[sane-devel] Accessing a scanner for a different reason

[Gerard Klaver]

A sheetfeed scanner seems the best device to use (after removing parts).

Depending on your specifications, tests with a webcam can also deliver
enough information (remove the lines with data you don't need).
A modified xcam backend is maybe also usable.

On Thu, 2007-08-09 at 09:35 -0400, m. allan noah wrote:
> the problem here is not sane. infact, sane is not all that useful to
> you, as it is designed as an interface to setup a wide variety of
> parameters on 2-d scan, and aquire an image occasionally. you would be
> better off probably writing a stand-alone libusb program to aquire the
> data.
> 
> your big problem is hardware. every manufacturer does something
> different in terms of the control language. cheaper units typically
> rely on the host computer for many functions, and feature a very low
> level command set (lamp on, move head 1 step, read 1 line, etc). more
> expensive machines have higer-level commands which rely on the cpu in
> the scanner (accept scan params, scan)
> 
> you need to give more data about the size of read-head you need, the
> bit-depth, and your intended use, before anyone can suggest a
> particular model of scanner.
> 
> allan
> 
> On 8/9/07, Justin Rosen <rosen at nanotoon.com> wrote:
> > Hello!
> >
> > I've recently stumbled upon the SANE libraries in an effort to gain
> > access to a scanner.  What I would like to do, is be able to read
> > from a scanner, but not to create an image, but instead to pull RGB
> > data from a single line of scan.  Meaning I only need a scan size of
> > 1 pixel x width of scanner.  Also, I don't necessarily need the
> > flatbed itself.  Is it possible with SANE to access a scanner that
> > has been taken apart?  I essentially need the RGB values of the
> > scanning head in realtime (I'm not sure what the terminology is for
> > the portion of the scanner that actually gets color values).
> >
> > So imagine the scanner as a color sensor constantly pumping out an
> > array of RGB colors, where the array size is the width of the scanner.
> >
> > I'm completely new to the SANE libraries, I've read the SANE Standard
> > and compiled the SANE libraries and I'm stuck on the fact that I
> > think the scanner I purchased is broken, so I'm at a halt for the
> > moment, but thought I could get a little more insight on my issue.
> >
> > I thought my idea above could be possible using SANE for a few
> > reasons.  If I were to write a front-end that used a scanner to scan
> > an area of 1pixel x scanner width per frame, and to continually scan
> > frames until I told it to stop, I could receive RGB data as fast as
> > the scanner could scan (hopefully real-time).  If this can be done,
> > great!  I need to really figure out how to write the front-end!  The
> > only problem I see is that I'm hoping to take the scanner apart and
> > use just the sensor to pull data from.  I noticed that some of the
> > SANE calls may fail if the SANE_Status is SANE_STATUS_COVER_OPEN,
> > which leaves me to believe I won't be able to take the scanner apart
> > and just pull RGB data from the scanner head.
> >
> > If anyone can answer any or part of my questions or point me in the
> > right direction it would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks for your time.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Justin Rosen
> >
> > --
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> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> "The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
> 
-- 
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m.vr.gr.
Gerard Klaver