Optical device having multilenses

The device includes a lens set inputting therein one of a plurality of input photic images of various sizes and outputting an output photic image through one of a plurality of various photic paths; and a reflection device cooperating with the lens set, and outputting the output photic image to be focused on the photoelectric transducing element through a reflection.

The present invention relates to an optical device equipped with 
multilenses, which can be employed by a scanning apparatus, and is capable 
of providing a plurality of various photic paths for scanning different 
scanned objects having respectively various forms and patterns, in order 
to meet with the resolution requirements demanded by the users for 
scanning the scanned objects. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
There are two important parameters for a scanning optical equipment: 
resolution and scanning width. For a specific photoelectric converter to 
be employed for designing the scanning optical equipment, such as a CCD, a 
compromise between a wider scanning width and a higher scanning resolution 
has to be reached. That is to say, a design provided with a larger 
scanning width is obtained at the price of a lower resolution; on the 
contrary, to obtain a higher resolution, the design has to be decreased 
for its scanning width. This just likes the microscopic theory: if a clear 
and distinct photic image is required, then a lens having a relatively 
larger magnification scale is selected, but, accordingly the visible scope 
is limited. Instead, if a larger visible scope is required, then a lens 
having a relatively smaller magnification scale is chosen, and accordingly 
a clear and detailed description for an object in the visible scope has 
certainly to be sacrificed. 
In the conventional scanning device, it is to be designed with a particular 
resolution according to the demands of the users, and the designing idea 
for the lens' resolution is still based on the fact that a single lens is 
dedicated to be used for a single resolution. Therefore, on the one hand, 
as a higher quality of photic image resolution is going to be required by 
the users, manufacturers must accordingly develop either a scanning 
optical equipment having a relatively higher scanning resolution but a 
narrower scanning width, or a scanning optical equipment provided with a 
CCD having a relatively higher resolution for the cost purpose. However, 
on the other hand, an optical scanning equipment having a relatively lower 
resolution and a wider scanning width is accordingly also produced in 
order to satisfy the specific demands of other users. 
Hence, it is obvious that, the usage requirements of the scanning optical 
equipment for the majority of the users are various and uncertain, e.g. 
sometimes a scanned photic image having a relatively higher resolution is 
required for scanning documents of pictures, graphs or drawings, . . . 
etc. But on the contrary, sometimes, such as for an ordinary document a 
requirement of a relatively wider scanning width is more important than 
that of a relatively higher resolution. Therefore, if the documents of 
various forms and patterns have to be processed by the users, probably a 
higher cost will be caused owing to fact that, perhaps two different 
scanning optical equipments one for higher scanning resolution and the 
other for wider scanning width are concurrently to be purchased by the 
users. Otherwise, the user has to accept the lower resolution quality or 
endure patiently the slow scanning motion. 
In addition, not only is it extremely expensive to produce an optical 
scanning device having both relatively higher resolution and wider 
scanning width, but also it's a real risk for the manufacturer because for 
a higher level scanning device a higher production cost is involved but a 
lower demand really exists. 
There are several kinds of optical scanning equipment equipped with 
multilenses for coping with versatile scanning resolutions. For instance, 
a switching mechanism utilized for operating the multilenses has already 
been developed, such as the "Switching Mechanism for Multilenses" 
disclosed by the Taiwan patent publication No. 232398 and the "Optical 
Scanner Provided With Multilenses" disclosed by the Taiwan patent 
publication No. 235112. Referring to FIG. 1, a driving mechanism 11 is 
utilized to drive a slidable lens set 12 to move along a slide track 13 
where the slidable lens set 12 is mounted in order to switch the different 
lenses for satisfying the different photic image resolution demands. 
Similarily, referring to FIG. 2, as disclosed in the application entitled 
"Switching Mechanism for Multilenses", a driving motor 21 is used to drive 
a reduction gearing 22, a lens set 24 mounted on a rack 23 is driven 
accordingly, and thereby various lenses are switchable, and thus various 
resolutions for photic images are provided. It works just similar to the 
microscopic theory aforementioned, that is, choosing different lenses for 
obtaining different magnification scales. However, upon operating the 
optical scanning device, not only choosing a suitable lens for satisfying 
the demands of the magnification scale is required but properly aimimg the 
lens at the scanned object is also important, since a miss is as good as a 
mile. That's why an indistinct display and/or an inappropriate scanning 
region always result from an aiming miss. 
At the present time, the size, the appearance, and the function of the 
optical scanning device are respectively getting smaller, more delicate 
and ingenious. However, against the tendency aforementioned, it is 
unavoidable for persons in some occupations to move the lens set disclosed 
in the above prior art. Furthermore, the idle lens of the optical scanning 
device as shown in FIG. 2, will receive a scattered photic image, and thus 
an unfocused and blurred photic image is thereby incident upon and 
influences the CCD. Consequently, a hood is therefore required for the 
lens in order to overcome the aforementioned defects. Hence, the 
shortcomings of the conventional optical scanning equipment equipped with 
multilenses are clear and realizable, which are: 
1) The operation of aiming the lens at the scanned object is unrealiable; 
and 
2) The sophisticated maintenance required by the conventional optical 
scanning equipment equipped with multilenses is unavoidable. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an 
optical scanning device having multilensess capable of providing versatile 
resolution to satisfy different requirements resulting from scanning the 
documents respectively having various forms and patterns. 
In addition, a second object of the present invention is to provide an 
optical scanning device, in which the multilenses are secured in a 
particular position in order that a function of transmitting a clear 
photic image through the multilenses is available. 
Therefore, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an 
optical device having a plurality of lenses for providing an input photic 
image for a photoelectric transducing element for generating an electronic 
signal, comprises: a lens set inputting therein one of a plurality of 
input photic images of various sizes and outputting an output photic image 
through one of plurality of various photic paths; and a reflection device 
cooperating with the lens set, and outputting the output photic image to 
be focused on the photoelectric transducing element through a reflection. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the lens set 
includes the plurality of lenses respectively adapted for the plurality of 
output photic images in order that the one input photic image is 
specifically magnified or reduced to obtain the output photic image 
through the one of various photic paths. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the reflection 
device includes: a reflective mirror; a control apparatus for moving the 
reflective mirror to the one of various photic paths to reflect the output 
photic image to be focused on the photoelectric transducing element. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the control 
apparatus is a driving device for driving the reflective mirror to move 
among the plurality of various photic paths. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the driving 
device includes: a motor for producing a power to move the reflective 
mirror; and a transmitting device, transmitting the power outputted by the 
motor to the reflective mirror to be moved. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the reflective 
device includes: a plurality of reflective mirrors respectively 
corresponding to the plurality of various photic paths; and a control 
device for rotating the reflective mirrors and controlling a direction 
along which the output photic image reflected by a respective reflective 
mirror through a respective various photic path should go. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the control 
device includes a plurality of motors respectively corresponding the 
plurality of reflective mirrors. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the scanning 
optical device having multilenses is employed by a scanning apparatus. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the plurality 
of input photic images are produced by scanning various documents having 
various sizes via the scanning apparatus equipped with an illuminating 
source. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention the 
photoelectric transducing element is a charge-coupled-device (CCD) 
converting an input photic image into an analog electronic signal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The present invention will now be described more specifically with 
reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the 
following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are 
presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is 
not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form 
disclosed. 
Referring to FIG. 3, a board 30 disposed on the optical device is used for 
the placement thereon the scanned objects 31 and 32 of various sizes. The 
board is a transparent plate 30. In addition, the scanned objects 31 and 
32 of various sizes are respectively a first document 31 and a second 
document 32, which have distinct patterns and forms from each other. An 
illuminating source 33 is used to project light upon the first document 31 
and the second document 32, in order that various photic images are 
generated and transmitted to lens set 34. The preferred embodiment of the 
lens set 34 according to the present invention includes a first lens 341 
and a second lens 342, in which, the first lens 341 is used to receive the 
photic image projected by a scanned object having a relatively wider width 
such as the first document 31, and the second lens 342 is utilized to 
receive the photic image originated from a scanned object having a 
relatively narrower width. Since the various photic images generated by 
the first document 31 and the second document 32 are respectively 
projected on the first lens 341 and the second lens 342 through different 
photic paths, and the lens set 34 depicted in FIG. 3 is secured, the 
various focused photic images generated by the first lens 341 and the 
second lens 342 are accordingly outputted through different photic paths 
respectively. In addition, a reflective device 35 is disposed behind the 
lens set 34, wherein a movable reflective mirror 351 is disposed. The 
reflective mirror 351 is capable of being moved between the photic paths 
occurring behind the lens set 34. If the first document 31 having a 
relatively wider width is going to be scanned then the reflective mirror 
will move to and stay on the photic path along which the first lens 341 
will transmit the photic image, and the correspondingly focused photic 
image generated by the first lens 341 will be reflected on a photoelectric 
transducing element 36 for an image forming process, where the 
photoelectric transducing element is a charge-coupled-device (CCD) 36. 
Accordingly, as to the scanning of the document 32 having a relatively 
narrower width, the reflective mirror 351 will move to and stay on the 
photic path along which the second lens 342 will transmit the photic 
image, and the correspondingly focused photic image generated by the 
second lens 342 will be reflected on the photoelectric transducing element 
36 for a further image forming process. 
Therefore, according to the above descriptions, it is to be realized that, 
the traits of the present invention are: 
1) The CCD 36 receives one single inputting photic image at a time, the 
lens set 34 as shown in FIG. 3 is secured, and the room required for 
moving the reflective mirror 351 is relatively smaller than that for 
moving the lens set 34. 
2) The movement of the reflective mirror is under control by a control 
device 352. 
For the convenience of the readers, the relevant detailed configuration of 
the control device 352 is portrayed in FIG. 4. 
The present invention is to provide the various photic paths for 
transmitting the different photic images respectively to the CCD 36, and 
hence, an ordinary and practical control equipment can be employed for the 
control device 352 in order to fulfill the purpose of moving the 
reflective mirror 351. Consequently, referring to FIG. 4, the control 
device 352 includes a motor 41 and a transmission gearing 42, in which the 
motor 41 is used to generate a power and the transmission gearing 42 is 
utilized for transmitting the power in order to move the reflective mirror 
to a designated location. 
In addition, the present invention can alternatively be obtained by means 
of that depicted in FIG. 5. 
The number of the reflective mirrors included in the reflective mirror set 
351 is equal to that of the lenses included in the lens set 34. In 
addition, the reflective mirror set 351 is spinable in order to control 
the photic images which are to be projected on the CCD 36 such that the 
first reflective mirror 51 of the reflective mirror set 351 can be aimed 
at the photic path for the first lens 341 and the second reflective mirror 
52 can be aimed at the photic path for the second lens 342. As the first 
document 31 having a relatively wider width is to be scanned, the first 
reflective mirror 51 is correspondingly rotated by an angle .theta., 
whereby the photic image transmitted by the first lens 341 is projected 
and focused on the CCD 36. At the mean time, the rotation angle of the 
second reflective mirror is kept at zero, and accordingly the photic image 
through the second lens 342 is unable to be received by the CCD 36. On the 
contrary, if the document 32 having a relatively narrower width is to be 
scanned, the rotation angle of the first reflective mirror 51 is kept at 
zero, and the second reflective mirror 52 is correspondingly rotated by to 
a certain angle .theta., as shown by the portion portrayed by dashed 
lines, and thereby the CCD 36 can receive only the focused photic image 
projected by the second lens 342. 
FIG. 6 is a preferred embodiment implemented by employing the principle 
depicted in FIG. 5. The first reflective mirror 51 and the second 
reflective mirror 52 are respectively rotatable via the respective pivotal 
axis 61. In addition, a gear 62 is respectively mounted on each pivotal 
axis 61, and the rotating motion of each gear 62 is controlled by a 
respective stepping motor 63, and accordingly the CCD 36 is merely able to 
receive just one single inputting photic image at a time. 
Consequently, in sum, the preferred embodiments according to the present 
invention are of course able to be employed by an optical scanning 
equipment having triple lenses or even more lenses. According to the 
preferred embodiment depicted in FIG. 5, this can be obtained by providing 
a relatively enlarged room for moving the reflective mirror, or adding 
therein a reflective mirror for the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 6. 
Consequently, a clear and distinct scanned image can be obtained by 
employing the present invention for processing the documents of various 
forms and patterns. 
While the invention has been described in terms of what are presently 
considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be 
understood that the invention need not be limited to the disclosed 
embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various 
modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and 
scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest 
interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar 
structures.