System and method for digitizing paper receipts

A method comprising:

• opening a cover to expose a platen of a scanner;
• placing a plurality of separated paper receipts on a surface of the platen;
• scanning the platen, including a scan of uncovered areas of the platen and each of the paper receipts, into an electronic image when the platen is in an uncovered position;
• isolating a contiguous area of the electronic image corresponding to a perimeter of each of the receipts;
• generating a scan mask from an isolated contiguous area;
• and
• generating a unique image file corresponding to a surface image of each of the receipts in accordance with the scan mask.

A system comprising:

• a scanner including a platen configured to receive multiple, separated paper receipts on an uncovered surface thereof,
• the scanner configured to scan the paper receipts through the platen to generate a composite scan image;
• and
• a processor configured to determine an overexposed area of the scan image corresponding to a platen area not covered by the receipts,
• the processor further configured to generate a contiguous mask image in accordance with the overexposed area, and
• the processor further configured to generate a separate image file for each of the receipts in accordance with the mask image.