Patent attributes
A scanner is provided with a small and low-priced lighting member. The scanner scans an object having undulations on a surface thereof with good quality. The object is placed on a scanning platform. A CCD line sensor incorporated in a camera is positioned facing the scanning platform and scans the object line by line, while moving along an image plane on a lens of an optical scanning system for a specified distance. The lighting member irradiates a scanned position with light from above in a slanting direction under the same condition. The lighting member is moved in synch with the scanned position shifted when the CCD line sensor scans one line, so that the irradiation angle is constant entirely on the object to be scanned. Therefore, shadows of the undulations on the surface of the object are formed under the same conditions as those observed under the natural light without loss of stereoscopic effect of the object.
