Patent · US Expired

Light beam scanning apparatus and method

US6008925A · kind A · utility

35Cited by
28References
3Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJul 3, 1997
Grant dateDec 28, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 3, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02B26/122
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A light beam scanning apparatus employs a movable reflector (32) having a large number of flat reflective sides (44) and a deflector (16) which shifts the light beam (10) at high speed across a plurality of the reflective sides (44). The movement of the reflector (32) is synchronized with the deflection of the light beam (10) to produce a desired scan pattern in a first scan direction (X). The reflective sides (44) of the movable reflector (32) may be angled relative to each other in a second direction (Y) to produce different scan lines thereby providing an X-Y scan pattern. The combined high speed beam deflection and motion of the reflector (32) provide scanning of the beam (10) in parallel scan segments thereby providing high scanning speed of the beam (10) with a high degree of resolution.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.