Methods and Systems for No-Touch Scanning

• US 20110188093A1
• Filed: 01/29/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Heilmann, Michael James, Campbell, Richard John, Smith, Dana S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,488,213 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/474
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/04 Scanning arrangements , i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versaH04N1/387 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/195 the array comprising a two-dimensional array or a combination of two-dimensional arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/19594 using a television camera or a still video camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3876 Recombination of partial images to recreate the original image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0081 Image reader H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0436 Scanning a picture-bearing surface lying face up on a support H04N2201/0434 takes precedence; using cylindrical picture bearing surfaces H04N1/06; with manual scanning H04N1/107
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention are related to systems and methods for scanning a document wherein a scan function is invoked implicitly by a user positioning a document object, or document objects, to be scanned near an active surface of the scanner. According to one aspect of the present invention, the user'"'"'s intent to scan a document object may be determined by an active-sensing pipeline.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for capturing a document, said method comprising:

a) receiving, at a computing system, an image frame from a first image-capture device;

b) comparing said received image frame with a previously captured image frame;

c) when said comparison indicates that said received image frame has stabilized relative to said previously captured image frame, determining if said received image frame is associated with a document; and

d) when said determining indicates that said received image frame is associated with a document, capturing a document image associated with said image frame to a document buffer.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said capturing a document image associated with said image frame to a document buffer comprises a transfer of said received image frame to said document buffer.

3. A method as described in claim 1 further comprising routing said captured document image to a first recipient.

4. A method as described in claim 3, wherein said first recipient is determined from a captured routing image, wherein said captured routing image is captured prior to said receiving.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said comparison comprises a motion filter.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said comparison comprises determining the optical flow between said received image frame and said previously captured image frame.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

a) determining the high-frequency content of said received image frame; and

b) comparing said high-frequency content of said received image frame with the high-frequency content of a reference image frame, wherein said reference image frame is associated with an unobstructed view of an active surface of a scanning device associated with said first image-capture device.

8. A method as described in claim 7, wherein said determining said high-frequency content of said received image frame comprises gradient filtering said received image frame.

9. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said capturing comprises capturing said document image using said first image-capture device.

10. A method as described in claim 9, wherein said first image-capture device comprises at least one of a pan adjustment control, a tilt adjustment control and a zoom adjustment control.

11. A method as described in claim 10 further comprising:

a) analyzing said received image frame for content placement; and

b) adjusting, prior to said capturing, at least one of said pan adjustment control, said tilt adjustment control and said zoom adjustment control in response to said content placement.

12. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said capturing comprises capturing said document image using a second image-capture device.

13. A method as described in claim 12, wherein said second image-capture device comprises at least one of a pan adjustment control, a tilt adjustment control and a zoom adjustment control.

14. A method as described in claim 13 further comprising:

a) analyzing said received image frame for content placement; and

b) adjusting, prior to said capturing, at least one of said pan adjustment control, said tilt adjustment control and said zoom adjustment control in response to said content placement.

15. A system for scanning a document, said system comprising:

a) a first image-capture device;

b) an active surface; and

c) a computing system communicatively coupled to said first image-capture device, wherein said computing system comprises a memory storing instructions to be executed by said computing system to;

i) receive an image frame from said first image-capture device;

ii) compare said received image frame with a previously captured image frame;

iii) when said comparison indicates that said received image frame has stabilized relative to said previously captured image frame, determine if said received image frame is associated with a document; and

iv) when said determining indicates that said received image frame is associated with a document, capture a document image associated with said image frame to a document buffer.

16. A system as described in claim 15, wherein said instructions to capture a document image associated with said image frame to a document buffer comprise instructions to transfer said image frame to said document buffer.

17. A system as described in claim 15, wherein said first image-capture device comprises at least one of a pan adjustment control, a tilt adjustment control and a zoom adjustment control.

18. A system as described in claim 17, wherein said memory stores additional instructions to be executed by said computing system to:

a) analyze said received image frame for content placement; and

b) adjust, prior to said capturing, at least one of said pan adjustment control, said tilt adjustment control and said zoom adjustment control in response to said content placement.

19. A system as described in claim 15, wherein said instructions to compare said received image frame with said previously captured image frame comprise instructions to calculate a pixel color difference, at each pixel location in said received image frame, between said received image frame and said previously captured image frame.

20. A system as described in claim 15, wherein said instructions to determine if said received image frame is associated with a document comprise instructions to:

a) calculate the high-frequency content of said received image frame; and

b) compare said high-frequency content of said received image frame with the high-frequency content of a reference image frame, wherein said reference image frame is associated with an unobstructed view of said active surface.

21. A system as described in claim 20, wherein said instructions to calculate the high-frequency content of said received image frame comprise instructions to calculate a gradient of said received image frame.

22. A system as described in claim 15 further comprising a second image-capture device.

23. A system as described in claim 22, wherein said instructions to capture a document image associated with said image frame to a document buffer comprise instructions to capture said document image using said second image-capture device.

24. A system as described in claim 23, wherein said second image-capture device comprises at least one of a pan adjustment control, a tilt adjustment control and a zoom adjustment control.

25. A system as described in claim 24, wherein said memory stores additional instructions to be executed by said computing system to:

a) analyze said received image frame for content placement; and

b) adjust, prior to said capturing, at least one of said pan adjustment control, said tilt adjustment control and said zoom adjustment control in response to said content placement.

26. A system as described in claim 15, wherein said memory stores additional instructions to be executed by said computing device to route said captured document image to a first recipient.

27. A system as described in claim 26, wherein said memory stores additional instructions to be executed by said computing device to determine, from a captured routing image, said first recipient.

28. A system as described in claim 15, wherein said instructions to compare said received image frame with said previously captured image frame comprise instructions to determine the optical flow between said received image frame and said previously captured image frame.