Patent ID: 8023136

Claim:
A method for scanning a document and storing scanned electronic data, comprising: providing an optical document scanner, a storage medium, and a free-standing universal scanner driving device comprising a slow-speed, low capacity processor with no monitor or keyboard, and programmed only to support a scanner; a memory having only enough capacity to hold a scanner driver; a slot for receiving an external storage medium; input and output ports for inputting data from an optical scanner and outputting the scanned electronic data to a storage medium; means for writing data on the external storage medium; an external alpha-numeric keypad connected to the device via one of the ports; a housing case; and one and only one push-button, touch pad, or touch screen for initiating an external scanner to scan a document placed in the scanner and then directly write the scanned electronic date into the external storage medium by pushing the push-button, touch pad, or touch screen without requiring any setup input from the user, said push-button, touch pad, or touch screen being integrally formed on the case; connecting the driving device to the scanner; connecting the alpha-numeric keypad to the driving device; inserting a storage medium into the slot; placing a document in the scanner; optionally entering a document name via the alpha-numeric keypad; pushing the control key on the alpha-numeric keypad to indicate a new document to be scanned; and pushing the push-button, touch pad, or touch screen to initiate the external optical document scanner to scan a document put in the scanner and directly write the scanned electronic data into the external storage medium in a new folder with a new page number sequence, without requiring any setup input from the user.