Patent ID: 6952231

Claim:
An apparatus based on a telecentric imaging system for forming an image of a linear zone of an object, the apparatus comprising: a non-telecentric camera comprising an objective and an image plane formed of a row of photosensitive cells; telecentric imaging means placed between the objective and the object, said telecentric imaging means comprising a concave strip mirror, said concave strip mirror substantially aligned with said row of cells, and the aperture of said objective being located in the focal plane of the concave strip mirror, the concave strip mirror and the objective jointly forming a telecentric image of the object on the row of photosensitive cells; a light source producing radiation directed to the object, wherein said concave strip mirror is a planar parabolic mirror; and a strip-like fully reflective plane mirror disposed between said parabolic mirror and the objective, through which the directed radiation reflected from the object and the parabolic mirror strikes the objective and then the image plane in order to obtain a sharp image of the width parts of the object; wherein the lengths (L 2 and L 1 ) of said strip-like planar parabolic mirror and strip-like plane mirror are mutually aligned and aligned with the row of photosensitive cells forming the image plane; and that the reflective surfaces of the strip-like plane mirror and said strip-like planar parabolic mirror are directed towards each other such that the width of each is reflected from the reflective surface of both at a predetermined angle; wherein the distance of the strip-like plane mirror from the objective is at least 1.5 times the distance of the planar parabolic mirror from the objective; and that the plane mirror and the planar parabolic mirror are mutually spaced by a distance perpendicular to their length, the distance being at least equal to half of the combined width of these mirrors and at the most five times the combined width of these mirrors.