Selective document scanning method and apparatus

• US 6,646,765 B1
• Filed: 02/19/1999
• Issued: 11/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Sturgeon, Derrill L., Barker, John C., McGraw, Montomgery C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, II, Jerome
• Application Number:
  US09/253,209
• Time in Patent Office: 1,726 Days
• Field of Search: 358/452, 358/448, 358/453, 358/470, 358/401, 358/468, 358/1.6, 358/1.8
• US Class Current: 358/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/38 Circuits or arrangements for blanking or otherwise eliminating unwanted parts of pictures H04N1/387 takes precedence

Abstract

A technique is disclosed for selectively scanning or encoding a desired region of a document. The desired region is identified via scannable indicia on a control form. The region may be outlined by a border preprinted on the form or traced by a user. Preset selectable regions may be identified by codes or other textual descriptions on the form. The form is scanned and the instructions selected by the user are encoded. The selected region is identified and scanned. Only the selected region is scanned, or a larger region is scanned and extraneous data not corresponding to the selected region is eliminated from the resulting data set. The technique permits elimination of unwanted portions of a document automatically, the reduction in scanned file size, and straightforward handling of batch scanning tasks in which selected portions of documents are to be scanned and processed.

Claims

1. A method for selectively scanning a document under control of a scanning device operably associated with a memory, the method comprising the steps of:

operating the scanning device during a,single scanning operation to;

(i) automatically sense individual marker areas at predetermined locations on an instruction region of a control sheet that also includes a document support region, the control sheet having an optically transparent overlay, and a document to be scanned is disposed between the control sheet and the overlay, each marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a scanning device function control parameter;

(ii) respond only to the presence of a marking at one or more of said sensed marker areas and to correlate the sensed presence of a said marking with data stored in said memory corresponding to the function control parameter associated with the marker area having the sensed marking; and

(iii) performing a scanning operation of a document located on the document support region to encode scanned contents thereof in accordance with the function control parameter associated with the or each respective marker area of the instruction region at which a sensed marking is present and to store the encoded data in said memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said scanning device is operable during said scanning operation to encode scanned contents of the document only over at least one predefined sub-area of said support region.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the human intelligible representations include human readable descriptive text.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein one of said scanning device function control parameters is scan operability during said scanning operation, and a plurality of said marker areas on the instruction region are associated with human intelligible representations associated with respective predefined areas of said support region occupying less than the total scannable area of the support region, whereby scan encoding during said scanning operation is determined by sensing markings associated with one or more of said predefined areas.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predefined areas of the support region are identified by border indicia.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the border indicia are colored.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the method includes the step of drawing the border on the document or the documents support.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein during the scanning operation the scannable area has a scannable width greater than the width of a predefined area of the document being scanned, but encoded scan data are generated only by scanning over said predefined area.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein during said scanning operation, encoded scan data are generated only as a result of scanning the or each predefined area.

10. A scanning system including an operatively associated memory for selectively encoding a document portion, the system comprising:

a document having a portion to be encoded;

a control sheet including an instruction region and a support region, said instruction region including a plurality of marker areas at predetermined locations of the instruction region, each marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a scanning device functional parameter, and a plurality of said marker areas on the instruction region are associated with human intelligible representations associated with predetermined limited areas of the support region;

a scanning device configured to be operable during a single pass scanning operation over said control sheet to automatically sense and respond to the presence of a marking at one or more of said marker areas in the instruction region of the control sheet by correlating the sensed presence of a said marking with data stored in said memory corresponding to the function control parameter associated with the marker area at which the sensed marking is located, and then to perform a scanning operation in the document support region of the control sheet;

wherein one of said scanning device function control parameters is scan operability of said scanning device during said scanning operation of the document support region to generate and store in said memory scanned data signals resulting from scanning data located at one or more of said predetermined limited areas of said support region, the or each predetermined limited area marked by a border provided on a transparent sheet overlying the support region of the control sheet, the scanning device encoding the scanned data signals in accordance with the function control parameters associated with said marker areas at which the presence of a marking is sensed during scanning of said instruction region.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the document is supported on the support region.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the memory is included in the scanning device.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the scanning device is configured to scan a region larger than the predetermined limited area of said support region and to pare data from a resulting data set to eliminate data corresponding to areas of said support regions outside the predetermined limited area.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the human intelligible identification includes textual description.

15. A method for selectively scanning a document under control of a scanning device incorporating facsimile transmission functionality and including a memory, the method comprising the steps of:

operating the scanning device during a single scanning operation to (i) automatically sense first individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a first area of a control sheet, each first marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a scanning device functional control parameter, (ii) automatically sense second individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a second area of said control sheet, each second marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a prospective transmission destination, (iii) respond only to the presence of a marking at one or more of said sensed first and second marker areas and to correlate the sensed presence of a marking with data stored in said memory corresponding to the functional control parameter associated with a first marker area having the sensed marking and with data stored in said memory corresponding to the transmission destination associated with a second marker area having the sensed marking; and

(iv) perform a scanning operation of a document associated with said control sheet to encode scanned contents of only one or more predefined portions of said document, each said portion having an area less than the total area of the document, in accordance with the functional control parameter associated with the or each respective first marker area having a sensed marking,

and controlling a transmission of the scanned document contents in accordance with the stored data corresponding only to the or each redefined portion of said document, to the transmission destination associated with the or each second marker area having a sensed marking.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said further operation includes storage of said encoded data.

17. A method for selectively scanning a document under control of a scanning device incorporating facsimile transmission functionality and including a memory, the method comprising the steps of:

operating the scanning device during a single scanning operation to (i) automatically sense first individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a first area of a control sheet, each first marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a scanning device functional control parameter, (ii) automatically sense second individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a second area of said control sheet, each second marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a prospective transmission destination, (iii) automatically sense third individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a third area of said control sheet, each third marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a prospective sender destination, (iv) automatically sense fourth individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a fourth area of said control sheet, each fourth marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of data associated with a transmission cover sheet, (v) respond only to the presence of a marking at one or more of said sensed first, second, third and fourth marker areas and to correlate the sensed presence of a marking with data stored in said memory corresponding to the functional control parameter associated with a first marker area having a sensed marking, with data stored in said memory corresponding to the transmission destination associated with a second marker area having a sensed marking;

with data stored in said memory corresponding to the sender identification associated with a third marker area having a sensed marking, and with data stored in said memory corresponding to the cover sheet data associated with a fourth marker area having a sensed marking;

(vi) perform a scanning operation of a document associated with said control sheet to encode scanned contents of only one or more predefined portions of said document, each said portion having an area less than the total area of the document, in accordance with the functional control parameter associated with the or each respective first marker area having a sensed marking, to control a transmission of the scanned document contents corresponding only to the or each predefined portion of said document, in accordance with the stored data corresponding to the transmission destination associated with the or each second marker area having a sensed marking, and to assemble for transmission, cover sheet data including transmission destination identification, recipient identification, and cover sheet data associated with stored data corresponding to stored data associated with the or each second, third and fourth third marker area having a sensed marking.

18. A method for selectively scanning a document under control of a scanning device operably associated with a memory, the method comprising the steps of:

operating the scanning device during a single scanning operation to;

(i) automatically sense individual marker areas at predetermined locations on an instruction region of a control sheet that also includes a document support region, each marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a scanning device function control parameter,

(ii) respond only to the presence of a marking at one or more of said sensed marker areas and to correlate the sensed presence of a said marking with data stored in said memory corresponding to the function control parameter associated with the marker area having the sensed marking; and

(iii) performing a scanning operation of a document located on the document support region to encode scanned contents thereof in accordance with the function control parameter associated with the or each respective marker area of the instruction region at which a sensed marking is present and to store the encoded data in said memory;

and performing at least one further operation, including transmission of said encoded data to a remote location, using encoded scan data associated with one or more predefined areas less than the total area of the scanned document.

19. A method for selectively scanning a document under control of a scanning device incorporating facsimile transmission functionality and including a memory, the method comprising the steps of;

operating the scanning device during a single scanning operation to (i) automatically sense first individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a first area of a control sheet, each first marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a scanning device functional control parameter, (ii) automatically sense second individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a second area of said control sheet, each second marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a prospective transmission destination, (iii) automatically sense third individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a third area of said control sheet, each third marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of a prospective sender destination, (iv) automatically sense fourth individual marker areas at predetermined locations of a fourth area of said control sheet, each fourth marker area located near an associated human intelligible representation of data associated with a transmission cover sheet, (v) respond only to the presence of a marking at one or more of said sensed first, second, third and fourth marker areas and to correlate the sensed presence of a marking with data stored in said memory corresponding to the functional control parameter associated with a first marker area having a sensed marking, with data stored in said memory corresponding to the transmission destination associated with a second marker area having a sensed marking;

with data stored in said memory corresponding to the sender identification associated with a third marker area having a sensed marking, and with data stored in said memory corresponding to the cover sheet data associated with a fourth marker area having a sensed marking;

(vi) performing a scanning operation of a document associated with said control sheet to encode scanned contents of only one or more predefined portions of said document, each said portion having an area less than the total area of the document, in accordance with the functional control parameter associated with the or each respective first marker area having a sensed marking, to control a transmission of the scanned document contents corresponding only to the or each predefined portion of said document, in accordance with the stored data corresponding to the transmission destination associated with the or each second marker area having a sensed marking, and to assemble for transmission cover sheet data including transmission destination identification, recipient identification, and cover sheet data associated with stored data corresponding to stored data associated with the or each second, third and fourth marker area having a sensed marking.