[54] COMPACT DOCUMENT SCANNER OR PRINTER ENGINE
[75] Inventor: Armand P. Neukermans, Palo Alto, Calif.
[73] Assignee: XROS, Inc., Mountain View, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 773,097
[22] Filed: Dec. 24, 1996
Related U.S. Application Data
[60] Provisional application No. 60/009,255 Dec. 26, 1995.
[51] Int. CI. 6 H04N 1/04; G01J 1/00;
G02B 26/08
[52] U.S. CI 358/494; 358/474; 250/228;
250/574; 359/214
[58] Field of Search 358/473, 474,
358/487, 496, 498, 494; 355/45, 50, 51, 60, 58; 399/108; 250/236, 228, 574, 234;
259/214, 221, 224
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
4,762,994 8/1988 Byerly et al 250/236
4,800,400 1/1989 Douglas 347/263
5,256,886 10/1993 Wolf et al 250/574
5,488,862 2/1996 Neukermans et al 73/504.02
5,543,956 8/1996 Nakagawa et al 359/225
5,629,790 5/1997 Neukermans et al 359/214
Primary Examiner—Kim Yen Vu
Assistant Examiner—Kimberly A. Williams
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Donald E. Schreiber
[57] ABSTRACT
A compact medium scanner (100) scans a surface (132) of a medium (134) with a beam of light (106). A medium transport mechanism (202, 206) advances the surface along a medium transport path through a scanning station. A light source (104) produces a collimated beam of light (106) that impinges upon a mirror plate (112) of a micromachined torsional scanner (108). A pair of coaxially aligned torsion bars (304) support the mirror plate (112) within the torsional scanner (108). A mirror-surface drive means (306, 312) rotates the mirror plate (112) about the torsion bars (304). A single reciprocation of the mirror plate (112) by the drive means (306, 312) deflects the beam of light (106) over a fan-shaped region having a virtually fixed vertex (128) on the mirror plate (112). Scanner optics (116, 122) direct the fan-shaped region beam of light (106) onto the surface (132) of the medium (134) then present in the scanning station to thereby scan across the medium (134) with the beam of light (106).
22 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets
