Universal document scanner controller

• US 6,344,906 B1
• Filed: 09/16/1997
• Issued: 02/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Cyberview Technology, Inc. (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Brunet De Courssou, Thierry, Callec, Salim
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, TOMMY D
• Application Number:
  US08/931,131
• Time in Patent Office: 1,603 Days
• Field of Search: 358/443, 358/468, 358/471, 358/474, 358/482, 358/513
• US Class Current: 358/443
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32561 using a programmed control device, e.g. a microprocessor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40 Picture signal circuits H04N1/387 takes precedence

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.

Claims

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.

2. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the at least one motor is one of a stepper motor and a linear motor.

3. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a clock generator unit connected to the internal bus, the clock generator providing all timing signals required by all internal functions and external functions of the scanner controller.

4. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a packing unit connected to the internal bus, the packing unit formatting pixels to satisfy an ordering of bits, as required by a host computer application.

5. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a light source control unit connected to the internal bus, the light source control unit controlling an illumination of all light sources commonly used in document scanners.

6. A scanner controller according to claim 5, wherein the light source control unit performs light source modulation for monochrome LED light sources, color LED light sources, CCFL Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light tubes, Electro-luminescent screens and filament lamps.

7. A scanner controller according to claim 5, wherein the light source control unit performs selection of color filters for filter-type color scanners and for color-drop-out-type scanner.

8. A scanner controller according to claim 5, wherein the light source control unit controls at least one external digital to analog converter and associated power circuits to control illumination switch-on, switch-off and intensity modulation.

9. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a general-purpose status and control unit connected to the internal bus, the general-purpose status and control unit monitoring and sending event signals.

10. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a black-side removal unit connected to the internal bus, the black-side removal unit being capable of removing pixels that are unrelated to a scanned document.

11. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising an Anti-Skew Auto-Start control unit connected to the internal bus, the Anti-skew Auto-Start control unit ensuring that an edge of the document is perfectly aligned in a scanner input before enabling a scanning operation, to automatically scan the document without unacceptable skew.

12. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising an adaptative thresholding unit connected to the internal bus, the adaptative thresholding unit being capable of distinguishing relevant features from a background in a conversion from gray level pixels to black and white pixels.

13. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising an image enhancement unit connected to the internal bus, the image enhancement unit being capable of performing image enhancement using at least one of public algorithms, licensed algorithms, derived algorithms and specially developed algorithms.

14. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising an image compression unit connected to the internal bus, the image compression unit being capable of performing image compression implementing at least one of public algorithms, licensed algorithms, derived algorithms and specially developed algorithms.

15. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a dithering unit connected to the internal bus, the dithering unit being capable of pixel dithering using at least one of public algorithms, licensed algorithms, derived algorithms and specially developed algorithms.

16. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a pattern recognition unit connected to the internal bus, the pattern recognition unit being capable of performing image recognition using at least one of public algorithms, licensed algorithms, derived algorithms and specially developed algorithms.

17. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising an up and down sampling unit connected to the internal bus, the up and down sampling unit being capable of performing up-sampling or down-sampling of pixels.

18. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a rotary encoder control unit connected to the internal bus, the rotary encoder control unit providing all necessary inputs and processing logic for decoding signals delivered by at least one rotary encoder.

19. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a mouse control unit connected to the internal circuit, the mouse control unit controlling one of a standard mouse and equivalent pointing device and interpreting displacements and button selections.

20. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a core Central Processing Unit connected to the internal bus, the core Central Processing Unit operating with programmed instructions contained in memory, the core central Processing Unit being synthesized from a public domain or commercial ASIC module library added to the scanner controller to perform auxiliary functions.

21. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising a power management unit connected to the internal bus, the power management unit minimizing power consumption of all circuits controlled by the scanner controller circuit.

22. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising power circuits, the power circuits directly controlling all power functions of the document scanner.

23. A scanner controller according to claim 1, further comprising communication circuits, graphics display control circuits, keyboard control circuits, printer control circuits, auxiliary processing circuits and input device control circuits to control one of a complete multifunction peripheral, a complete off-line and an on-line document scanning terminal.

24. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the pixel correction unit performs, at the input pixel rate, linear and non-linear pixel correction including offset, gain, gamma and temperature corrections.

25. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the memory control unit includes at least one of the volatile memory and non-volatile memory.

26. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the scanner controller is capable of controlling monochrome and color image sensors which produce an optical resolution ranging from 100 dpi to 4800 dpi.

27. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the scanner controller is capable of controlling at least one fast analog to digital converter in order to acquire the video image from at least one document image sensor.

28. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the image sensor control unit comprises the necessary multiplexing control logic and control signals to:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

35. A scanner controller according to claim 1, wherein the host interface unit supports Plug and Play requirements.

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.

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.