ISIS is a C language software interface that is independent of operating environment and scanner features. Over 100 different scanners and formats are supported by ISIS today, and applications built using ISIS can transparently use these and future scanners and formats. The ISIS Interface is consistent across multiple operating systems, including various UNIX platforms and Microsoft Windows 95/NT.
The ISIS interface provides a mechanism for automatically determining the capabilities of the attached scanner (for example, the presence of scanner options), so that the end-user can be presented with options appropriate for the scanner actually installed. The PixTools / Scan toolkit provides a full set of ISIS scanner drivers. The same interface allows image files to be read (imported) and written (exported). This makes it easy to provide scan-to-file support, or transparent scan/input and file/input in an application. Support includes: TIFF (uncompressed, Group 3, modified Group 3, Group 4, and packbits), PCX/DCX and PDA.
The developer's kit includes source code for several complete applications demonstrating use of scanner and file I/O features. The samples allow scan and save operations to standard file formats. Documentation describing all routines is provided. The documentation includes a tutorial section with additional examples.
Normal use of ISIS involves the following steps:
Drivers are loaded dynamically regardless of environment. A "tagged" mechanism is used to get and set parameters and capabilities, so a single routine (plus a set of tags) provides access to the scanner, e.g.:
PixTagGetLong: gets the current value of a tag
PixTagGetLongDefault: gets the default value of a tag
PixChoiceGetCount: gets the number of choices
available for a tag
PixChoiceGetLong: gets a particular choice for a
tag
PixTagSetLong: sets the current value of a tag
Corresponding ASCII and Rational routines exist for tags which are of that type. The tags consist of the set of tags used in TIFF plus some additional tags necessary for scanner control. Some common tags are TAG_BITSPERSAMPLE, TAG_XRESOLUTION, TAG_YRESOLUTION, TAG_CONTRAST, TAG_IMAGELENGTH, TAG_BRIGHTNESS, and TAG_IMAGEWIDTH.
After scanning is initiated, the application provides buffers which the driver fills with data. This data can be displayed, compressed, stored, or whatever is appropriate for the application. ISIS provides a very convenient and efficient mechanism for compressing and storing scanned images to a variety of file formats.
The following scanners and image file formats are supported by PixTools/Scan for UNIX from Peabody Systems. Not all scanners are supported on all UNIX platforms. Please contact Peabody Systems for scanners supported on a specific platform. Peabody Systems currently supports SCO UNIX and UnixWare, Linux on Intel processors, Sun Solaris SPARC and x86, IBM RS/6000 AIX and HP 9000 HP-UX.
Pixel Translations supports these and other scanners on Microsoft 95/NT platforms. Please contact Pixel Translations at (800) 749-4310 for information about these platforms.
ISIS is a registered trademark and PixTools is a trademark of
Pixel Translations, Inc.
All other product names are trade and service marks of their
respective companies.