Position-retaining method and system for a scanning system capable of copy and facsimile

• US RE41,483 E1
• Filed: 08/16/2007
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Transpacific Optics LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Chen, Hsiu-Hong, Hsu, Wei-Shu
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Thomas D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brinich; Stephen M
• Application Number:
  US11/894,058
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.2, 358/1.9, 358/1.12, 358/1.18, 358/406, 358/453, 358449-451
• US Class Current: 358/1.9
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00236 using an image reading or reproducing device, e.g. a facsimile reader or printer, as a local input to or local output from a computer image input to or image output from a computer via a network H04N1/00209
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00238 using an image reproducing device as a local output from a computer output via network, e.g. network printing H04N1/00233
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00241 using an image reading device as a local input to a computer input via network, e.g. network scanners H04N1/00225
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/21 Intermediate information storage H04N1/387, H04N1/41 take precedence ; for control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32358; indexing, editing G11B27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3872 Repositioning or masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0015 Control of image communication with the connected apparatus, e.g. signalling capability
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0093 Facsimile machine H04N2201/0094 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3225 of data relating to an image, a page or a document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/33321 Image or page size, e.g. A3, A4
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/33328 Resolution

Abstract

In a computer network consisting of at least one host computer and computer peripheral devices, such as scanners, fax machines, and printers, a user may use a hot key on the scanner to copy, scan, e-mail, and faxing etc. via the control of an application program. An auto-crop module implemented in the host computer can automatically crop the image of a scanned sheet. The cropped image is saved in the memory device. Before sending the cropped image to the computer peripheral devices, the computing module will compute the output format of the cropped image according to the resolution requirement and scaling factor of the associated computer peripheral device. The retained position will be also saved in the memory. In response to the user operation, the image of the scanned sheet with its retained position will be transmitted to the printer or facsimile machine via the control of the application program.

Claims

1. A position-retaining method for a scanning system capable of copy and facsimile, the method comprising the steps of :

reading an image of a scanned sheet;

auto-cropping said image of said scanned sheet;

storing said auto-cropped image of said scanned sheet;

saving a retained position of said scanned sheet relative to a sheet table;

transmitting said auto-cropped image of said scanned sheet and said retained position of said scanned sheet to a computer peripheral device, the computer peripheral device comprises at least a printer; and

computing a new retained position of said scanned sheet relative to said sheet table according to a resolution and a scaling factor of said printer.

2. The position-retaining method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer peripheral device further comprises at least a facsimile machine.

3. The position-retaining method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the step of setting a fax number of a receiving site.

4. The position-retaining method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of auto-cropping further comprisesing the steps of :

conducting a binary search on said image of said scanned sheet; and

automatically cropping said scanned sheet by determining said retained position of said scanned sheet.

5. A position-retaining system for a scanning system capable of copy and facsimile, comprising:

a buffer for storing an image of a scanned sheet;

an auto-crop module coupled to said buffer for cropping the image of said scanned sheet and outputting said auto-cropped image;

a printer interface for interactively acquiring printer configurations in response to a user request;

a computing module for computing the retained position of said auto-cropped image relative to a sheet table according to said printer configurations;

memory means for storing said auto-cropped image and said retained position of said scanned sheet relative to a sheet table; and

an output interface connected to said memory means for transmitting said auto-cropped image and said retained position of said scanned sheet relative to said sheet table to a computer peripheral device.

6. The position-retaining system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said computer peripheral device comprises at least a printer.

7. The position-retaining system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said computer peripheral device comprises at least a facsimile machine.

8. The position-retaining system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a fax interface for interactively acquiring settings for a facsimile machine.

9. The position-retaining system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said computing module computes the retained position of said scanned sheet relative to said sheet table according to aid said facsimile machine configurations.

10. The position-retaining system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said buffer stores said image of said scanned sheet as Bit Map Pixel format.

11. A method, comprising:

scanning an image of a sheet;

auto-cropping the image;

transmitting the auto-cropped image and a retained position of the sheet relative to a sheet table to a computer peripheral device, the computer peripheral device comprising at least a printer; and

computing a new retained position of said scanned sheet relative to said sheet table according to a resolution and a scaling factor of said printer.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the auto-cropped image.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the computer peripheral device further comprises a facsimile machine.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining the retained position of the sheet.

15. A system, comprising:

an auto-crop module configured to crop an image of a scanned sheet;

a printer interface configured to interactively acquire printer configurations in response to a request; and

a computing module configured to compute a retained position of the auto-cropped image relative to a sheet table according to a resolution and a scaling factor of said printer.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a buffer configured to store the image of the scanned sheet.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the buffer stores the image of the scanned sheet in a bit map pixel format.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an output interface configured to transmit the auto-cropped image and the retained position of the scanned sheet relative to the sheet table to a computer peripheral device.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer peripheral device comprises a printer.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer peripheral device comprises a facsimile machine.

21. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

memory means configured to store the auto-cropped image and the retained position of the scanned sheet relative to the sheet table.

22. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a fax interface configured to interactively acquire configuration settings for a facsimile machine.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the computing module is configured to compute a retained position of the auto-cropped image relative to the sheet table according to the acquired facsimile machine configurations.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

means for scanning an image of a sheet;

means for auto-cropping the image;

means for transmitting the auto-cropped image and a retained position of the sheet relative to a sheet table to a computer peripheral device, the computer peripheral device comprising at least a printer; and

means for computing a new retained position of said scanned sheet relative to said sheet table according to a resolution and a scaling factor of said printer.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising means for storing the auto-cropped image.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for storing the auto-cropped image comprises a buffer.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for auto-cropping the image comprises an auto-crop module coupled to the buffer.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the computer peripheral device further comprises a facsimile machine.

29. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising means for determining the retained position of the sheet.