Image Immaculate

By Sng Chee Khiang

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Although a paperless world still remains more myth than reality, there is a trend towards digitising information for archiving purposes due to regulatory changes worldwide. And the most common way of converting documents into digital format is by using a scanner.

The sensor component in a scanner typically uses one of three technologies: a photomultiplier tube (PMT), a charge-coupled device (CCD), or a contact image sensor (CIS).

A PMT is a vacuum tube that converts light into electrical energy and amplifies it. PMTs are used in high-end drum scanners because they are more sensitive to light than CCD elements. However, drum scanners are slow and expensive when compared to CCD scanners, and are generally used for specialized high-end applications today.

A CCD is a solid-state electronic device that converts light into an electric charge. A desktop scanner typically has thousands of CCD elements arranged in a long thin line, and it shines light through red, green and blue filters. The reflected light is directed into the CCD array via a system of mirrors and lenses. The CCD acts as a photometer, converting the measured reflectance into an analogue voltage, which can then be sampled and changed to discrete digital values by an analogue-to-digital converter.

The CIS is a relatively new sensory technology that started to appear at the budget end of the flatbed scanner market in the late 1990s. It employs dense banks of red, green and blue LEDs to produce white light, and it replaces the mirrors and lenses of a CCD scanner with a single row of sensors placed extremely close to the source image. It is, however, not yet capable of producing as good images as those using CCD elements.

Standalones vs MFDs

Currently, users can either get a standalone scanner or a multifunction device (MFD), which builds in printing, scanning, copying and faxing capabilities. Market preference, however, seems to be shifting towards MFDs.

According to IDC, such devices will hit a shipment of 4.9 million units, or US$4.3 billion, by the end of 2004 in the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan. Between January to March this year, shipments increased sequentially by 9% from the last quarter of 2003 to reach 990,000 units, or US$488.1 million in the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan.

The image capture and mechanism structure of a standalone scanner and a MFD scanner are basically similar, The differences usually lie in the sensor technology used (CCD or CIS), as well as the added functionalities that come with an MFD.

“A typical standalone scanner consists of functions such as scan, copy and email,” said Leong Wing Kin, general manager, Corporate Solution Group, Brother International Singapore. “This is different from an MFD scanner which provides ‘Copy’ and multiple levels of scanning features, such as ‘Scan to Email/File/Image/OCR’. The MFD also offers a host of other features such as printing, copying and faxing.”

Leong added that most MFDs come with High Speed USB 2.0 (480Mbps), and is much faster than the majority of standalone scanners, which are using Fast Sped USB 2.0 (12Mbps).

Besides speed, MFDs can provide users with up to A3 size scanning — compared to A4 for a typical standalone scanner — and they can be used as a document routing and workflow device, according to Fuji Xerox. This is because the MFD is usually a shared device on the network, whereas a standalone scanner is restricted to the user who has the scanner connected to his PC.

Users’ choice

Tee Chin Eng, Scanner Product Manager, Hewlett-Packard, IPG Asia Pacific, advised that an MFD is ideal for users who need maximum functionality packed into the smallest possible space.

“Users who purchase MFDs are often focused on getting a device that is space-saving, offers better value due to the multi-functions, and the case of managing just one device,” said Tee.

Tee added that users who are concerned with image quality should opt for standalone scanners. The same applies for users who consider scanning versatility — which includes the ability to scan materials from paper to 35mm slides — important.

Users can make a choice between a consumer scanner or a document scanner based on the kind of information that is scanned often.

Janet Ta, product manager, Volume Products Group, Fujitsu Asia, said that if there are many documents to convert to soft copy for archival, it will be best to get a document scanner.

“But if there are not a lot of documents to be scanned, and they consist of mainly pictures, graphics or images, then a consumer scanner will be more suitable,” she said.

The question as to whether you should get a standalone scanner or a MFD scanner really boils down to one question: do you have specialised scanning needs?

If you do, then the choice is definitely a standalone scanner. If not, then an MFD scanner would represent tremendous value for you.