Universal document scanner controller
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A scanner controller for controlling a document scanner, comprising:
- an internal bus;
a memory control unit connected to the internal bus, the memory control unit providing and controlling an access to internal and external volatile and non-volatile memory;
an image sensor control unit, the image sensor control unit controlling and acquiring image data from at least one image sensor, the image sensor control unit including;
a multi pixel rate timing generator configured to provide clock signals and synchronization signals required to drive the at least one image sensor at one of a plurality of speeds, as determined by a scan mode, the multi pixel rate timing generator being controlled by look up tables maintained in memory controlled by the memory control unit;
a pixel correction unit, the pixel correction unit performing calibration correction at a rate that matches an input pixel rate;
a motor control unit, the motor control unit controlling at least one motor; and
a host interface unit, the host interface unit controlling communication between the scanner controller circuit and a host computer, wherein the image sensor unit, the pixel correction unit, the motor control unit and the host interface unit are connected to the internal bus, the scanner controller being implemented on one of a single piece of silicon, a multichip circuit, and a single piece of silicon together with other added circuits.
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Abstract
A circuit implemented on a single piece of silicon or a low cost hybrid circuit that controls all the functions required to operate sheet-fed, flatbed, handheld, slides, duplex, drum and 2D still-image document scanners. The circuit performs monochrome image sensor management, color image sensor management, light source modulation, motor management, Anti-Skew Auto-Start, pixel correction, adaptative thresholding, black-sides removal, image enhancement, dithering, up/down sampling, image compression, scan and forward action management, memory management, and host interface management with plug and play capability.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A scanner controller for controlling a document scanner, comprising:
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an internal bus;
a memory control unit connected to the internal bus, the memory control unit providing and controlling an access to internal and external volatile and non-volatile memory;
an image sensor control unit, the image sensor control unit controlling and acquiring image data from at least one image sensor, the image sensor control unit including;
a multi pixel rate timing generator configured to provide clock signals and synchronization signals required to drive the at least one image sensor at one of a plurality of speeds, as determined by a scan mode, the multi pixel rate timing generator being controlled by look up tables maintained in memory controlled by the memory control unit;
a pixel correction unit, the pixel correction unit performing calibration correction at a rate that matches an input pixel rate;
a motor control unit, the motor control unit controlling at least one motor; and
a host interface unit, the host interface unit controlling communication between the scanner controller circuit and a host computer, wherein the image sensor unit, the pixel correction unit, the motor control unit and the host interface unit are connected to the internal bus, the scanner controller being implemented on one of a single piece of silicon, a multichip circuit, and a single piece of silicon together with other added circuits. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
simultaneously acquire a video signal from a plurality of image sensors each having a single video output, simultaneously acquire a plurality of video signals from an image sensor having multiple video output signals, and simultaneously acquire the plurality of video signals from a plurality of image sensors having multiple video output signals.
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29. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the scanner controller can control a multiplexing of analog signals together with video signals, including sensor temperature, motor temperature, motor speed and light intensity analog signals.
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30. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising at least one analog to digital converter, the at least one analog to digital converter being integrated onto the scanner controller, the at least one analog to Digital Converter acquiring video signals and other analog signals.
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31. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising at least one digital to analog converter integrated onto the scanner controller, the at least one digital to analog converter producing analog control signals.
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32. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the host interface unit supports a tightly coupled communication link between the scanner controller and a host computer, the tightly coupled communication link being one of an ISA bus, an EISA bus, a PCI bus, a VL bus, Intel AGP Advanced Graphics Port, a CPU data bus and a CPU local bus.
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33. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the host interface unit supports a direct link between the scanner controller and a host computer, the direct link being one of a Floppy disk bus, an ATA bus, an ATAPI bus, an IDE bus, a removable IDE bus, an EIDE bus, a PCMCIA Bus, a Card Bus and a direct connection to the host interface.
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34. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the host interface unit supports a loosely coupled communication link between the scanner controller and a host computer, the loosely coupled communication link being one of a Serial, Printer port, EPP, ECP, IEEE1284, USB, SCSI, IEEE1394, Ethernet, Intranet, Modem, ISDN, ATM, IrDA, AppleTalk, ADSL, HDSL, TCP/IP, wired, wireless, public, private, secured and unsecured communication link.
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35. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the host interface unit supports Plug and Play requirements.
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36. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the host interface unit is capable of simultaneously supporting at least two communication links between the scanner controller and the host computer in order to achieve higher data throughput than is possible with a single communication link.
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37. A scanner controller unit according to claim 1, wherein the pixel correction unit is capable of recognizing bad pixels, the bad pixels being due to one of image sensor failure and dust particles stuck in front of sensitive elements, and replacing them automatically by interpolation of neighboring pixels.
Specification