Patent ID: 8405840

Claim:
A method for minimizing re-imaging procedures for an imaging device, comprising: receiving a first set of imaging instructions for a hard copy of a document at an imaging device; scanning the hard copy of the document in accordance with the first set of imaging instructions to create image data; retaining in memory the image data at an identified location until a purging event occurs; receiving a second set of imaging instructions at the imaging device; determining whether the hard copy of the document has been removed from a hard copy processing path of the imaging device since the scanning occurred using at least one sensor; producing imaging output in accordance with the second set of imaging instructions using the image data without rescanning the hard copy of the document based on the determination of whether the hard copy of the document has been removed from the hard copy processing path; determining whether the second set of imaging instructions requires information not present in the image data; and rescanning the hard copy of the document in accordance with the second set of imaging instructions if the second set of imaging instructions requires image information not present in the image data.