Apparatus for guiding a manually-operated scanning device
US5940546A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 12, 1997 |
| Grant date | Aug 17, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 12, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N2201/0452
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Apparatus for scanning an image comprising a manually-operated scanning device with a photoelectric source and having a light tunnel extending from the photoelectric source to a side of the manually-operated scanning device. The scanning device with light tunnels offers high contrast edges and encourages proper alignment of the image being scanned. In one embodiment, the scanning device has a light tunnel extending from each vertical side corresponding to and illuminating the horizontal axis to be scanned. In another embodiment, the scanning device has, in addition to light tunnels illuminating the horizontal axis, light tunnels extending from the front or horizontal side of the scanning device to illuminate the vertical boundary that is scanned by the scanning device. The light tunnels in the invention provide the user with a highly visible reference of exactly where the manually-operated scanning device's scan window is located at a particular instance.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.