Fuji Photo Optical Co., Ltd.

Fujinon Corporation

Other

Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Fuji Photo Co., Ltd.

Koji Kaneko

Mitsuhiro Ohno

Kazutsugu Ogata

Satoshi Mikajiri

Kazuhisa Seki

Tasuku Hosonuma

Makoto Utsugi

An optical scanning device has a polygon mirror unit which is housed in a dust proof chamber and mounted on a mount configured so as to prevent generation of turbulence of a current of air that is caused due to high speed rotation of the polygon mirror which leads to fluctuations of rotation of the polygon mirror.

Optical scanning device

A reflector guiding an optical axis is housed in a mirror holder with a compression spring disposed therebetween so that the reflector is biased by the compression spring to move backward. A mirror retainer is rotatably supported by a rear cover for the mirror holder and the reflector is supported by a pair of supporting projections and an adjusting screw to bear against the rear surface of the reflector. The reflector tilts as the projection length of the adjusting screw is changed while the direction in which the effective surface of the reflector faces is changed as the mirror retainer is rotated and thereby the angular position of the adjusting screw is changed.

Adjusting mechanism for installation of plate-like members

Provided are a light source apparatus capable of preventing a shift in an optical path of a light beam, and an optical scanner comprising the light source apparatus. An optical scanner comprises a light source apparatus in which four light sources corresponding to four colors Y, M, C and B are supported as a unit by one holder. The light sources are integrally disposed in a specific position (a position where the holder is disposed) on an optical base as a supporting base, so even if distortion of the optical base occurs resulting from a dynamic load, ambient temperature or the like, an influence of the distortion is exerted upon each of the light sources supported by the holder to substantially the same extent. Even if a shift in the whole arrangement of the light sources occurs, a large shift in a positional relationship between each light source does not occur. Therefore, compared to the case where the light sources are separately arranged, a shift in a relative positional relationship between optical paths of laser beams can become less likely to occur.

Light source apparatus and optical scanner

An optical scanning device is disclosed that includes a rotary polygon mirror and an air current rectifying mechanism. The air current rectifying mechanism is positioned with a surface that is substantially parallel to an end surface of the rotary polygon mirror. At least one specified condition is satisfied to insure that negative pressure regions are prevented from forming on planar surfaces of the rotary scanning mirror when the scanning mirror is rotated by a scanning motor. In this manner, dust that normally tends to be deposited on the scanner mirror planar surfaces by eddy currents that form as a result of these negative pressure regions is prevented from adhering to the rotary scanning mirror surfaces. Thus, optical performance of the scanning mirror is maintained over time.

Optical scanning device with air current rectifying mechanism

An optical scanning device has an electric motor and a rotary polygon mirror driven by the electric motor which are received in a dust proof chamber equipped with a cooling fin arrangement which

An adjustment system for a plate-like member includes a cam member formed with an appropriate cam curve in contact with front or rear surface of, for example, a reflector installed in an optical scanner to reflect a scanning beam of an optical scanner so that a reflecting direction of this reflector may be adjustably varied by rotating the cam member and optical and scanning characteristics of the optical scanner may be ensured.

Mechanism for adjustable installation of plate-like member

An optical scanner assembly has optical members divided and arranged on the front and reverse surfaces of a base, thereby reducing the size of the base such that the base can be formed of metal without an increase in cost in order to allow the optical and scanning characteristics to remain stable with time. In one embodiment, a laser light source, a collimator lens, and a cylindrical lens are on the reverse surface of a chassis with reference to mounting references prepared on the reverse surface, while a reflective return mirror, a polygonal mirror, and f&thgr; lenses are mounted on the front surface with reference to mounting references prepared on the front surface.

Optical scanner assembly

An optical scanning device for scanning a subject medium with a scanning beam that is oscillated by a polygon mirror along a straight line on the subject medium is provided with a rotational speed variation restraint partition which operates to restrain an occurrence of momentary rotational speed variations of the polygon mirror due to turbulence of a current of air that are caused by high speed rotation of the polygon mirror.

A light source illuminates a manuscript, and a light from the manuscript enters a prism block through a slit. The prism block has two pairs of parallel reflective planes which are different in length, and a light from an incident plane is reflected at least once on each reflective plane and exits an outgoing plane. The light from the outgoing plane is conducted to a CCD via a lens so as to read information about an image on the manuscript.

Four-plane reflection type reflective optical unit and scanner optical

The light source unit (lid), which is substantially a right triangle, is supported to be freely rotatable via the hinge at the bottom of the main body casing. The light source for illumination and the assist roller are arranged in the light source unit. When operating the scanner system, the scanning window is opened by rotating the light source unit. When not operating, the scanning window is closed by rotating the light source unit to the right bottom of the main body casing, and the scanning face is protected. Moreover, the magnets are used to lock and hold the light source unit in the opening state or the closing state. The main power source is turned on when the opening state of the lid is detected by the Hall sensor or the reed switch, and the scanner system becomes operatable.

Scanner system

Each reflective wall of two pairs of parallel reflective walls, which compose a four-wall reflection optical system, consists of three layers of a first dichroic mirror which reflects blue light, a second dichroic mirror which reflects green light, and a third dichroic mirror which reflects red light. In the four-wall reflection optical system, the total number of reflections varies according to the ratio of lengths of two pairs of the parallel reflective walls. For this reason, by selecting the number of reflections, it is possible to form an optical path of desired length and to color-separate the incident light into three rays of the three primary colors at desired separation intervals. A color scanner optical system can easily be constructed by using the color separation optical system and a 3-line CCD.

Color separation optical system

Method and device for measuring the brightness of an object in photographing the object in flash synchronization by use of an AE sensor capable of averaged overall light reading. In the method and device, in accordance with the distance of the object and also with the focal distance of a taking lens, an area occupied by a main object or a ratio of the occupation area on the light receiving surface of the AE sensor is estimated. Then, in accordance with said estimated occupation area or occupation area ratio of the main object and also with a measurement brightness B.sub.V(AV) measured by the AE sensor, there is found a brightness correction value .DELTA.B.sub.V which provides a value that increases as the occupation area of the main object increases and the measurement brightness B.sub.V(AV) measured by the AE sensor increases. Further, the thus obtained brightness correction value .DELTA.B.sub.V is added to the measurement brightness B.sub.V(AV) by the AE sensor to thereby find an object brightness.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Koji Kaneko