Jargon Buster

ABBYY Fine Reader An intelligent optical character recognition application. It converts PDF files, scanned and digital camera images into editable and searchable files.

ADF Automatic Document Feeder. A tray that holds multiple sheets of paper for document autofeeding.

ANSI  American National Standards Institute. The US equivalent of the British Standards Institution.

Aperture Card A card displaying a 35mm microfilmed image for viewing on a microfiche reader or reader/printer.

Aperture card scanner  A device for scanning aperture cards and saving them in raster file format.

Archiving The process of scanning and storing old papers for future use. Often done to reclaim storage space.

Aspect Ratio The relative proportion of the length and width of an image.  For example, if you scan an original that measures 3 by 6 inches, it will have an aspect ratio of 3:6, or 1:2.

Automatic document feeder - ADF. A tray for automatically feeding a stack of drawings into office A4 - A3-size flatbed scanners.

Auto-size The ability of a scanner to automatically detect the size of a drawing sheet.

Bit (Abbreviation of binary digit). 8 bits make a byte. A single bit has one of two possible values, either 0 or 1. Bits are used for processing digital information stored on computers.

Byte A byte is composed of 8 consecutive bits.

Bitmap (BMP) A set of bits that represents a graphic image, with each bit or group of bits corresponding to a pixel in the image.

Blipped film Film that contains an image mark, which helps with image searching

Bundled software A basic version of a separately sold premium software programme that is often supplied free to purchasers of new scanners; perfectly adequate for backups and file transfers.

Capture To record an image either by taking a photograph or scanning it.

Carrier sheet  A clear plastic wallet that holds damaged drawings to prevent snagging and further damage when scanning.

Cartridge film 16 mm microfilm in an ANSI or 3M cartridge

CCD (Contact-coupled device). The semiconductors of the device are connected so that the output of one serves as the input of the next.

CCD Scanner They provide a high resolution scan. The charged couplet device is a light-sensitive, integrated circuit that stores and displays the data for an image in such a way that each pixel in the image is converted into an electrical charge; the intensity of which is related to a colour in the colour spectrum.

CIS Scanner A type of optical flat bed scanner that does not use the traditional CCD arrays, mirrors and lenses. CIS scanners gather light. A CIS scanner is more compact than a CCD scanner and can be used in smaller products. CIS scanners also require less power than CCD scanners.

CMOS Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (pronounced see-moss). CMOS is a widely used semi-conductor. They are particularly good for use in battery-powered devices, such as portable computers. Personal computers also contain a small amount of battery-powered CMOS memory to hold the date, time and system set-up parameters.

Compatible cartridges are brand new cartridges manufactured by a company other than the original.

Cookie  A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of a cookie is to analyse Web traffic.

Crop To trim an image or page.

Deskew A process which eliminates the tilt or angle on a scanned document

Desktop scanner  An easily affordable, small A4 - A3 flatbed scanner common in offices and homes.

Document carrier sheet  A clear plastic wallet that holds damaged drawings to prevent snagging and further damage when scanning.

Dots per inch  DPI. The resolution of a printed page, expressed in the number of printer dots in an inch. Scanner resolution is also expressed in dpi.

Dpi Dots per inch. The more dots per inch there are, the better the quality of image.

Driver Software that informs your operating system how to control a piece of hardware.

Duplex means scanning both sides of a page or double-sided scanning.

Energy Star is a United States government program to promote energy efficient consumer products.

FAU is an abbreviation for Film Adaptor Unit

Fiche Postcard-sized (105mm x148mm) sheets of film bearing photographed images of printed documents as an alternative to storing stockpiles of office paperwork. In this format, documents are more accessible for viewing and printing out from quickly and they take less space for storage.

File format Different types of computer files e.g. JPEG, BMP, TIF & PDF for different kinds of application.

FireWire A method of connecting a scanner to a PC. It is capable of fast transfer speeds of up to 50 megabytes per second.

Flatbed Scanner Also known as a desktop scanner. Allows images to be scanned face down under a lid on glass. A sensor array and light source move across the pane reading from the document. They are versatile as any sized documents can be scanned and poor quality or torn documents are not a problem.

GIF Graphic Interchange Format. A computer generated image of low resolution. Not generally suitable for printing purposes.

Greyscale able to show over 250 shades of grey, stored as an 8-bit integer giving many different shades of grey from black to white. Greyscale is frequently used to enhance black & white images. It is also generally cheaper than colour for printing.

HP Hewlett Packard.

HP scanners Contex scanners badged with the HP brand name.

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) An advanced version of OCR that allows font and different styles of handwriting to be learnt during processing to improve accuracy in recognition levels.

ipm Images per minute.

ips Inches per second.

ISIS driver Image and Scanner Interface Specification. A driver interface that unites scanners with software applications. It allows the scanner to run at its rated speed and higher.

JPEG/JPG (pronounced jay-peg) stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is a standardised image compression mechanism. It is designed for compressing either full-colour or grey-scale images. JPEG handles only still images but there is a standard called MPEG for motion pictures.

Kodak Capture Software Lite This bundled software comes free with most Kodak scanners. Designed for speed,accuracy and ease of use, these software packages are a light version of the full version of Capture software. The high speed, multi-page display presents images de-skewed and autocropped for legibility. A complete set of icon tools are available at the click of a mouse.

Landscape Orientation of a document in which the longest dimension is horizontal.

Large format  Any drawing size bigger than A3.

LED Light Emitting Diode.

Legal size A US paper size that is equivalent to but smaller than A4 (8 1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long).

MICR Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. Magnetic codes found on the bottom of cheques, deposit slips, and general ledger debit and credit tickets that allow a machine to scan and store the information.

MIcrofiche A card or sheet of microfilm capable of accomodating and preserving a considerable number of pages, as of printed text, in reduced form.

Microfish A synonomous term, often used in error, for microfiche.

Microfilm Images taken from documents that need to be stored are put onto rolls of film to be viewed and sometimes printed from at a later date. This form of archiving is usually stored on film 16mm, or 35mm, wide to be kept in a microfilm storage cabinet. Using this media, stored paperwork that has taken valuable space in the office can be dispensed with, without losing vital information. Storage on microfilm is normally accepted as an industry standard for keeping long term legal documents.

Microfilm scanner A screen allows the user to view microfilmed images, copies can be printed using an attached printer or they can be scanned to computer. Microfilm, microfiche or aperture cards provide the images for the screen. Various sized lenses can be used to magnify the filmed images shown on the screen. The three different film formats all require their own form of holder or carrier e.g. fiche carrier to enable the user to view them on the screen.

Monochrome Black and white or black, white and greyscale.

MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet. If an MSDA sheet is supplied you are strongly advised to read it and store it safely for future reference.

NCR paper No carbon required. A special paper used for multipart forms. NCR paper is impregnated with a chemical that darkens it when pressure is applied.

OCR Optical Character Recognition. Refers to the process by which scanned images are electronically read to convert them into editable text.

OEM Original Equipment Manufacture.

Original (OEM) Ink Cartridges Brand new ink cartidges manufactured by the same company who manufactured the printer they are intended to be used with. For example an HP original is a brand new cartridge manufactured by Hewlett Packard.

Optical resolution The number of pixels per inch recorded by the scanner's image sensor. The higher the number, the greater the detail of the image captured.

Peripheral Hardware that extends the capabilities of the computer, such as a printer, modem, or scanner.

Port A channel of the computer used for input or output with a peripheral.  A scanner interface board includes a special port that the scanner can use to communicate with the computer.

Portrait Orientation of a document in which the longest dimension is vertical.

Print head The print head is the device that puts the ink onto the paper. Some manufacturers use a fixed print head, which means the print head is fixed to the printer and therefore not a consumable part e.g. Epson. Other manufacturers put the print head on the cartridge e.g. Hewlett Packard. This way each time you change the cartridge is changed you change the print head.

PSC Printer, Scanner, copier - All-in-One printer.

PDF Portable Document Format. A file format with all the elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view, navigate, print or share. PDF files are created using Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Capture, or similar products but to view or use the files, you will need to download the free Acrobat Reader.

Ranger Transport API A software tool that allows you to use almost any item processing software with virtually any cheque scanning hardware. Ranger gives you the flexibility to use check scanners manufactured by different vendors without making changes to your applications.

Raster The rectangular area of a screen used to display images. The raster varies for different resolutions.

Read Iris OCR software allowing you to convert your paper documents, PDF files and image files into information you can edit, archive and share.

Reader/Printer These were popular machines for viewing and printing from microfilm, fiche and aperture cards. They are no longer being manufactured. Their successor is the microfilm scanner.

Remanufactured Ink Cartridges have been disassembled, serviced, refilled and tested to meet high standards in quality and print life. It is a recycled option.

Resolution See optical resolution.

RGB Red, blue and green.

RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances. An EU directive to remove environmentally damaging substances from electrical or electronic equipment e.g. scanners.

Rollers Wheels that grip and propel the drawing sheet through a scanner.

Rotary scanner Also known as a sheet-fed scanner. It takes documents through a series of rollers in order to capture images. Its strength lies in the ability to scan documents at high speed.

Scand All Image capturing sofware used in conjunction with Fujitsu scanners.

Scan-to-File Scanning documents and saving them directly into a folder, often with incrementally updated file names e.g. file1.tif, file2.tif, and file3.tif.

Scan-to-Copy Scanning images specifically for the purposes of printing them out.

Scan-to-Print  Also known as Scan-to-Copy.

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (pronounced scuzzy).

SCSI Interface An interface for attaching a number of peripherals to a PC e.g. scanners.

Simplex This means scannning one side of a page.

Simplex/Duplex An option to scan one or both sides simultaneously.

Thumbnail View A miniature version of an image that is often used for quick browsing.

TIFF,TIF Tagged Image File Format. A format for digital images now controlled by Adobe. TIFF has become a popular standard for graphics giving a strong depth of colour. It is widely used in image manipulation applications such as Photoshop, desktop publishing and scanning utilities.

TMA Transparent Materials Adaptor.

Touch panel  A control panel on scanner that allows simple control of scanning, paper feed, etc.

Twain driver A software interface for controlling scanners and capturing the image data of scanned documents.

USB Universal Serial Bus. Connects new hardware like scanners, digital speakers, digital cameras or a PC telephone to a computer. USB version 1.0 has nowadays been superceded by version 2.0, with the latter being quicker and more efficient.

Warm up The time it takes for a scanner to be ready for use. CID scanners are slower to warm up than CIS.