Scanning system and method

A method of configuring operation of a scanner coupled to a host computer, the method comprising:

• automatically discovering application programs installed on the host computer;
• associating at least a first application program of the application programs with a user-input element that can be activated by a user to initiate a scan operation;
• and
• automatically associating a set of scan parameters with the first application program to indicate the scan parameters to be applied to scan a document when the user activates the user-input.

A scanning system comprising:

• a scanner;
• and
• a host computer that includes a processing unit and a mass storage device, the host computer being configured to automatically discover application programs stored on the mass storage device,
• associate at least a first application program of the application programs with a user-input element that can be activated by a user to initiate a scan operation, and
• automatically associate a set of scan parameters with the first application program to indicate the scan parameters to be applied to scan a document on the scanner when the user activates the user-input element.

A scanning system comprising:

• a scanner;
• and
• a host computer that includes a processing unit and a memory, the host computer being configured to
• receive a request to generate a digitized representation of a document using the scanner,
• inspect configuration information previously stored in the memory to identify a target application program associated with the request and a scan setting associated with the target application program, and
• generate the digitized representation of the document using the scanner according to the scan setting.

An article of manufacture including one or more computer-readable media that embody a program of instructions for configuring operation of a scanner, wherein the program of instructions, when executed by a processor of a host computer, causes the processor to:

• automatically discover application programs stored on the mass storage device;
• associate at least a first application program of the application programs with a user-input element that can be activated by a user to initiate a scan operation;
• and
• automatically associate a set of scan parameters with the first application program to indicate the scan parameters to be applied to scan a document on the scanner when the user activates the user-input element.

An article of manufacture including one or more computer-readable media that embody a program of instructions for scanning a document, wherein the program of instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

• receive a request to scan a document;
• inspect previously stored configuration information to identify a target application program associated with the request and a scan setting associated with the target application program;
• and
• scan the document according to the scan setting.