Light lid with a previewing window

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6734995
  • Patent Number
    6,734,995
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, December 14, 2000
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, May 11, 2004
    20 years ago
Abstract
A light lid with a previewing window is disclosed. The light lid provides a lightsome window to preview a transparent original. The light lid comprises a housing that has an opening, and a light conductive plate, which is positioned under the housing to conduct light upwards and downwards evenly so that the light illuminates evenly on the opening and a scanner. Therefore, a user can place a transparent original, such as negatives, above the opening to preview the image of the negatives clearly by the light which is conducted by the light conductive plate and past through the opening.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




A. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a light lid, and more particularly, to a light lid with a previewing window.




B. Description of the Related Art




A common flat bed scanner scans opaque documents. Besides, when using with a light lid, it also can scan transparent originals such as negatives and films. As shown in

FIG. 1

, a typical light lid


100


comprises a housing


110


, a light conductive plate


120


, which is positioned under the housing


110


, and light source devices


121


, which are positioned on both sides of the light conductive plate


120


. The light conductive plate


120


is used to conduct the light that comes from light source devices


121


upwards and downwards evenly in order to provide the light for the scanner.




However, the light provided by the above-mentioned light lid only illuminates into the scanner. It doesn't provide the light that illuminates toward the outside of the scanner; therefore, it cannot provide the function of previewing transparent originals. In other words, it cannot provide light outward to let user to preview the image of a negative or positive film before scanning the negative or the positive film.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




In realizing the above-mentioned problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a light lid that uses a lightsome opening formed on the housing to achieve the function of previewing transparent originals.




To achieve the above-mentioned object, a light lid with a previewing window according to the present invention comprises a housing having a first opening, and a light conductive plate positioned under the housing. The light conductive plate conducts light upwards and downwards evenly to illuminate light evenly not only toward the scanner, but also toward the opening. Therefore, user can preview an transparent original by the light past through the opening.




Also, a light lid with a previewing window according to the present invention comprises light source devices, which are positioned on both ends of the light conductive plate, in order to provide the light for the light lid.




Furthermore, a light lid with a previewing window according to the present invention comprises second openings formed on both sides of the housing, and second reflecting plates located on both sides of the housing, corresponding to the location of the second openings. By using the openings and the reflecting plates, the external light can be reflected into the light conductive plate to provide the light for the light lid.




Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:





FIG. 1

is a top view of the light lid of the prior art.





FIG. 2

shows a top view of the light lid with a previewing window of the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a sectional view cut along the 3-to-3 dashed line in FIG.


2


.





FIG. 4

is a sectional view cut along the 4-to-4 dashed line in

FIG. 2

, where FIG.


4


(A) includes light source devices, and FIG.


4


(B) includes reflecting plates.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




As illustrated in

FIG. 2

, the light lid


1


of the present invention comprises a housing


10


and a light conductive plate


30


which is fixed under the housing


10


. The light lid


1


and the flat bed scanner (not shown in

FIG. 2

) are fixed together by hinges (not shown in FIG.


2


), so that the light lid can be opened or closed. As illustrated in

FIG. 2

, a first opening


20


is formed on the housing


10


of the light lid


1


. In this embodiment, although the opening


20


is formed on the front end of the housing


10


, the opening


20


can also be formed on other places, such as on the back end of the housing. In addition, although the first opening


20


is a rectangle shape in this embodiment, it can also be formed in other shapes.




As illustrated in

FIG. 3

, the light conductive plate is fixed under the housing


10


, so the light can be conducted, illuminating evenly upwards (as shown by the arrows in the “U” direction) and downwards (as shown by the arrows in the “D” direction). Through the conduction, the light is provided to the first opening


20


for previewing and to the corresponding flat bed scanner for transparent original scanning. The method that the light conductive plate


30


is fixed to the housing


10


can be completed by the prior art, for example, by using glue or screw to fix the light conductive plate


30


. That the light is provided to the light conductive plate


30


will be explained later.




In addition, the light lid


1


can also include a first reflecting plate


33


, the reflecting plate


33


is located under the light conductive plate


30


, which is corresponding to the location of the first opening


20


. The reflecting plate


33


upwardly reflects the light (as shown by the arrows in the “U” direction) that comes from the light conductive plate


30


. The light conductive plate


30


illuminates the light downwardly, so the light source that the user uses to preview the negatives or the films


50


can be intensified. If there is no need to intensify the light that reflects upwardly, of course the first reflecting plate


33


can be omitted. Therefore, as illustrated in

FIG. 2

, when the user wants to scan the negatives


50


, the user first places the negatives


50


above the opening


20


, and then uses the light that is reflected by the reflecting plate


33


to clearly preview the image of the negatives


50


. Moreover, a company's logotype or trademark plate


21


(refer to FIG.


3


), can also be placed above the opening


20


of the light lid


1


. And then again the light that is reflected by the reflecting plate


33


can be used to emphasize the graphic design of the logotype plate


21


. Meanwhile, the logotype plate


21


can prevent dust getting into the opening


20


as well.




Next, with reference to

FIG. 4

, an embodiment of the present invention illustrates how the light is provided to the light conductive plate


30


. As shown in FIG.


4


(A), the light lid


1


further comprises light source devices


31


and


31


, which are fixed on both ends of the light conductive plate


30


. The light source devices


31


and


31


are connected to the scanner through conducting lines (not shown in the FIG.), using the prior technique, to receive the power. When the light source devices


31


and


31


is powered on, the light illuminates into the light conductive plate


30


. Then, the light is conducted by light conductive plate


30


to illuminate evenly upwards and downwards so that the light source for scanning the transparent originals is provided. In addition, a reflecting device (not shown in the FIGS.) can also be positioned outside the light source devices


31


and


31


to increase the brightness of the light source devices


31


and


31


to illuminate into the light conductive plate


30


.




As shown in FIG.


4


(B), the light lid


1


further comprises two second reflecting devices


32


and


32


, which are fixed on both ends of the light conductive plate


30


. Besides, corresponding to the reflecting devices


32


and


32


, the second openings


22


and


22


are formed on the bottom of the housing


10


. Therefore, the light S provided upwardly by the scanner itself can illuminate on the light conductive plate


30


through the openings


22


and the reflecting devices


32


. And then the light conductive plate


30


can provide smooth light to the scanner and the opening


20


. In this embodiment, the light lid


1


can use the light provided by the scanner itself, so there is no need to place extra light source devices in the light lid.




The light lid with a previewing window of the present invention uses an opening formed on the housing and uses the light conductive plate, which is positioned on the housing, to conduct the light upwards to the opening. Thus, the user can put the negatives above the opening and clearly preview the image of the negatives through the light. Furthermore, reflecting plates can also be positioned on both sides of the light lid, and the second openings are formed on the bottom of the housing, down on the reflecting plates. By doing this, the light that is provided by the scanner itself can reach the light conductive plate through the second openings and the reflecting plates, so there is no need to place other light source devices on the light lid.




In the foregoing, an embodiment is described to illustrate the light lid with a previewing window of the present invention. However, said embodiment is only an example, which means it doesn't limit the present invention. People working in this field can make various modifications and changes according to their needs.



Claims
  • 1. A light lid with a previewing window for using with a flat bed scanner, comprising:a housing, which has the first opening; and a light conductive plate, which is positioned under said housing, conducting light upwards and downwards evenly so that the light passes through said opening and provides the light to the scanner.
  • 2. The light lid with a previewing window as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a first reflecting plate positioned under said light conductive plate, corresponding to the location of said first opening to reflect light toward said first opening for increasing the brightness of the light.
  • 3. The light lid with a previewing window as claimed in claim 1, wherein said light conductive plate comprises light source devices on both ends to provide the light for said light lid.
  • 4. The light lid with a previewing window as claimed in claim 3, further comprising second reflecting plates positioned on both sides of said housing corresponding to said second openings to reflect external light into said light conductive plate for providing the light for said light lid.
  • 5. The light lid with a previewing window as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing includes second openings on the bottom of the both sides.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
89209836 U Jun 2000 TW
US Referenced Citations (5)
Number Name Date Kind
5159486 Webb Oct 1992 A
5592258 Hashizume et al. Jan 1997 A
5956103 Ishiguro Sep 1999 A
6151426 Lee et al. Nov 2000 A
6271939 Hu et al. Aug 2001 B1