1. Field of the Invention
A present invention relates to a judgment apparatus and particularly to the apparatus for determining the size of a document.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In typical scanners of the prior art, the corresponding driver must allocate memory to store the image to be scanned in the application program before the start of scanning. As for the size of the memory, it depends on the document to be scanned.
In the prior art, reflective or transparent scanners require the user to choose the size of the document to be scanned, or the document can be previewed, so as to perform auto crop by the corresponding driver. Because documents have a fixed ratio between the length and the width, while automatically cropping, the width of the document can be gauged from its length, and then its size can be determined.
In the prior art, a typical scanner with an automatic document feeding knows the size of the document before scanning; the size can also be chosen by the user or determined by the method of preview. If previewing is used, one more row of sensors is needed in order to detect the document. Thus, the cost of production is also higher due to the requirement of many sensors.
Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to provide a judgment apparatus and methods for differentiating the size of a document, so as to save the use of hardware components of sensors and to reduce cost of production.
The judgment apparatus of the present invention comprises an automatic document feeding (ADF), a scanner carriage, a decision module, a controller, and a memory device.
The ADF with a scan window including a default pattern is used to transmit a document. The scanner carriage is for determining a first dimension of the scan window being masked by the document and for outputting the first dimension. The decision module determines the size of the document based upon the first dimension outputted by the scan carriage.
The judgment apparatus further comprises a controller for moving the scanning carriage to a first position, thus allowing the scanning carriage to determine the first dimension of the scan window being masked by the document under a predetermined resolution at the first position. The decision module determines the size of the document based upon the first dimension outputted by the scanner carriage and a default condition.
The controller further moves the scanner carriage to a second position; the scanner carriage scans the content of the document according to the size of the document determined by the decision module at the second position, and then it outputs a scanning outcome.
The judgment apparatus of the present invention determines the size of the document by a firmware without needing additional hardware sensors; it also does not need the complex circuit of the method with hardware that includes many sensors. Therefore, the present invention cuts down the prime cost and scants hardware components.
The advantage and spirit of the invention may be understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings.
Referring to
The automatic document feeding 11 is used to transmit the document 22. The curve in the
As shown in
The decision module 18 determines the size of the document 22 according to a default condition and the first dimension which the scan carriage 14 outputted. Since there is a fixed ratio of its length and width in general documents 22, the judgment apparatus 10 of the present invention only needs to determine the first dimension of the document 22 in order to gauge the size of the document 22 through the fixed ratio.
As shown in
Please refer to
As for the default resolution in the step S42, it can employ a resolution lower than a regular resolution to scan the first dimension of the scan window 12 being masked by the document 22. As for the default condition in the step S46, it can employ the fixed ratio of length and width of the document 22 to determine the size of the document 22.
Compared with techniques of the prior art, the judgment apparatus and the method of the present invention for determining the size of a document uses the method of firmware to determine the size of the document without having to use additional hardware sensors; it also does not need the complex circuitry of the method of hardware with many sensors. Therefore the present invention economizes the use of hardware parts, and cuts down the cost.
With the example and explanations above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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093109660 | Apr 2004 | TW | national |