards said at least one sensor and focuses said image on an image plane of said at least one sensor, wherein during an image acquisition or integration time by means of the at least one sensor, the image focused by said at least one lens on said at least one sensor does not change, due to a combination of rotational motion of the polygonal scanning drum and rotational motion of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum, the image forward motion due to the rotation of the polygonal scanning drum during an acquisition time being compensated by the rotation of the at least one polygonal forward motion compensation drum.