Method and system for increasing scanning speed

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, a method and a system for increasing scanning speed are provided. The method comprises steps of determining a transmission rate of a transit interface, scanning an original to generate an image data, and adjusting a cycle time of the image data to change a data generated rate responsive to the transmission rate of the transit interface. The key aspect of the present invention is by adjusting the cycle time of a state machine to change the data generated rate corresponding to the transmission rate of the transit interface. Therefore, in response to the transmission rate of the transit interface, the cycle time of the state machine is adjusted to produce the data at a rate that prevents the smearing process. Thus, incorporated with the present invention, the possibility of memory buffer full is reduced leading to the reduction in the time wasting on start-stop processes and therefore the overall scanning speed is increased without requiring the increase in size of a memory buffer.

1 - 18 . (canceled)  
     
     
         19 . A method for optimizing scanning speed of a scanning system, comprising: 
 scanning an original to generate image data at a data-generating rate; and    adjusting a cycle time of the image data to change the data-generating rate responsive to a transmission rate of a selected one of a plurality of transit interfaces.    
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , further comprising communicating the image data from the scanning system to a host device through the selected transit interface.  
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 19 , further comprising determining a plurality of transmission rates of the plurality of transit interfaces.  
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein determining transmission rates comprises determining the transmission rates by firmware.  
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the transit interfaces comprise at least one of a USB1.1-based interface, a USB2.0-based interface, an IEEE-1394-based interface, an EPP-based interface, a SCSI-based interface, and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the data-generated rate comprises a rate reducing accumulation of the data.  
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein adjusting the cycle time of the image data comprises adjusting a clock count comprised in one cycle according to the transmission rate.  
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein adjusting the cycle time of the image data comprises selecting a cycle time from a plurality of predetermined cycle times.  
     
     
         27 . A method of controlling scanning speed of a scanning system, comprising: 
 scanning an original to generate image data at a data-generating rate; and    adjusting a cycle time of the image data to change the data-generating rate based at least in part upon a result of a comparison between a predetermined value and a transmission rate of a selected one of a plurality of transit interfaces.    
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 27 , further comprising communicating the image data from the scanning system to a host device through the transit interfaces.  
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 27 , further comprising determining a plurality of transmission rates of the plurality of transit interfaces.  
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 29 , wherein determining the transmission rates comprises determining the transmission rates by firmware.  
     
     
         31 . The method according to  claim 29 , wherein the transit interfaces include at least one of a USB1.1-based interface, a USB2.0-based interface, an IEEE-1394-based interface, an EPP-based interface, a SCSI-based interface and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 27 , wherein adjusting the cycle time of the image data comprises decreasing the cycle time of the image data to increase the data-generated rate when the transmission rate is greater than the predetermined value.  
     
     
         33 . The method according to  claim 27 , wherein adjusting the cycle time of the image data comprises increasing the cycle time of the image data to reduce the data-generated rate when the transmission rate is less than the predetermined value.  
     
     
         34 . The method according to  claim 27 , wherein adjusting the cycle time of the image data comprises adjusting a clock count comprised in one cycle.  
     
     
         35 . A scanning system, comprising: 
 a plurality of transit interface means for communicating data between the scanning system and a host device;    a state-machine generator means responsive to the transit interface means for generating at least one cycle time of a state machine; and    a scanning-module means for scanning an original for generating the data at an adjustable rate controlled at least in part by the cycle time of the state machine.    
     
     
         36 . The system according to  claim 35 , wherein at least one transit interface comprises one of a USB1.1-based interface, a USB2.0-based interface, an IEEE-1394-based interface, an EPP-based interface and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         37 . The system according to  claim 35 , wherein the transit interfaces comprise a plurality of transmission rates, and 
 wherein the state-machine means further generates the cycle time based at least in part upon a selected transmission rate.    
     
     
         38 . The system according to  claim 37 , wherein the selected transit interface comprises one of a USB-based interface, an IEEE-1394-based interface and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         39 . A scanning system, comprising: 
 a scanning-rate cycle generator capable of generating an adjustable scanning-rate cycle time based on a transit rate of a selected transit interface of a plurality of transit interfaces; and    a scanning-module capable of scanning an original for generating image data based at least in part on the adjustable scanning-rate cycle time.    
     
     
         40 . The system according to  claim 39 , wherein at least one transit interface comprises one of a USB1.1-based interface, a USB2.0-based interface, an IEEE-1394-based interface, an EPP-based interface and a combination thereof.