Optical scanner
Hardware input device that allows a user to take an image and/or text and convert it into a digital file, allowing the computer to read and/or display the scanned object. A scanner is commonly connected to a computer USB, Firewire, Parallel or SCSI port. To the right is a picture and an example of a flatbed photo scanner, the Epson V300.
Other types of scanners include: sheetfed scanner, which is a scanner that scans paper fed into it, handheld scanner, which is a scanner that is held and drag over a page to scan it, and a card scanner, which is a small scanner capable of scanning business cards.
- See our scanner help page for additional help and information on computer scanners.
Also see: Input device, Picture, Scanner definitions
