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

[Justin Rosen]

Hello again,

> 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.

The size of the read head isn't particularly important.  I think an  
average scanner width is sufficient.

Bit-depth, the higher the better, but 24 is fine.

I am looking to connect a scanner to my computer that has been taken  
apart.  Meaning, that you could wave around the scanning head.  My  
program would essentially start scanning until i told it to stop.  I  
would take the data thats being read form the scanning head (looking  
for real-time), and output it somewhere.

The first iteration of the program I'm trying to write would  
essentially open a window that shows an image of what is being  
scanned at that moment.  The image only needs to be 1 pixel high!   
So, I'm guessing this is possible to do in real-time.  Essentially  
I'm using a scanner as a 1 pixel high video camera.


On Aug 9, 2007, at 1:28 PM, Gerard Klaver wrote:
> 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.

I need the highest res I can get.  24bit-depth.  Not sure I'll be  
able to get that out of a webcam :).  A sheetfeed scanner sounds  
interesting.  Would I be able to take it apart and use just the scan  
head without any problems?

On Aug 9, 2007, at 9:35 AM, 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)
>
> allan

This sounds like a better and more complex approach.  How and where  
would I go about figuring out how to write a stand-alone libusb  
program?  I checked out http://libusb.sourceforge.net/ and they have  
a little bit of documentation that might help me get started.  Does  
anyone know of any good websites that may be helpful?  And, in terms  
of contacting a Manufacturer for a information regarding their  
control language, is this usually a pain?

Cheers,
Justin






>
> 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"
>