Scanner with a built-in microcontroller

Details Scanner with a built-in microcontroller Scanner with a built-in microcontroller

1999-02-01

2002-11-26

Lee, Thomas D. (Department: 2724)

Facsimile and static presentation processing

Facsimile

Picture signal generator

C358S442000, C358S468000, C710S120000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06486977

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a scanner with a built-in microcontroller to decrease the delay of transmission.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A scanner has become a very popular peripheral equipment of the computer. Generally, a scanner is connected with a personal computer (PC) by using a printer port or an interface card now. Please refer to
FIG. 1
which is a conventional scanner
11
connected with the PC
13
by the printer port
12
.
FIG. 2
is a flowchart showing a scanning process of the scanner
11
connected with the PC
13
through the printer port
12
. When the PC
13
sends a scanning required signal for starting the scanner
11
, a scanning process will be carried out. During the scanning process, the PC
13
is continuously detecting whether the scanner
11
is ready to scan the second image line after the first image line has been scanned. If the scanner
11
is not ready, the PC
13
will keep detecting until the scanner
11
is ready for scanning the next image line and sending out the scanning data to the PC
13
.
Currently, various kinds of peripheral equipment of the computer are getting more and more, e.g. mouse, joystick, printer, and monitor, all of which have become indispensable and have their own interfaces. Therefore, the universal serial bus (USB) is developed for solving the problems of connection and usage. The USB is adapted to connect all kinds of peripheral equipment which is in conformity with the USB standards. Of course, the scanner can also be connected with the computer through the USB. Please refer to
FIG. 3
which is a block diagram of the conventional scanner
31
which is in conformity with USB standards and is connected with the PC
33
by the USB
32
.
FIG. 4
is a timing diagram of the signal transmission of the scanner
31
connected with the PC
33
through the USB
32
. Basically, the transmission way of the USB is to send all received signals at the time point of every frame. As shown in
FIG. 4
, the length of each frame is
10
−3
s. When the PC
33
generates a scanning required signal at the time point A, however, the USB
32
does not send the scanning required signal to the scanner
31
immediately, but send it with other signals generated by other peripheral equipment, connected with the USB
32
in series, at time point of frame
1
. However, depending on the priority of signals, the scanning required signal sometimes is delayed to be sent at the time point of the frame
2
. If the scanner
31
is ready to scan a first line segment until the time point B, the response signal of the scanner
31
to the PC
33
through the USB
32
will be delayed to be sent at the time point of the frame
3
. Then, the command signal of the scanner
31
for scanning a next image line and sending back the scanning data from the scanner
31
to the PC
33
will be delayed to be sent at the time point of the frame
4
.
Because of the characteristic of the USB
32
, the signal transmission will be delayed (as shown in FIG.
4
). It brings about an increase in the scanning time and influences the efficiency. The main purpose of the present invention is to develop a more efficient scanner by using a built-in microcontroller to improve the drawbacks as discussed above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a scanner with a built-in microcontroller to decrease the delay of transmission. The scanner includes: an image-picking device for picking digital data of a plurality of image lines, a microcontroller electrically connected to the image-picking device for continuously detecting whether the image-picking device is ready to scan a second image line after a first image line is picked and send out digital data which have been picked, and an interface device of a USB electrically connected to the image-picking device and a universal serial bus (USB) for receiving the digital data sent out by the image-picking device and transmitting the digital data to a data processing device through the USB for further processes.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the image-picking device is a charge-coupled device (CCD).
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the data processing device is a personal computer (PC).
The present invention may best be understood through the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:


REFERENCES:
patent: 4475161 (1984-10-01), Stock
patent: 5742407 (1998-04-01), Albrecht et al.
patent: 5790278 (1998-08-01), Ehrne et al.
patent: 5956158 (1999-09-01), Pinzarrone et al.
patent: 5970220 (1999-10-01), Bolash et al.
patent: 6049083 (2000-04-01), Heukensfelt

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