Duplex card scanner lighting

A card reader, comprising:

• a card reader housing;
• a card input tray supported by the card reader housing, the card input tray providing automated alignment of a card by being at an inclined angle sufficiently steep so that when the card is placed into a front of the card input tray, the card will tend to slide to a back of the card input tray and rest against a back wall of the card input tray, the back wall aligning the card to minimize document skew when scanning;
• and
• a light source that illuminates the card when the card is within the card input tray;
• a camera that captures a first image of a first side of the card and a second image of the first side of the card;
• and
• an image processor that combines the first image of the first side of the card with the second image of the first side of the card to produce a first combined image;
• wherein a support structure is integrated into the card reader housing so that the card input tray is at the inclined angle.

A card scanner, comprising:

• card support mechanism for receiving a card, the card support mechanism including:
• a glass holder that includes two glass sheets separated by a distance greater than a thickness of the card, and
• a moveable card base on which the card rests when the card is placed between the two sheets, the moveable card base allowing a user to control location of the moveable card base;
• a light source that illuminates the card when the card is within the card support mechanism;
• a camera system that captures a first image and a second image of a first side of the card and that captures a first image and a second image of a second side of the card;
• and
• an image processor that combines the first image and the second image of the first side of the card to produce a first combined image and that combines the first image and the second image of the second side of the card to produce a second combined image;
• wherein when the user places the moveable card base in a first location, the card is positioned for the camera system to capture the first image and the second image of the first side of the card and to capture the first image and the second image of the second side of the card;
• and
• wherein when the user places the moveable card base in a second location, the card is positioned to be removed by the user from the card scanner.