Patent Publication Number: US-2010118350-A1

Title: Method of segmenting a document image in digital image scanning

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates to scanning of documents for creating digital electronic images thereof which are transmitted electronically and which may be submitted to a printing engine for marking on suitable print media. Heretofore, when a user desired to scan a document, and transmit the document electronically, particularly a multi-page document, the portable document format (PDF) generated for the document is a single entity. Where the user wishes to separate or segment specific pages into individual PDF files, it has been necessary to separate the individual pages and separately scan each page to create a separate PDF file for the desired page. Where it is desired to print only a few select pages from a large multi-page document, the manual operation of separating the selected sheets and individually scanning them has been time consuming and costly where large documents are involved and where only a few sheets are desired to be printed from the document. 
     Accordingly, it has been desired to provide a way or means of creating individual PDF files for selected segments or pages of a multipage document. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     The present disclosure describes a way for a user to scan a multi-page document for creating an electronic digital image thereof and to select segments of the document at the user interface whereupon the machine will automatically create a separate digital image such as a PDF file for each segment selected. The method of the present disclosure enables a user to select the desired segments of the document to be scanned at the user input interface and to automatically electronically attach one or more of the segment PDFs to individual e-mail messages for transmission to desired recipients. The method of the present disclosure eliminates the need for a user to manually select segments or pages of a large document for individual scanning where it is desired to print or electronically transmit the selected segments or pages separately from the entire document. 
     The user interface on the machine may be arranged to enable the user to transmit automatically the selected segment PDFs to any e-mail address chosen by the user. Thus, the user may either transmit the selected segment PDFs to the user&#39;s own terminal for subsequently attaching the PDFs to an e-mail message; or, the user interface may be arranged such that the user can automatically e-mail the selected segment PDFs to any chosen e-mail address directly. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1   a  is a pictorial plan view of a scanning machine user interface arranged for inputs to employ the present method; 
         FIG. 1   b  is a view of an alternative icon or button; 
         FIG. 2  is a pictorial representation of a graphical user interface (GUI) employed for the method of the present disclosure in selecting the segments to be imaged; and, 
         FIG. 3  is a block flow diagram of the method of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1   a,  an exemplary user interface for a scanning machine programmed to perform the method of the present disclosure is indicated generally at  10  and has provided thereon a touch screen with a plurality of icons, or alternatively individually push buttons, for user selection of desired functions. In particular, the interface includes icons or buttons  9  operable upon the user selectively touching to select the desired document image type (TIFF or PDF) and an icon or button  12  enable scanning of selected individual segments of a document loaded into a machine for scanning; and, the icon may be arranged to show a pictorial representation of individual pages thereon. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , upon selection of the function for segmenting the document by activating the touch control  12 , the user interface displays the screen shown in  FIG. 2 . The screen of  FIG. 2  may be displayed by changing the screen  10  of  FIG. 1   a  or on a separate screen as part of the user interface. From the display in  FIG. 2 , the user selects the number of document sets at icon  13  and selects the segments or pages for which is desired to create a single document image or PDF as indicated generally at  15  for subsequent transmission by manually touching the display as indicated for the desired pages. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the method of the present disclosure is illustrated in block flow diagram wherein the user loads the document into the scanner at step  20  and proceeds to select at the user interface the desired settings at step  22 . In the present practice, the selection at step  22  is accomplished via a touch screen at step  24 ; and, the machine proceeds to scan each page and create a digital image of the loaded document at step  26 . In the present practice, the machine produces a PDF file at step  28  and proceeds to step  30  wherein the user selects the desired segments of the document to be imaged individually; and, in the present practice, the selection is accomplished via a touch screen at step  32 . The machine then proceeds from step  32  to automatically create a separate image file for each user selected segment at step  34 ; and, in the present practice, the image file is created as a PDF at step  36 . 
     The user then selects at step  38  the desired ones of these separate image files from the user interface; and, in the present practice, the selection is accomplished via a touch screen at step  40 . 
     The machine then proceeds to step  42  and electronically transmits only the selected images to one or both an e-mail and a printer. 
     The present disclosure thus describes a way of enabling a user to select segments of a document to be scanned and printed from a user interface and to enable automatic imaging of each of the segments in a separate image such as a PDF file and transmit the selected segment PDF files electronically to one or both an e-mail and a printer. 
     It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.