Document scanner

A scanning apparatus for scanning a document image including text layout elements, thereby generating a scan file of image data including pixels, each of the pixels having a value representing the intensity and/or color of a picture element, comprising:

• a scanner for scanning the document image and generating the scan file;
• a display for displaying at least a part of the image for a user,
• a user interface for receiving a selection command from the user for an extraction area within the scanned document image;
• and
• a processing unit, said processing unit being operable to:
• convert any graphical elements included in the extraction area into text layout elements by processing pixels;
• and
• extracting the text layout element by processing pixels,
• wherein the processing unit is also operable to:
• automatically determine an extraction area within the scanned image based on a selection point indicated by the user in a text layout element in the image as part of the selection command;
• and
• include the extracted text layout element in a designator for the scan file.

A program embodied in a computer readable medium for carrying out a method of converting a document image into image data including pixels, each of the pixels having a value representing the intensity and/or color of a picture element, wherein said document image includes text layout elements, the method comprising the steps of:

• scanning a document with a scanner apparatus, and thereby generating a scan file of the image data;
• displaying at least a part of the scanned image for a user,
• receiving a selection command from the user for an extraction area within the scanned image;
• converting any graphical elements included in the extraction area into text layout elements by processing the pixels;
• extracting said text layout elements;
• and
• including the extracted text layout element in a designator for the scan file,
• wherein the selection command comprises indicating a selection point in a text layout element in the image, and is automatically followed by a step of automatically determining an extraction area within the scanned image based on said indicated selection point.