Scanning appliance and method having user help capability

A hand-held image capture and communication appliance, comprising:

• a photoelement array for acquiring image data;
• a memory for saving said image data;
• a processor in communication with said memory;
• a display in communication with said processor for exhibiting said image data;
• and
• program code stored in said memory and executed by said processor, said program code comprising a help utility module for providing a user with information on operating said appliance, wherein said help utility module further comprises a code segment for displaying an animation on said display.

A hand-held image capture and communication appliance, comprising:

• capturing means for acquiring image data;
• storage means for saving said image data;
• processing means in communication with said storage means;
• display means in communication with said processing means for exhibiting said image data;
• and
• program code stored in said storage means and executed by said processing means, said program code comprising a help utility module for providing a user with information on operating said appliance wherein said help utility module comprises a code segment for displaying text and still graphics on said display.

A hand-held image capture and communication appliance, comprising:

• capturing means for acquiring image data;
• storage means for saving said image data;
• processing means in communication with said storage means;
• display means in communication with said processing means for exhibiting said image data;
• and
• program code stored in said storage means and executed by said processing means, said program code comprising a help utility module for providing a user with information on operating said appliance wherein said help utility module further comprises a code segment for displaying an animation on said display.

A method for providing help information to a user of a hand-held image capture and communication appliance having a built-in display, comprising the steps of:

• displaying a menu comprising a plurality of help topics on said display;
• processing a user selection of one of said help topics;
• and
• displaying a textual dialog containing help information that is correlated with said topic selected by the user.

A method for providing help information to a user of a hand-held image capture and communication appliance having a built-in display, comprising the steps of:

• displaying a menu comprising a plurality of help topics on said display;
• processing a user selection of one of said help topics;
• and
• displaying an animation conveying help information that is correlated with said help topic selected by the user.

A computer readable medium having a program for manipulating image data acquired by a hand-held image capture and communication appliance, said program code comprising:

• logic configured for displaying a menu comprising a plurality of help topics on said display;
• logic configured for processing a user selection of one of said help topics;
• and
• logic configured for displaying a textual dialog and still graphics containing help information that is correlated with said topic selected by the user.

A computer readable medium having a program for manipulating image data acquired by a hand-held image capture and communication appliance, said program code comprising:

• logic configured for displaying a menu comprising a plurality of help topics on said display;
• logic configured for processing a user selection of one of said help topics;
• and
• logic configured for displaying an animation conveying help information that is correlated with said topic selected by the user.

A computer readable medium having a program for providing help information to a user of a system having a built-in display, said program comprising:

• logic configured for displaying a menu comprising a plurality of help topics on the display;
• logic configured for processing a user selection of one of said help topics;
• and
• logic configured for displaying help information that is correlated with said help topic selected by integrating text, still graphics, and animation into a single presentation.

A method for providing help information to a user using a hand-held image capture and communication appliance having a built-in display, comprising the steps of:

• displaying a textual dialog containing help information that is correlated with a help topic selected by said user;
• instructing said user to keep said hand-held image capture and communication appliance in contact with a page to be scanned;
• instructing said user to press and hold a copy button residing on said hand-held image capture and communication appliance while copying said page to be scanned;
• instructing said user to overlap a first portion of a page to be scanned with a second portion of a page to be scanned by a predefined overlap distance;
• and
• instructing said user to release said copy button residing on said hand-held image capture and communication appliance when copying said page to be scanned is completed.