Image analysis – Image sensing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-27
2001-05-22
Couso, Jose L. (Department: 2721)
Image analysis
Image sensing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06236770
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image scanner, and more particular, to a batch scanning method of an image scanner for scanning a plurality of designated areas within a document.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG.
1
and FIG.
2
.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a prior art image scanning system
10
.
FIG. 2
is a top view of the platform
18
of the image scanning system
10
. The image scanning system
10
comprises a scanner
12
, a computer
14
, and a monitor
16
with a screen
22
. The scanner
12
comprises a rectangular transparent platform
18
having a front end
24
, a rear end
26
, a left end
28
, and a right end
30
for placing documents to be scanned, and a scanning module
20
installed under the platform
18
for scanning documents placed on the platform
18
. During a scanning operation, the scanner
12
will make a preview scan over the documents placed on the platform
18
, and generate a preview image on the monitor screen
22
. A user can designate a plurality of non-folding areas such as the areas
32
,
34
and
36
, on the preview image and set various scanning parameters such as resolution, contrast, highlight, shadow, scanning mode, image mode, etc. for each designated area. The image scanning system
10
will then start a normal scan over the designated areas
32
,
34
and
36
.
Please refer to FIG.
3
.
FIG. 3
is a flowchart of a prior art scanning method
38
for scanning a plurality of designated areas over the platform
18
of the image scanning system
10
.
Step
40
: start scanning a document;
Step
42
: designate at least one designated area, and set the scanning parameters of the designated area such as resolution, contrast, highlight, shadow, scanning mode, image mode, etc.;
Step
44
: move the scanning module
20
to the designated area;
Step
46
: scan the designated area;
Step
48
: move the scanning module
20
to the front end
24
of the platform
18
;
Step
50
: check if there is any designated area which has not been scanned; if yes, go to step
42
;
Step
52
: complete the scanning process.
In the prior art scanning method
38
, the scanning module
20
has to return to the front end
24
of the platform
18
after scanning one designated area. This method
38
is quite time-consuming.
Please refer to FIG.
4
.
FIG. 4
is a flowchart of another prior art scanning method
54
for scanning a plurality of designated areas over the platform
18
of the image scanning system
10
.
Step
56
: start scanning a document;
Step
58
: rearrange the designated areas in a front-to-rear sequence;
Step
60
: set the scanning parameters according to one leading designated area in the sequence which has not been scanned;
Step
62
: move the scanning module
20
to the designated area;
Step
64
: scan the designated area;
Step
66
: check if there is any designated area in the sequence which has not been scanned; if yes, go to step
60
;
Step
68
: move the scanning module
20
to the front end
24
to complete the scanning process.
In the prior art scanning method
54
, the designated areas are arranged in a front-to-rear sequence. When scanning a rear designated area immediately following a front designated area, the scanning module
20
will be moved from the ending position of the front designated area to the starting position of the rear designated area without returning to the front end
24
of the platform
18
. Such design makes the scanning method
54
much faster than the scanning method
38
. However, as shown in
FIG. 2
, the bottom edge of the designated area
32
is below the top edge of the designated area
34
. Such condition is called the designated area
32
is folded with the designated area
34
along the front-to-rear scanning direction. After scanned the designated area
32
, the scanning method
54
will make the scanning module
20
move back to the top edge of the designated area
34
. Such backward movement of the scanning module
20
is quite difficult to control and will cause continuous change of the operating status of the scanning module
20
such as accelerating, decelerating, and stop. And such complicated movement control may cause the scanning module
20
to generate poor images.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a scanning method which can scan a plurality of designated areas over the platform of an image scanning system in a single pass so that the above mentioned problems of the prior art scanning methods can be solved.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a scanning method of an image scanning system for scanning a plurality of designated areas, the system comprising a transparent platform having front, rear, left and right ends for placing documents, and a scanning module for scanning the designated areas within the platform in a front-to-rear direction, the scanning method comprising:
(1) checking if any two or more designated areas are folded along a front-to-rear direction; if yes, separating each of the folded designated areas along a left-and-right direction into at least one folding section and possibly non-folding sections if there is any, and defining all the folded folding sections as one combined section;
(2) using the scanning module to scan each non-folding designated area, non-folding section and combined section one by one along the front-to-rear direction and generating a corresponding digital image for each; and
(3) generating a digital image for each folded designated area from the digital images of the non-folding and combined sections of the folded designated area.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the scanning module can scan a plurality of designated areas over the platform of an image scanning system in a single pass without having the scanning module return to the front end of the platform or to the beginning of another designated area.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings
REFERENCES:
patent: 4914709 (1990-04-01), Rudak
patent: 5649222 (1997-07-01), Mogilevsky
Microsoft Press, Computer Dictionary, Second Edition, Copyright@ 1994, p. 280.
Cheng Kung
Chuang Shu-fang
Hsieh Chien-Shu
Couso Jose L.
Dang Duy M.
Hsu Winston
Mustek System Inc.
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