阅读说明：本技术 光学式编码器 (Optical encoder ) 是由 曾吉旺 于 2020-02-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开一种光学式编码器,其包含：一发光模块、一导光模块以及一光感测模块。所述导光模块邻近所述发光模块。所述光感测模块包含多个邻近所述导光模块的感测组件,其中每一所述感测组件具有一裸露感测区,多个所述感测组件的多个裸露感测区彼此横向错位且分别横向沿着多个互相平行的不同水平线延伸设置。借此,本发明所提供的光学式编码器可以令投射在光感测模块上的光束与多个感测组件的多个裸露感测区相互配合,进而提高编码器的解析能力。(The invention discloses an optical encoder, which comprises: the light source module comprises a light emitting module, a light guide module and a light sensing module. The light guide module is adjacent to the light emitting module. The light sensing module comprises a plurality of sensing assemblies adjacent to the light guide module, wherein each sensing assembly is provided with an exposed sensing area, and the exposed sensing areas of the sensing assemblies are transversely staggered and respectively transversely arranged along a plurality of different parallel horizontal lines. Therefore, the optical encoder provided by the invention can enable the light beams projected on the light sensing module to be matched with the exposed sensing areas of the sensing components, so that the resolution capability of the encoder is improved.)

1. An optical encoder, comprising:

a light emitting module;

a light guide module adjacent to the light emitting module; and

the light sensing module comprises a plurality of sensing assemblies adjacent to the light guide module, wherein each sensing assembly is provided with an exposed sensing area, and the exposed sensing areas of the sensing assemblies are transversely staggered and respectively transversely extend along a plurality of different parallel horizontal lines.

2. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: and the grating is arranged between the light guide module and the light sensing module and comprises a plurality of openings which are respectively used for exposing the exposed sensing areas.

3. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 2, wherein the incident light beam generated by the light emitting module passes through the light guiding module to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam close to the parallel light beam projected on the light sensing module.

4. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the exposed sensing area of each sensing element is divided into a plurality of encoding areas, and the beam width of the parallel beam or the near-parallel beam is smaller than or equal to the width of each encoding area.

5. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the light emitting module comprises at least one light emitting source and a light transmissive body covering the light emitting source, and the light transmissive body has an arc-shaped light exiting surface.

6. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 5, wherein the light guide module has a strip-shaped light incident surface facing the arc-shaped light emergent surface and a strip-shaped light emergent surface facing away from the strip-shaped light incident surface.

7. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 6, wherein the beam width of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam is equal to the width of the light exiting surface.

8. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light guide module comprises a light guide body and an aspheric protrusion.

9. An optical encoder, comprising

A light emitting module;

the light guide module is adjacent to the light emitting module and comprises a light guide body and an aspheric surface convex part; and

the light sensing module is adjacent to the light guide module;

the incident light beam generated by the light emitting module passes through the light guide module to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam close to the parallel light projected on the light sensing module;

wherein a beam width of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam is adjusted by a curvature of a vertex curved surface of the aspherical convex portion.

10. The optical encoder as claimed in claim 9, wherein the light emitting module comprises at least one light emitting source and a light transmissive body covering the light emitting source, the light transmissive body having an arc-shaped light exiting surface; the light guide module is provided with a strip light incident surface facing the arc light emergent surface and a strip light emergent surface back to the strip light incident surface.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an encoder, and more particularly, to an optical encoder.

Background

The monitor (monitor) of the present computer uses a Mouse (Mouse) to move the position of the data to be processed to a specific data position on the monitor. The main structure of a conventional mouse includes two sets of X-axis and Y-axis encoders that output sequential logic signals (e.g., 11,10,00,01) to shift the position of data to be processed by the monitor by moving the underside of the mouse against the desktop or other surface to a particular orientation. The principle of moving the position of data on a monitor with a mouse is basically to generate the movement of a point on a plane by operating the X-axis and Y-axis encoders simultaneously. In other words, the X-axis encoder or the Y-axis encoder can be operated only at the line point. The encoder is generally composed of a light emitting module (e.g., a light emitting diode), a blade grating wheel, and a light sensing module. The blade grid wheel has a structure similar to a mechanical gear, and when the blade grid wheel is operated, the light beam emitted by the light emitting module is shielded or not shielded by the blade grid wheel through the rotation of the blade grid wheel. ON the other hand, the light beam which is not shielded is received by the light sensing module, so that the sensor generates an ON (1) signal. The OFF (0) and ON (1) signals are sequentially generated to form a serial signal. For example, when the blade grid wheel rotates clockwise, the sequence signal generated by the sensor is a continuous repeating signal of 11,10,00,01,11,10,00,01 …, and when the blade grid wheel rotates counterclockwise, the sequence signal is a continuous repeating signal of 01,00,10,11,01,00,10,11,10 …, and the sequence signals are used for circuit coding.

Generally, the greater the number of blades included in the blade wheel and the smaller the distance between the two sensors, the higher the resolution (expressed as CPR, Countper Round). However, when the angle between two adjacent blades of the blade grid wheel is decreased, that is, the number of blades is increased, the outer diameter of the grid wheel is increased. If the outer diameter of the grid wheel is not increased, the width of the blade needs to be reduced, however, the reduction of the width of the blade due to the diffraction of light is limited. In detail, under the condition of excessive blade number, diffraction phenomenon is generated when the light beam passes through the blades of the grid wheel, and the light beam can not be shielded by the blades of the grid wheel, so that the signals generated by the two sensors are the signals of continuously repeated ON (1) no matter the grid wheel rotates clockwise or counterclockwise, and different sequence signals can not be generated due to different sliding directions of the mouse.

Therefore, how to improve or enhance the resolution of the optical encoder without using a complicated structure remains a challenge in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to an optical encoder, which is not sufficient in the prior art.

In order to solve the above technical problem, one of the technical solutions of the present invention is to provide an optical encoder, including: the light source module comprises a light emitting module, a light guide module and a light sensing module. The light guide module is adjacent to the light emitting module. The light sensing module comprises a plurality of sensing assemblies adjacent to the light guide module, wherein each sensing assembly is provided with an exposed sensing area, and the exposed sensing areas of the sensing assemblies are transversely staggered and respectively transversely arranged along a plurality of different parallel horizontal lines.

Furthermore, the optical encoder further comprises: and the grating is arranged between the light guide module and the light sensing module and comprises a plurality of openings which are respectively used for exposing the exposed sensing areas.

Furthermore, the incident light beam generated by the light emitting module passes through the light guide module to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam close to the parallel light beam projected on the light sensing module.

Furthermore, the exposed sensing area of each sensing assembly is divided into a plurality of coding areas, and the beam width of the parallel beam or the near-parallel beam is smaller than or equal to the width of each coding area.

Furthermore, the light-emitting module comprises at least one light-emitting source and a light-transmitting body covering the light-emitting source, and the light-transmitting body is provided with an arc-shaped light-emitting surface.

Furthermore, the light guide module is provided with a strip-shaped light incident surface facing the arc-shaped light emergent surface and a strip-shaped light emergent surface back to the strip-shaped light incident surface.

Furthermore, the beam width of the parallel beam or the near-parallel beam is equal to the width of the strip-shaped light-emitting surface.

Furthermore, the light guide module comprises a light guide body and an aspheric surface convex part.

In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution of the present invention is to provide an optical encoder, which includes a light emitting module, a light guide module, and a light sensing module. The light guide module is adjacent to the light emitting module and comprises a light guide body and an aspheric surface convex part. The light sensing module is adjacent to the light guide module. The incident light beam generated by the light emitting module passes through the light guide module to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam close to the parallel light beam projected on the light sensing module. Wherein a beam width of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam is adjusted by a curvature of a vertex curved surface of the aspherical convex portion.

Furthermore, the light-emitting module comprises at least one light-emitting source and a light-transmitting body which covers the light-emitting source, and the light-transmitting body is provided with an arc-shaped light-emitting surface; the light guide module is provided with a strip light incident surface facing the arc light emergent surface and a strip light emergent surface back to the strip light incident surface.

The optical encoder provided by the invention has the beneficial effects that the optical encoder can pass through the technical scheme that the light guide module is adjacent to the light emitting module, and the light sensing module comprises a plurality of sensing assemblies adjacent to the light guide module, wherein each sensing assembly is provided with an exposed sensing area, and the exposed sensing areas of the sensing assemblies are transversely staggered and respectively transversely extend along a plurality of parallel different horizontal lines, so that parallel light beams or near-parallel light beams projected on the light sensing module are matched with the exposed sensing areas of the sensing assemblies, and the resolution capability of the encoder is improved; moreover, the optical encoder provided by the present invention can also avoid the diffraction phenomenon of light.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the optical encoder provided by the present invention can pass through a light guide module, the light guide module is adjacent to the light emitting module, the light guide module includes a light guide body and an aspheric protrusion, the incident light beam generated by the light emitting module passes through the light guide module to form a parallel light beam or a near parallel light beam near the parallel light projected on the light sensing module, and the technical scheme of adjusting the light beam width of the parallel light beam or the near parallel light beam by the curvature of the vertex curved surface of the aspheric protrusion is adopted, so that the parallel light beam or the near parallel light beam projected on the light sensing module is matched with the exposed sensing regions of the plurality of sensing elements, thereby improving the resolution capability of the encoder; moreover, the optical encoder provided by the present invention can also avoid the diffraction phenomenon of light.

For a better understanding of the features and technical content of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the invention and accompanying drawings, which are provided for purposes of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the invention.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a first structural diagram of an optical encoder according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a second structural diagram of an optical encoder according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a light emitting module and a light guiding module according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a light-emitting surface of a blade grid wheel of a conventional light guide encoder.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a stripe-shaped light-emitting surface according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of an internal optical path of a light guide module according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an annular light emitting surface according to the first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of beam reflection of the mirror according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a first partial schematic view illustrating a relationship between a near-parallel light beam and a light sensing module of an optical encoder according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a second partial schematic view illustrating a relationship between a near-parallel light beam and a light sensing module of an optical encoder according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a third partial schematic view illustrating a relationship between a near-parallel light beam and a light sensing module of an optical encoder according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a fourth partial schematic view illustrating a relationship between a near-parallel light beam and a light sensing module of an optical encoder according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a signal generated by the light sensing module after receiving light according to the second embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 14 is a partial schematic view illustrating a relationship between a near-parallel light beam and a light sensing module of an optical encoder according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of signals generated after the light sensing module used in fig. 14 receives light.

Fig. 16 is a partial schematic view illustrating a relationship between a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam of an optical encoder and a light sensing module according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of signals generated after the light sensing module used in fig. 16 receives light.

Detailed Description

The following is a description of the embodiments of the "optical encoder" disclosed in the present application with reference to specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand the advantages and effects of the present invention from the disclosure of the present application. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications and various changes in detail, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The drawings of the present invention are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be drawn to scale. The following embodiments will further explain the related art of the present invention in detail, but the disclosure is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It is to be understood that the term "or", as used herein, is intended to encompass any one, or combination of more, of the associated listed items, as the case may be.

First embodiment

Referring to fig. 1 to 8, a first embodiment of the present invention provides an optical encoder Z, which includes: the light source module comprises a light emitting module 1, a light guide module 2 and a light sensing module 3. The light guide module 2 is adjacent to the light emitting module 1. The light sensing module 3 includes a plurality of sensing elements 30 adjacent to the light guiding module 2, wherein each of the sensing elements 30 has an exposed sensing region 300, and the exposed sensing regions 300 of the sensing elements 30 are laterally staggered and respectively laterally extend along a plurality of different parallel horizontal lines.

For example, as shown in fig. 1, the light emitting module 1 is adjacent to the light guiding module 2 and is linearly disposed with the light sensing module 3; the light emitting module 1 may be at least one light emitting diode, but not limited thereto. The light guide module 2 may be made of glass, acrylic, or Polycarbonate (PC), or any combination thereof, however, the material of the light guide module 2 is not limited thereto. The light sensing module 3 includes a plurality of sensing elements 30 adjacent to the light guiding module 2. Further, the sensing elements 30 of the sensing module 3 have a specific size, and are arranged on the surface of the light sensing module 3 according to a specific manner, so as to cooperate with the light guiding module 2 to generate signals. Each sensing element 30 has an exposed sensing region 300, and a plurality of exposed sensing regions 300 (shown in fig. 9) of a plurality of sensing elements 30 (shown in fig. 9) are laterally displaced from each other and respectively laterally extend along a plurality of different parallel horizontal lines (shown in fig. 9, 14, and 16). Therefore, the light beam L generated by the light emitting module 1 passes through the light guide module 2 to form the light beam L projected on the light sensing module 3.

Through the above design, the optical encoder Z provided by the present invention can project the light beam L emitted by the light emitting module 1 to the light sensing module 3 through the arrangement of the light guiding module 2, so as to generate a circuit encoding signal with high resolution.

Further, the incident light beam L1 generated by the light emitting module 1 passes through the light guiding module 2 to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2 of near-parallel light projected on the light sensing module 3. For example, the light emitting module 1 may include at least one light emitting source 10 and a light transmissive body 11 covering the light emitting source 10, where the light transmissive body 11 has an arc-shaped light emitting surface 110. The light source 10 may be a light emitting diode and has two pins, and the pins can be electrically connected to a circuit board (not shown), but not limited thereto. The light-transmitting body 11 can be made of glass, acrylic or Polycarbonate (PC), or any combination thereof, but not limited thereto; moreover, the arc-shaped light emitting surface 110 may have a spherical structure or an aspherical structure. Therefore, the light beam emitted by at least one light emitting source 10 of the light emitting module 1 passes through the arc-shaped light emitting surface 110 of the light transmitting body 11 to generate an incident light beam L1; then, the incident light beam L1 passes through the light guide module 2 to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam close to the parallel light beam projected on the light sensing module 3 (the following description uses the near-parallel light beam L2 as an example, but not limited thereto).

Further, the light guide module 2 further has a strip-shaped light incident surface 211 facing the arc-shaped light incident surface 110 and a strip-shaped light incident surface 212 facing away from the strip-shaped light incident surface 211. For example, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the light guide module 2 may include a light guide body 20 and an aspheric convex portion 21. The strip-shaped light incident surface 211 at one end of the light guide body 20 faces the light emitting module 1 and is configured to receive light emitted by the light emitting module 1. The aspheric surface convex part 21 at the other end of the light guide body 20 is provided with a strip-shaped light emitting surface 212 and corresponds to the light sensing module 3; the aspheric convex part 21 may be aspheric.

Furthermore, as shown in fig. 4, the conventional light guide type encoder usually uses a spherical structure S having a spherical center to form a light exit surface of a blade grating wheel in the encoder, so that light is emitted from the spherical structure S and is projected onto the sensor. However, since the spherical surface itself has a focusing function, the light beam emitted from the spherical structure S is focused, so that the light beam has different widths at different positions. However, unlike the spherical structure S used in the conventional light guide encoder, the aspheric structure a does not have a spherical center but a major axis as shown in fig. 5. The light beam emitted by the aspheric structure a (e.g., paraboloid) will be a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam of near-parallel light. In the embodiment of the present invention, the aspheric surface structure a, such as a hyperboloid or a paraboloid, is used to form the light exiting surface 212, so that the light beam exiting from the light guiding module 2 through the light exiting surface 212 has a stable width W; that is, the beam width W of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is equal to the width W of the light exit surface 212. Therefore, the parallel light beam or near-parallel light beam L2 with stable width W can be matched with the sensing component or exposed sensing area with specific width and arrangement mode, thereby achieving the effect of generating a coding signal with higher resolution. For example, since the light beam leaving the light guide module 2 has a stable width W, the resolution of the optical encoder Z can be effectively improved by controlling the size and arrangement of the exposed sensing regions 300 of the sensing elements 30 of the light sensing module 3 and the size of the strip-shaped light-emitting surface 212 of the light guide module 2. Details regarding the cooperation of the strip-shaped light-emitting surface 212 and the exposed sensing region 300 of the sensing element 30 in the light sensing module 3 will be described later.

Furthermore, as shown in fig. 6, the aspheric convex part 21 has an annular light emitting surface 210, the annular light emitting surface 210 may include two refraction surfaces 213 and a strip light emitting surface 212 connected between the two refraction surfaces 213, the refraction surfaces 213 may be refraction planes, and the strip light emitting surface 212 may be an aspheric light emitting surface, such as a hyperboloid, paraboloid or ellipsoid light emitting surface.

Next, referring to fig. 7, the annular light emitting surface 210 may be formed by a first surface a1, a second surface a2, a third surface a3 and a fourth surface a4 which are connected in sequence. The first surface a1 and the fourth surface a4 are refractive surfaces 213, and the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 connected between the first surface a1 and the fourth surface a4 together form a strip-shaped light emitting surface 212. In the present invention, since the incident angle of the refracted light beam R projected on the refraction surface 213 is equal to the refraction angle, the refracted light beam R is emitted to the inside of the light guide module 2 through refraction. Thus, the light exiting bar 212 (the second surface a2 and the third surface a3) is a portion of the annular light exiting surface 210 through which the refracted light beam R passes, and the refracted light beam R passes through the light exiting bar 212 to become a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2. On the other hand, if the refracted light beam R is emitted to the refraction surface 213 (the first surface a1 or the fourth surface a4) of the annular light emitting surface 210, the refracted light beam R cannot be emitted directly through the light guide module 2. It should be noted that the width of the parallel light beam or the nearly parallel light beam L2 passing through the light exit bar 212 may be equal to the width of the light exit bar 212. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned examples.

It should be noted that the first surface a1, the second surface a2, the third surface a3 and the fourth surface a4 may have the same vertical projection area. As shown in fig. 7, the first surface a1, the second surface a2, the third surface a3 and the fourth surface a4 may have the same projection width d. In this case, the projection widths of the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 constituting the bar-shaped light emitting surface 212 will account for one half of the total projection width. However, the configurations of the first surface a1, the second surface a2, the third surface a3 and the fourth surface a4 can be adjusted according to actual requirements. By adjusting the curvature of the light exit surface 212, the width of the parallel light or near-parallel light L2 leaving the light guide module 2 can be adjusted. In other words, the beam width of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 can be adjusted by the curvature of the apex curved surface of the aspherical convex portion 21.

Next, referring to fig. 6, a possible light emitting path of the refracted light beam R towards the annular light emitting surface 210 is shown. The refracted light beam R is emitted to the refraction surface 213 (corresponding to the first surface a1 shown in fig. 7) to be refracted, then emitted to the strip-shaped light-emitting surface 212 (corresponding to the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 shown in fig. 7), and passes through the strip-shaped light-emitting surface 212 to be a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2. That is, the incident light beam L1 generated by the light emitting module 1 enters the light guide body 20 from the strip-shaped light incident surface 211 of the light guide module 2 and passes through the strip-shaped light incident surface 211 of the annular light emitting surface 210 to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2 of near-parallel light projected (i.e., "front-focused") on the light sensing module 3.

Furthermore, as shown in fig. 2, the optical encoder Z of the present invention further includes a grating 4, the grating 4 is disposed between the light guiding module 2 and the light sensing module 3, the grating 4 includes a plurality of openings (as shown in fig. 9, the first opening 41 and the second opening 42) respectively exposing the plurality of sensing regions 300, and the grating 4 can be a selective member. For example, when the optical encoder Z includes the grating 4, the grating 4 may be disposed between the light guide module 2 and the light sensing module 3 and include a plurality of slit-shaped openings (as shown in fig. 9). At this time, the light sensing module 3 may be formed by a plurality of strip-shaped sensing elements 30, and the slit-shaped opening 40 may be used to expose a specific area of the sensing elements 30, so that the light sensing module 3 has a plurality of exposed sensing regions 300.

Through the above design, the refracted light beam R according to the embodiment of the invention can be refracted by the rest of the corresponding annular light emitting surface 210 (the refraction surface 213) through the structural design of the light guiding module 2, or pass through a part of the corresponding annular light emitting surface 210 (the strip-shaped light emitting surface 212) to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2, and is projected to the light sensing module 3 through the grating 4, so as to generate a circuit coding signal with high resolution.

In addition, as shown in fig. 8, the optical encoder Z of the present invention may further include a mirror 5. The reflector 5 is disposed at one side of the light guide module 2, and is configured to reflect the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 from the light guide module 2 to pass through the grating 4, and then to emit the light to the light sensing module 3. In other words, the light sensing module 3 can receive the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 emitted from the bar-shaped light emitting surface 212 through the reflection of the reflector 5.

In summary, the present invention can further provide an optical encoder Z, which includes a light emitting module 1, a light guiding module 2 and a light sensing module 3. The light guide module 2 is adjacent to the light emitting module 1, and the light guide module 2 includes a light guide body 20 and an aspheric protrusion 21. The light sensing module 3 is adjacent to the light guiding module 2. The incident light beam L generated by the light emitting module 1 passes through the light guiding module 2 to form a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2 of a near-parallel light beam projected on the light sensing module 3. Here, the beam width of the parallel light flux or near-parallel light flux L2 is adjusted by the curvature of the apex curved surface of the aspherical convex portion 21.

It should be noted that, in order to achieve the technical effect of improving the resolution of the optical encoder Z, the widths of the sensing elements 30 and the exposed sensing regions 300 of the sensing elements 30 must be controlled to be matched with the width of the aspheric convex portion 21 of the light guide module 2 and the width of the strip-shaped light-emitting surface 212. In this way, the optical encoder Z of the present invention can only use a single aspheric protrusion 21 to enable the optical sensing module 3 to generate a complete encoding sequence (for example, the aspheric protrusion 21 generates signals of [0,0], [0,1], [1,0] and [1,1 ]). The detailed means and parameters of the above control will be described in detail in the following embodiments.

Furthermore, the above-described examples are only one possible embodiment and are not intended to limit the present invention.

Second embodiment

Referring to fig. 9 to 13, fig. 9 to 12 are first to fourth partial schematic diagrams respectively illustrating a relationship between a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2 of an optical encoder Z and a light sensing module 3 according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a signal generated after the light sensing module 3 receives a light beam in this embodiment. Please refer to fig. 1 to 8.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 9, the light sensing module 3 includes an elongated first sensing element 31 and an elongated second sensing element 32, the two sensing elements 31 and 32 have the same width D1, and two ends of the two sensing elements are aligned with each other, so that the light sensing module 3 also has a width D1. A grating 4 with a width larger than D1 is further disposed between the light sensing module 3 and the light guiding module 2 for shielding specific areas of the first sensing element 31 and the second sensing element 32 and exposing other areas that are not shielded. The first opening 41 and the second opening 42 of the grating 4 respectively expose the first exposed sensing region 310 of the first sensing element 31 and the second exposed sensing region 320 of the second sensing element 32. In the present embodiment, the first opening 41 and the second opening 42 have a width of 1/4D1, so the first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 exposed by the openings also have a width of 1/4D 1. The first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 are laterally offset from each other and respectively extend laterally along two different horizontal lines H1 and H2 that are parallel to each other.

As shown in fig. 9, the first exposed sensing area 31 and the second exposed sensing area 32 are divided into a plurality of encoding regions 310a, 310b, 320a, 320b, respectively, and the width W1 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is smaller than or equal to the width of the encoding regions. That is, the exposed sensing area of each sensing element is divided into a plurality of encoding areas, and the beam width of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is smaller than or equal to the width of each encoding area.

In other words, in the present embodiment, the width W1 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 emitted from the strip-shaped light emitting surface 212 is less than or equal to one fourth of the width D1 of the photo sensing module 3 formed by the first sensing element 31 and the second sensing element 32, i.e., W1 ≦ 1/4D 1. In fig. 9 to 12, W1 ≦ 1/4D1 is drawn, but not limited thereto. In addition, the widths of the first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 in the present embodiment are twice the width W1 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2, that is, the widths of the first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 are 1/2D1, respectively. Moreover, the first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 are offset from each other, that is, the first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 are offset from each other by the width of 1/4D1 in the directions of different horizontal lines H1 and H2, but not limited thereto. Next, referring to fig. 9 to 12 in sequence, a detailed manner of generating signals when the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 and the photo sensing module 3 are at different relative positions will be described.

First, as shown in fig. 9, neither the first light exposure sensing region 310 nor the second light exposure sensing region 320 corresponds to the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2, i.e., neither the first light exposure sensing region 310 nor the second light exposure sensing region 320 corresponds to the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 of the strip-shaped light emitting surface 212, so that, in the position (1), the light sensing module 3 does not receive the light beam signal and generates the signal of [0,0] in cooperation with fig. 13.

Next, as shown in fig. 10, the first light exposure sensing region 31 corresponds to the first surface a1 of the light guide module 2 as the refraction surface 213, and therefore, the light sensing module 3 does not receive the light beam signal. In addition, the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 emitted from the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 of the strip-shaped light emitting surface 212 is emitted to the photo sensing module 3 and is projected on a portion (i.e., an encoding region) of the second light exposure sensing region 320 exposed by the second opening 42. Therefore, as shown in fig. 13, at the position (2), the optical sensing module 3 generates a signal of [0,1 ].

Next, as shown in fig. 11, the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 emitted through the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 of the strip-shaped light emitting surface 212 is emitted to the photo sensing module 3, and is projected on a portion (i.e., one of the encoding regions) of the first photo exposure sensing region 310 exposed by the first opening 41 and another portion (i.e., one of the encoding regions) of the second photo exposure sensing region 320 exposed by the second opening 42. Therefore, as shown in fig. 13, in the position (3), the optical sensing module 3 generates the signal [1,1 ].

Finally, as shown in fig. 12, the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 emitted through the second surface a2 and the third surface a3 of the strip-shaped light emitting surface 212 is emitted to the photo sensing module 3 and projected on another portion (i.e., one of the encoding regions) of the first light exposure sensing region 310 exposed by the first opening 41. At this time, the second light exposure sensing region 320 corresponds to the fourth surface a4 of the light guide module 2 as the refractive surface 213, and thus does not receive the light beam signal. Therefore, as shown in fig. 13, at the position (4), the optical sensing module 3 generates the signal of [1,0 ].

As described above, the optical encoder Z of the present invention can simultaneously generate 22-4 sensing signals by the design of the refraction surface 213 and the strip-shaped light-emitting surface 212 of the light guide module 2 and the cooperation of the first exposed sensing region 310 and the second exposed sensing region 320 in the light sensing module 3. Specifically, the resolution of the optical encoder Z can be increased by adjusting the width W1 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 to be less than or equal to one fourth of the width D1 (and the width of the aspheric protrusion 21) of the optical sensing module 3 formed by the first sensing element 31 and the second sensing element 32 (W1 ≦ 1/4D 1).

However, the above-mentioned examples are only one possible embodiment and are not intended to limit the present invention.

Third embodiment

Referring to fig. 14 and 15, fig. 14 is a partial schematic view of a relationship between a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2 of an optical encoder Z and a photo sensing module 3 according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 15 is a schematic view of a signal generated after the photo sensing module 3 used in fig. 14 receives a light beam. Please refer to fig. 1 to fig. 13.

Unlike the previous embodiment, in this embodiment, the light sensing module 3 is composed of a first sensing element 31, a second sensing element 32, a third sensing element 33 and a fourth sensing element 34, and they have the same width D2. The first opening 41, the second opening 42, the third opening 43 and the fourth opening 44 of the grating 4 can expose the first exposed sensing region 310, the second exposed sensing region 320, the third exposed sensing region 330 and the fourth exposed sensing region 340, which are staggered with each other, respectively. The first exposed sensing region 310, the second exposed sensing region 320, the third exposed sensing region 330 and the fourth exposed sensing region 340 are divided into a plurality of encoding regions (the principle is the same as that of the foregoing embodiments, and no specific description is given here), and the width W2 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is smaller than or equal to the width of the encoding regions. As shown in fig. 14, each of the exposed sensing regions 310, 320, 330, 340 includes four encoded regions with a width of 1/8D 2.

In other words, in the present embodiment, the widths of the first exposed sensing region 310, the second exposed sensing region 320, the third exposed sensing region 330 and the fourth exposed sensing region 340 are 1/2D 2. In addition, the first exposed sensing region 310, the second exposed sensing region 320, the third exposed sensing region 330 and the fourth exposed sensing region 340 are offset from each other by 1/8D2 widths in different horizontal lines H1, H2, H3 and H4.

The width W2 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 emitted from the stripe-shaped light emitting surface 212 is less than or equal to one eighth of the width D2 of the light sensing module 3, i.e., W2 is less than or equal to 1/8D 2. Fig. 14 is a scale of W2-1/8D 2, but not limited thereto. As in the previous embodiment, the width of the aspheric convex part 21 is the same as the width D2 of the light sensing module 3. For example, in the state shown in fig. 14, the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is projected on the photo sensing module 3 and causes the photo sensing module 3 to generate a [0,0,0,0] signal. In the present embodiment, the signal generated by the light sensing module 3 according to the condition of different relative positions with respect to the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is as shown in fig. 15. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the optical encoder Z can generate 23-8 signals.

However, the above-mentioned examples are only one possible embodiment and are not intended to limit the present invention.

Fourth embodiment

Referring to fig. 16 and 17, fig. 16 is a partial schematic view of a relationship between a parallel light beam or a near-parallel light beam L2 of an optical encoder Z and a photo sensing module 3 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 17 is a schematic view of a signal generated after the photo sensing module 3 used in fig. 16 receives a light beam. Please refer to fig. 1 to fig. 15.

As shown in fig. 16, in the present embodiment, the optical sensing module 3 of the optical encoder Z includes a first sensing element 31, a second sensing element 32 and a third sensing element 33 which are arranged in parallel and are in a strip shape, and the width of the optical sensing module 3 formed by the sensing elements is D3. The first openings 41a to 41d of the grating 4 expose a specific region of the first sensing element 31 to form a first exposed sensing region 310, the second openings 42a and 42b expose a specific region of the second sensing element 32 to form a second exposed sensing region 320, and the third opening 43 exposes a specific region of the third sensing element 33 to form a third exposed sensing region 330. The dimensions of each exposed sensing region are shown in the figure.

Specifically, the first exposed sensing region 310 may be divided into a plurality of encoding regions 310 a-310 d, the second exposed sensing region 320 may be divided into a plurality of encoding regions 320a, 320b, and the third exposed sensing region 330 may also be divided into a plurality of encoding regions (the principle is the same as the foregoing embodiments, and will not be described herein); and, the width W3 of the parallel light beam or near-parallel light beam L2 is less than or equal to the width of the coding region. As shown in fig. 16, the first exposed sensing regions 310 a-310 d, the second exposed sensing regions 320a, 320b, and the third exposed sensing region 330 respectively include four, two, and one code regions. The width of the code regions of the first exposed sensing regions 310 a-310D is 2/8D3, the width of the code regions of the second exposed sensing regions 320a, 320b is 1/8D3, and the width of the code regions of the third exposed sensing region 330 is 1/2D 3.

In the present embodiment, the width W3 of the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L3 is less than or equal to one eighth of the width D3 of the light sensing module 3, i.e., W3 ≦ 1/8D 3. As in the previous embodiments, the width of the aspheric convex part 21 is equal to the width D3 of the light sensing module 3. For example, as shown in fig. 16, the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L2 is projected on the photo sensing module 3 and causes the photo sensing module 3 to generate a [0,0,0] signal. In the present embodiment, the signal generated by the light sensing module 3 according to the condition that the light sensing module is at a different relative position from the parallel light beam or the near-parallel light beam L3 is as shown in fig. 17. In the present embodiment, the optical encoder Z can generate 23-8 signals.

However, the above-mentioned examples are only one possible embodiment and are not intended to limit the present invention.