Abstract: A single tray is used to collate the printed papers from a printer. The tray is moved to different positions to receive the printed papers. Thus, the printed papers are collated into different stacks. The movement of the tray can be linear or curvilinear. The circular movement can collate the printed papers into more than two stacks.

Abstract: A sheet feeding scanner has its contact image sensor hanging pivotally on two side walls and is capable of turning with respect to the axis of the pivots. The contact image sensor presses against a driving roller by gravity and/or by a spring. A sheet of paper is sandwiched between the contact image sensor and the roller. The contact image sensor can be disengaged from the roller by an external release rod. The paper is removed when the release rod is actuated or by pulling the paper hard.

Abstract: A single tray is used to collate the printed papers from a printer. The tray is moved to different positions to receive the printed papers. Thus, the printed papers are collated into different stacks. The movement of the tray can be linear or curvilinear. The circular movement can collate the printed papers into more than two stacks.

Abstract: A single tray is used to collate the printed papers from a printer. The tray is moved to different positions to receive the printed papers. Thus, the printed papers are collated into different stacks. The movement of the tray can be linear or curvilinear. The circular movement can collate the printed papers into more than two stacks.

Abstract: The focused light incident from the light source on the document to be scanned has two different lengths of light path. The shorter light path is incident on the document near the light source. The longer light path is incident on the document away from the light source with a larger light spot and scans the document at a higher speed to yield a lower resolution. The high resolution light ray reflected from the document and the low resolution light ray reflected from the document pass through a set of transmitting lenses tilted at different angles to irradiate two different sets of charge coupled device sensors.

Abstract: This invention provides a flat-edge scanner capable of scanning a thick book without any distortion at the protruding binding edge. The binding edge of the book is placed at the corner of a scanning glass window and the frame supporting the glass window so that the book can lie snugly over the window. The scanning window area is extended to the edge of the frame supporting the scanning window. All the optical system and the driving mechanism lie inside the boundary of the scanning window to increase the scanning range.

Abstract: This invention provides a flat-bed scanner capable of scanning a thick book without any distortion at the protruding binding edge. The scanning window forms an obtuse angle with the frame of the scanner supporting the scanning window. The obtuse angle allows the binding edge of the book to rest snugly over the window. The slanted structure of the frame also makes room for the image reading head to scan to the very edge of the page of the document.

Abstract: A plurality of pinch rollers are employed to drive sheets of paper containing material to be scanned past an optical scanner to generate an optical image of the material which is converted into electrical signals. Each pinch roller includes a drive roller which is driven by a synchronized drive mechanism and an idler roller. The support shafts for the idler rollers are supported in elongated bearings which provide limited freedom of motion for the idler rollers in a direction substantially normal to their axes of rotation. A pressure plate has spring fingers which resiliently urge the idler rollers towards the drive rollers to resiliently pinch the paper sheets being driven. In the event that the paper should become jammed and needs to be removed or repositioned, a roller release lever can be actuated to drive the pressure plate so as to permit the idler rollers to move freely in their elongated support bearings.

Abstract: Material such as a document or picture of which an image is to be reproduced or transmitted, as in a facsimile device, is driven by pinch rollers past a light source in a controlled synchronized manner by means of a stepping motor. As the pinch rollers are driven, successive scan line images of the document are channelled through an elongated slit in a light directing channel and through a lens and a rotatably driven color wheel onto a light sensitive device such a linear array formed by a charge-coupled device (CCD). The color wheel has light filters for the primary colors and is synchronized with the scanning. The images received by the CCD are converted thereby to electrical form and appropriately processed for transmission or local utilization. A mechanism is provided to enable the disengagement of the pinch rollers from the material being scanned to avoid damage to such material should it become jammed in the rollers.

Abstract: Material which may be a document or picture of which an image is to be produced or transmission, as in a facsimile device, is driven by pinch rollers means of past a light source in a controlled, synchronized manner by a stepping motor. As the rollers are driven, successive scan line images of the document are channeled through an elongated slit and a light-directing channel through a lens onto a light-sensitive device, such as a linear array formed by a charge-coupled device (CCD). The images received by the CCD are converted thereby to electrical form and appropriately processed for transmission or other utilization.

Abstract: The illumination of a document moving through an exposure zone is maximized by placing a pair of reflectors on each side of the exposure zone in close proximity to the object plane and in an optimum reflecting position in relation to the illumination source. In a first embodiment, utilized in a continuous velocity transport (CVT) system, the reflectors comprise an integral member consisting of a plurality of connected facets. In a second embodiment, wherein the document is moved across a fixed platen, the reflectors effectively consist of two elements including a physically separated extended portion which is formed within the cross section of the platen.

Abstract: A raster input scanner (RIS) comprising a platen and light source, doubling mirror, lens and two CCD arrays for producing a bit stream output with twice the resolution produceable with a single CCD is disclosed. The doubling mirror is between the platen and lens, and produces two beams separated by a small angle. The lens focuses these beams as two lines at the image plane, where half of each intersects each CCD array. Glass plates, each intersecting and perpendicular to each beam, and rotatable about orthogonal axes, provide horizontal and vertical fine tuning.

Abstract: A flying spot scanning system is provided which is capable of scanning an unmodulated beam to a reading station for reading a stationary document and a modulated beam to an imaging station for recording an image thereat. The system utilizes optical elements which are common to both the unmodulated beam and the modulated beam to avoid duplication of elements of each beam. The beams strike the same facets of a rotating polygon scanner at the same location so that precise alignment of the facets will not be required. Relatively movable mirrors are moved across a stationary document at the reading station to provide a scan in such a manner to maintain optical conjugates constant.