Patent Application
20080101835
This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 95140098, filed Oct. 30, 2006, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to an image reading apparatus, and more particularly to an image reading apparatus of which the mounting plate is dust-proof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, scanners play a very important role, for either personal or business use. When the content or image of a document is scanned by a scanner, the scanner stores the content or image of the document in a form of electronic files after the scan. Furthermore, the scanners can be categorized into flatbed scanners and sheet-fed scanners. In order to meet the various requirements of the users, at present, there exists also another type of scanner, which is a flatbed scanner assembled with an automatic document feeder (ADF). This type of scanner can be used as a flatbed scanner or a sheet-fed scanner.
Take the sheet-fed scanner as an example; the document to be scanned is fed into the ADF. When the document passes a scan window of the scanner, the optical module fixed under the scan window captures the images of the document and outputs the corresponding image signals. However, the scan window and the optical module are not manufactured as one unit, but just assembled together. Therefore, there normally exists some vacant space between the scan window and the optical module and dust particles in the air will easily enter the scanner through the vacant space and adhere to a lower surface of the scan window.
Conventionally, in order to clean the lower surface of the scan window, the scanner has to be taken apart, which is very inconvenient for the users. If the dust particles on the scan window are not cleaned out, in the scan operation, especially in a high-resolution scan operation, the optical module will scan the dust particles on the lower surface of the scan window along with the document. Such, the scan image generated will include the image of the dust.
The invention is directed to an image reading apparatus. A mounting plate composed of at least a nano-material is disposed in the image reading apparatus. The nano-material is used for preventing the dust particles from adhering to the surface of the mounting plate to achieve a dust proof effect.
According to the present invention, an image reading apparatus is provided. The image reading apparatus includes a casing, a mounting plate and a reading means. The mounting plate is disposed on the casing and composed of at least a nano-material. The reading means is disposed in the casing and located under the mounting plate for reading an image of a document on the mounting plate.
The invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
The reading means 12 includes a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a contact image sensor (CIS). The reading means 12 can be fixed in the casing 12 or be disposed movably in the casing 10. In the embodiment, the reading means 12 is exemplified to be disposed movably in the casing 10.
The mounting plate 11 includes a first mounting plate 15 and a second mounting plate 16 of different sizes. When the user is to scan a stack of documents, he/she can put the documents on a paper tray of the ADF 13. When one of the documents is fed into a passage of the ADF 13 (not shown in the figure) and comes across the first mounting plate 15, the reading means 12 located under the first mounting plate 15 reads the image of the document. When the user is to scan one single document, he/she can put the document on the second mounting plate 16 and the reading means 12 located under the second mounting plate 16 will movably scan the document on the second mounting plate 16.
The first mounting plate 15 and the second mounting plate 16 can be made of glass or acrylic material. In the following description, the first mounting plate 15 is taken as an example for illustration. Referring to
Besides, as shown in
Although the nano-material 14 has the characteristics of repelling the dust particles larger than a nano scale, some of the dust particles may still adhere to the first mounting plate 15 or the second mounting plate 16. In this case, auxiliary devices can be used to assist cleaning the mounting plate. Referring to
The invention is not limited to being applied to the mounting plate 11 of that type of image reading apparatus 1 in
The image reading apparatus disclosed by the above embodiment of the invention uses a mounting plate composed of at least a nano-material to prevent the dust particles from adhering to the lower surface or upper surface of the mounting plate. In this way, the labor for cleaning the mounting plate can be saved and the quality of the images generated by the reading means will not be affected by the dust particles.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95140098 | Oct 2006 | TW | national |
