Media scanner
First Claim
1. A media scanner, comprising:
- scanning element capable of scanning information disposed on a medium when the medium is caused to move past said scanning element; and
a detector capable of detecting the movement of the medium as the medium is caused to be moved past said scanning element wherein said scanning element scans the information according to the movement of said medium.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A media scanner scans information disposed on a media such as a business card or envelope. The media scanner requires no moving parts and may be incorporated in a portable, hand held, battery powered information handling system such as an electronic address book or personal digital assistant. The scanner includes a scanning element such as a linear CCD element for scanning the information stored on the medium, which is converted into a graphical image or text file. As the medium is fed past the scanning element, a detector detects the movement of the medium as the medium is fed through the scanner. Any variation of the movement of the medium, for example due to inconsistent movement or pausing caused by hand scanning, etc., is detected by detector, and scanning is executed according to the detected movement so that optimal scanning is maintained. The accommodation of the varying movement of the medium past the scanning element thereby minimizes or eliminates any errors or artifacts in the resulting scanned information (e.g., skewing) that would otherwise be caused by variable scanning movement. The detector may include an array of light detecting elements such as photodiodes or photo transistors, light detecting resistors, etc. such that light blocked from the array by the medium may be detected as a movement signal proportional to the movement of the medium. The detector may be utilized to determine the rate (relative scanning) or the position (absolute scanning) of the medium during scanning.
41 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A media scanner, comprising:
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scanning element capable of scanning information disposed on a medium when the medium is caused to move past said scanning element; and
a detector capable of detecting the movement of the medium as the medium is caused to be moved past said scanning element wherein said scanning element scans the information according to the movement of said medium. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A media scanner, comprising:
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means for scanning information disposed on a medium when the medium is caused to move past a scanning element;
means for detecting movement of the medium as the medium is caused to be moved past said scanning element wherein said scanning element scans the information according to the movement of said medium; and
means for controlling the scanning of said scanning means in response to the detected movement of the medium such that scanning of the information disposed on the medium is optimized. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for scanning a medium, comprising:
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moving a medium on which information is disposed past a scanning element;
detecting movement of the medium as the medium is moved past the scanning element;
optimally scanning the information with the scanning element according to the detected movement of the medium;
determining whether the detected movement of the medium changes during scanning; and
in the event it is determined that the detected movement changes during scanning, adjusting said scanning step whereby said scanning step is executed optimally according to the detected movement of the medium. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A program of instructions executable by an information handling system and storable on a computer readable medium for causing an information handling system to execute steps for scanning an medium, the steps comprising:
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scanning information disposed on a medium as the medium is caused to move past a scanning element;
detecting the movement of the medium as the medium is caused to move past the scanning element; and
optimally adjusting the scanning of the information according to the detected movement of the medium as the medium is caused to move past the scanning element. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification