Abstract:
An adjustable optical mechanism includes a carriage base, an adjusting board mounted on the carriage base, and a circuit board mounted on the adjusting board. An image sensor is mounted on the circuit board and corresponds to a lens mounted on the carriage base. Deforming the adjusting board and adjusting the position and tilt of the adjusting board relative to the carriage base, the position of the image sensor may be properly adjusted so as to obtain better image quality.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an optical mechanism, and in particular to the mechanism in which the position and the inclination of the image sensor may be finely adjusted.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    A conventional optical mechanism in a scanner generally includes a carriage base, a lens and an image sensor. The image sensor such as CCD is fixed to a circuit board which is fixed to the carriage base so that the image sensor is located in correspondent to the lens.  
           [0003]    The circuit board is moveable on the carriage base because elongate holes are defined in the circuit board and the inclination of the circuit board can also be adjusted. By this way, the correspondence between the lens and the image sensor meets the designer&#39;s intention. An assistance device such as a computer and an oscilloscope can be used to obtain the result of the correspondence between the image sensor and the lens.  
           [0004]    The adjustments to the image sensor include an up and down adjustment and an inclination adjustment. These conventional adjustments cannot meet the requirement for providing high quality scanning images in the present market.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The primary object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable optical mechanism which involves more degrees of freedom in multiple directions so that the worker may adjust the image sensor to its best position.  
           [0006]    Another object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable optical mechanism which can be conveniently and finely adjusted.  
           [0007]    In order to achieve the purposes mentioned above, a circuit board with an image sensor connected thereto is connected to an adjusting board. The image sensor can be adjusted to its best position by using the change of the relative position and the inclination between the adjusting board and the carriage base, the change of the relative position and inclination between the circuit board and the adjusting board, and the deformation of the adjusting board itself.  
           [0008]    The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 shows the assembly of the present invention.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the adjusting board.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is another perspective view to show the adjusting board.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 shows one of the adjustments.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 shows another one of the adjustments.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 shows yet another one of the adjustments.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the adjustments.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 8 shows yet another adjustments of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 shows the assembly of the present invention and discloses a carriage base  11 , a lens  21 , an adjusting board  31 , a circuit board  42  and an image sensor  41 .  
         [0018]    A reflection mirror set  12  is installed on the first side  13  of the carriage base  11 . The reflection mirror set  12  comprises at least one reflection mirror so as to receive and reflect the image information from the document. The lens  21  is placed on the carriage base  11  and receives the image information from the reflection mirror set  12 .  
         [0019]    In another embodiment, only the lens  21  is placed on the carriage base  11  and no reflection mirror set needs to be placed on the carriage base  11 . The lens  21  on the carriage base  11  may receive the image information from the scanned document, or the carriage base  11  can be separated from the reflection mirror set.  
         [0020]    The adjusting board  31  is adjustably mounted on a second side  14  of the carriage base  11  and located in correspondence with the lens  21 . The image sensor  41  is mounted on the circuit board  42  which is adjustably mounted on the adjusting board  31 , and the image sensor  41  is located in correspondence to the lens  21 .  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the adjusting board. The adjusting board  31  is an L-shaped board and includes a lateral portion composed of a first plate  32 , and a longitudinal portion composed of a second plate  33 . A connection portion  34  is formed at the conjunction of the two plates. Two elongate slots  39  are defined in the connection portion  34  so that the two plates may be deformed under pressure. Under design considerations, the two elongate slots  39  may be omitted, or the number of the elongate slots  39  may be reduced or increased. The first plate  32  and the circuit board  42  both have two holes  37  and  43 .  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 is another perspective view to show the adjusting board. The second plate  33  has two rods  36  with a threaded hole  38 . Screws (not shown) extend through the holes  43  in the circuit board  42  to fix the circuit board  42  onto the second plate  33 . Before threading, the circuit board  42  can be moved up and down, or swung an angle relative to the second plate  33 .  
         [0023]    The image sensor  41  is fixed to the second plate  33  and located in correspondence to the lens  21 .  
         [0024]    The adjusting board  31  mentioned hereinabove has plastic deformability and is deformed by simply pressing or bending by fingers, which may also be a deformable metal plate.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 4 shows one of the adjustments. The adjusting board  31  is fixed to the carriage base  11  by the first plate  32  which has holes  37  for the securing members (not shown) to extend, so that the adjusting board  31  can be moved forward and backward as shown in arrow heads without disconnecting the securing members from the holes  37 . The adjusting board  31  can also be swung an angle as shown by dotted lines. The image sensor  41  on the adjusting board  31  can be preliminarily adjusted.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 5 shows another one of the adjustments. Due to the relative movement and swing between the second plate  33  and the circuit board  42 , the circuit board  42  can be moved up and down as shown in arrow heads, or swung an angle as shown by dotted lines while the second plate  33  is fixed. By the adjustment described above, the circuit board  42  and the image sensor  41  on the second plate  33  on the adjusting board  31  may be further adjusted.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 6 shows yet another one of the adjustments. The second plate  33  and the connection portion  34  of the first plate  32  have plastic deformability, so that the second plate  33  or the circuit board  42  can be pressed and deformed when being adjusted. The image sensor  41  on the circuit board  42  may be shifted a distance or swung by an angle of inclination accordingly. By the adjustment, the image sensor is further adjusted and the worker may finely adjust the mechanism within a short period of time by the way of deformation.  
         [0028]    In order to allow the worker to adjust the mechanism conveniently, the following embodiment can assist the worker to adjust the optical mechanism.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the adjustments. The adjusting board  31  is fixed to the carriage base  11  by securing members and a hole  35 , and an elongate hole  37  are defined in the first plate  32  so that the securing member may extend therethrough. By the adjustment described above, when the worker adjusts the adjusting board  31 , the adjusting board  31  may be rotated about the securing member in the hole  35  and the other end of the adjusting board  31  is moved in the elongate hole  37 . In this way, the adjusting trace of the adjusting board  31  is regular and this allows the worker to adjust the image sensor  41  to the optimum condition.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 8 shows yet another adjustments of the present invention. The adjusting board  31  is fixed to the carriage base  11  by securing members, and a hole  35  and two elongate holes  37  are defined through the first plate  32  of the adjusting board  31 . The carriage base  11  has a pin  15  extending through the hole  35  and the securing members extend through the two elongate holes  37  to fix the adjusting board  31  to the carriage base  11 . By the structure described above, when the worker adjusts the adjusting board  31 , the adjusting board  31  may be rotated about the pin  15  and the two ends of the adjusting board  31  are moved in the two elongate holes  37 . In this way, the adjusting trace of the adjusting board  31  is regular and this allows the worker to adjust the image sensor  41  to the optimum condition. It is to be noted that the positions of the pin  15  and the hole  35  can be any position that allows the adjusting board  31  to rotate about the pin  15 , such as at one of the left and right ends of the image sensor  41 .  
         [0031]    The adjustment can be made by adjusting the adjusting board  31  or the first plate  32  depending on practical needs, or adjusting the second plate  33 , or combination of the two types of adjustments. Multiple degrees of freedom are obtained by these adjustments so that the image sensor  41  can be adjusted to an optimum position to get the best quality of the image. Besides, the adjustment is simple, especially by deforming the second plate  33  by pressing it and this requires no extra positioning process and is convenient for the worker to proceed.  
         [0032]    While we have shown and described the embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.