Systems and methods for glare removal using polarized filtering in document scanning
First Claim
1. A document scanning system, comprising:
- a lighting unit for illuminating a document, the lighting unit comprising;
a first light illuminating the document from a first direction; and
a second light concurrently illuminating the document from a second direction distinct from the first direction, wherein the first light and the second light are oriented such that light from one of the first light and the second light reflects toward a camera and light from the other of the first light and the second light reflects away from the camera;
a lighting unit polarizer attached to one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit to polarize light from the one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit;
the camera for capturing images of the document;
a cradle for supporting the document in a fixed position relative to the camera to orient one of a plurality of pages of the document relative to the camera; and
a camera polarizer attached to the camera.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods using polarized filtering for glare removal to improve the process of scanning documents, particularly bound documents with glossy content, are disclosed. The system may generally include a lighting source for illuminating a document, a lighting source polarizer attached to the lighting source to polarize light therefrom, a camera for capturing images of the document, and a camera polarizer attached to the camera. The camera polarizer and the lighting source polarizer may be positioned relative to each other so as to facilitate blocking light reflections causing glare off of the document resulting from the lighting source and arriving at the camera. The system may include multiple lighting sources, some or all of which may have a lighting source polarizer attached thereto.
80 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A document scanning system, comprising:
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a lighting unit for illuminating a document, the lighting unit comprising; a first light illuminating the document from a first direction; and a second light concurrently illuminating the document from a second direction distinct from the first direction, wherein the first light and the second light are oriented such that light from one of the first light and the second light reflects toward a camera and light from the other of the first light and the second light reflects away from the camera; a lighting unit polarizer attached to one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit to polarize light from the one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit; the camera for capturing images of the document; a cradle for supporting the document in a fixed position relative to the camera to orient one of a plurality of pages of the document relative to the camera; and a camera polarizer attached to the camera. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17)
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8. A method for scanning documents, comprising:
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providing a lighting unit for illuminating a document, the lighting unit comprising; a first light illuminating the document from a first direction; and a second light concurrently illuminating the document from a second direction distinct from the first direction, wherein the first light and the second light are oriented such that light from one of the first light and the second light reflects toward a camera and light from the other of the first light and the second light reflects away from the camera; attaching a lighting unit polarizer to one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit to polarize light from the one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit; attaching a camera polarizer to the camera for capturing an image of the document; rotating at least one of the lighting unit polarizer and the camera polarizer to optimize reduction of reflection causing glare off of the document resulting from the lighting unit; and supporting the document in a fixed position relative to the camera to orient one of a plurality of pages of the document relative to the camera. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19)
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15. A method for reducing glare in imaging documents, comprising:
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attaching a lighting source polarizer to a lighting source to polarize light from the lighting source, the lighting source to illuminate a document to be imaged, wherein the lighting unit comprises; a first light illuminating the document from a first direction; and a second light concurrently illuminating the document from a second direction distinct from the first direction, wherein the first light and the second light are oriented such that light from one of the first light and the second light reflects toward a camera and light from the other of the first light and the second light reflects away from the camera, and wherein the lighting source polarizer is attached to one of the first and second lights of the lighting unit; attaching a camera polarizer to the camera for imaging pages of the document, the camera polarizer and the lighting source polarizer being oriented relative to each other so as to facilitate filtering of reflections causing glare off of the document resulting from the corresponding lighting source at the camera; and supporting the document in a fixed position relative to the camera to orient one of a plurality of pages of the document relative to the camera. - View Dependent Claims (16, 20)
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Specification