Patent ID: 7353998

Claim:
In a system comprising at least one scanner in communication with a computer, said computer having a plurality of processes instantiable therein, said processes including a plurality of scanning processes including a first scanning process and a second scanning process, a communications layer, and monitoring software, said instantiable processes being in communication with one another when instantiated, and said communication layer being in communication with said at least one scanner when instantiated, a method of operating an image processing system, comprising: instantiating the monitoring software; receiving a first device scan request and a second device scan request at said communication layer from at least one said scanner, said second device scan request being received before said first scanning process is completed by the method; associating at said communication layer a unique identifier to said device scan request identifying said at least one scanner from which the device scan request was received; transmitting said device scan request and said corresponding unique identifier to said monitoring software; instantiating said first scanning process dependent upon said first device scan request and said corresponding unique identifier; and instantiating said second scanning process dependent upon said second device scan request and said corresponding unique identifier, said first scanning process being different from said second scanning process.