image scanner
Sign in to savedevice that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image
AI overview
An image scanner is a device that uses light to capture pictures, printed documents, handwriting, or objects and turns them into digital files that you can store and use on a computer. It matters because it lets you convert physical paper documents and photos into digital formats that are easier to organize, share, and preserve.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
A flatbed scanner (Epson Perfection V850 Pro) with its lid open. Documents or images are placed face-down on the glass bed (the platen). An image scanner (often abbreviated to just scanner) is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object and converts it to a digital image. The most common type of scanner used in the home and the office is the flatbed scanner, where the document is placed on a glass bed. A sheetfed scanner, which moves the page across an image sensor using a series of rollers, may be used to scan one page of a document at a time or multiple pages, as in an automatic document feeder. A handheld scanner is a portable version of an image scanner that can be used on any flat surface. Scans are typically downloaded to the computer that the scanner is connected to, although some scanners are able to store scans on standalone flash media (e.g., memory cards and USB drives).
Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a contact image sensor (CIS) as the image sensor, whereas drum scanners, developed earlier and still used for the highest possible image quality, use a photomultiplier tube (PMT) as the image sensor. Document cameras, which use commodity or specialized high-resolution cameras, photograph documents all at once.