(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,377,382 Bi
Kato (45) Date of Patent: Apr. 23,2002
(54) SCANNING TABLE ASSEMBLY
(75) Inventor: Shuichi Kato, Tokyo (JP)
(73) Assignee: NEC Corporation (JP)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/595,093
(22) Filed: Jun. 16, 2000
(30) Foreign Application Priority Data
Jun. 18, 1999 (JP) 11-172769
(51) Int. CI.7 G02B 26/08
(52) U.S. CI 359/212; 359/201; 358/474;
358/483; 358/494; 358/497
(58) Field of Search 359/196, 198,
359/212, 201, 871; 399/221, 220, 202; 355/67, 68; 358/494, 474, 483, 497
3,752,558 A * 8/1973 Lloyd 359/198
* cited by examiner
Primary Examiner—-James Phan
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP
(57) ABSTRACT
A book scanner includes a scanning table assembly having a lull-speed scanning table and a hall-speed scanning table moving on a pair ol rails in association with each other. A first mirror mounted on the lull-speed scanning table reflects light from a document to second and third mirrors to be incident on a CCD unit. The lull-speed and hall-speed scanning tables are supported at three points ol the rails whereas some ol the mirrors are supported at lour points ol a corresponding table. A stable image can be obtained due to substantially no distortion in the mirror surface which results from the stable posture ol the tables supported at three points thereol.
12 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets
