ADVANCED DOCUMENT SCANNER WITH DIGITAL MOSAIC

Sameer Desai, Steven Ghodke & Sidharth Kulkarni | Dept. of E&TC

samades@gmail.com, steven.ghodke@gmail.com, sksidforyou55@gmail.com

Project Supervisor: Prof. Vinayak B Kulkarni Objectives

Our main objective is to achieve image scan through phototransistor array, instead of the usual CCD methodology. We also aim to include the feature of creation of a digital mosaic from multiple scanned pictures, which can have application or use in scanning very big sizes/areas and will be a Unique Selling Point or the standout feature of the project.

Block Diagram
The block diagram of our project is shown in Figure 2 on the left. It shows the ow of data, from when the scanner is rst started. Stepper motors which are driven by L297 drivers are used to drive the X-Y plotter & phototransistors act as the sensor. Then on the right, it also shows the actual working circuit of our project.

Introduction & Mechanism

We built an array of phototransistors and attached them to an X-Y plotter consisting of 4 rods to scan the entire target area vertically & horizontally. Light reected by the glass plate on which the input object is kept is detected by phototransistors, which then is given to the C for A-D conversion. It is then sent to MATLAB by serial communication. MATLAB codes are then used for the digitization & for mosaicing. Our mechanism is a variation of the CIS technology presently in use.

Figure 2: Block Diagram (left); Actual working circuit (right)

Results
Scanning ResultsThe scanner presently needs fairly large sized characters in order for the text to be read & identied properly. The output scanned for the signature of one of us is as shown in the Figure 3.

Figure 1: Scanning mechanism Figure 3: Scanning Output

Parameters
Speed : 15 mins for full scan of A2 (approx) Sensitivity : upto 5mm Threads of rotation (pitch) : 2mm Image size & resolution : through MATLAB Maximum scan size : A2 User controllable

Conclusion

Black & white scanning is considered the most ideal for projects & documents. This is so, as the resolution of the output image is more user controllable as compared to color scanning due to the lesser bit depth involved. Lesser bit depth also reduces the scanner complexity thus increasing ease of implementation. Mosaicing ResultsFor testing our MATLAB mosaic code,we took the photograph of one of us & also the signature scanned previously & split it into 2 halves.We took the 2 halved images as the input for our MATLAB program. The end points of both the images from where they were to be stitched were selected. This was done as shown in Figure 4. The end point selection is crucial, as improper selection can lead to a distorted or in worst case completely wrong output. So, it is vital to precisely select the stitching points for seamless stitching.

Main advantages are ease of implementation, Design exibility, scope for further developments & mosaicing/extra large document scanning ability. But at the same time, using phototransistors involves a certain drop in performance with respect to the speed of scanning & output quality. Also, use of black & white scanning though ideal for document scanning too reduces the quality due to the low bit depth & inability to scan detailed colors.

Figure 4: Left half input (left); Right half input (right)

After the end points are selected the 2 halves are stitched back along the designated stithing points to give the mosaiced output. The output mosaiced image & its comparison with the actual image & is as shown below in the Figure 5. Similarly multiple such scans can be mosaiced together to form one nal output image, which in our case will be the output scan of the large sized document.

References
[1] William D Clark. Document scanner mechanism. IBM Journal of Research and Development, 23, 1998. [2] R Modugno, A Ferrante, E Stasolla, and S Impedovo. New trends in digital scanning processes. 10th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition, 2009.

Figure 5: Mosaicing Output