[sane-devel] Canon IS-12 Scanner head (for canon BJC 50,55 & 80 printers)

[Tim O'Callaghan]

Ulrich Deiters wrote:

> Hi Tim,
> 
> what exactly is this IS-12 - an add-on device for a printer?

the IS-12 is a kind of a printer cartridge. You put it where the normal
ink cartridge would go, and it turns your ink jet printer into a scanner.

http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/printers/accessories/scanner_cartridges/index.asp

by this question i can assume you're not working on it :)

> How is it controlled by the computer - SCSI, USB or parallel
> port? Perhaps one of the existing backends can be used.
> 

Its controlled via the parallel port, and it would be safe to assume
that  a back end exists for the scanner chip set. I would guess its a
chip set that supports single pass, and that its controlled by prefixing
the control commands with a printer command. I don't know what the chip
set is, and to be honest i don't want to take apart a my brand new IS-12
to find out.
A cursory google for information on the internals has come up empty, so
i don't know how to proceed other than running a port scanner under
windows.
Is there a method for matching command streams to a backed?

Tim.