ISIS — Image and Scanner Interface Specification

Over the last twenty years, as more and more business procedures have moved from paper-based processes to automated processes, the same problems have repeatedly arisen: incompatibility, and poor communication between scanners and applications. Interfacing a new scanner to an existing application meant long hours, reams of code, and endless complications. But today developers and scanner manufacturers have a powerful tool to easily integrate their imaging solution—ISIS®.

In 1990, a team of engineers at Pixel Translations created the Image and Scanner Interface Specification (ISIS). From day one, ISIS changed the way companies build imaging solutions by giving them new levels of flexibility and power in communications between scanners and applications.

More than 250 different scanners currently communicate to applications through the ISIS interface. ISIS technology allows the scanners to run at their rated speeds or higher; it’s the only imaging solution that allows a user to take full advantage of the power inherent in their scanners and other imaging machines.

Modular Architecture
The document imaging environment is constantly in flux, with new scanner models continuously being released, new data compression methods being presented, and new imaging requirements arising almost daily. To keep pace, a business must have an imaging interface built with enough flexibility to adjust to both its changing business needs and to new technologies as they become available.

The ISIS architecture is extraordinarily simple yet technologically robust. It is a mutable architecture based on modules—software components that perform specific imaging functions (e.g., image acquisition, file conversion, data extraction and file read/write commands). ISIS’ architecture allows for new modules to be added without making system-wide changes: you simply add what you need where it’s needed.

ISIS modules interact with each other through a system of tags (data storage areas) and choices (value sets). A combination of two or more ISIS modules put together to perform a specific imaging function is called an ISIS pipe. ISIS pipes can be constructed according to your unique imaging needs, empowering the ISIS architecture with its greatest strengths, both in development and end-use—flexibility and extensibility.

ISIS for Developers
First and foremost in the benefits ISIS delivers to developers is compatibility: ISIS-compatible drivers are available for more than 250 scanner models, most of them certified by Pixel Translations to be compatible with any properly written ISIS application. ISIS’ compatibility is further evidenced by its being the basis for the AIIM MS61 standard since 1996 (see chart), which is in the public domain.

Development time can also be significantly reduced with ISIS toolkits, which include scanner drivers, read/write modules, data transport/format conversion modules, and an on-screen document viewer. With ISIS, the basic functions of imaging are already clearly defined, implemented, and thoroughly tested, making ISIS applications faster and easier to execute.

Also contributing to the successful execution of ISIS applications—regardless of image size or color depth—are:

• ISIS pipes, which allow ISIS modules to be loaded into and purged from memory as needed
• ISIS scanner drivers, which allow scanners to run at their maximum rated speeds
• ISIS data streaming, which enables processing in 8Kb packets

Another key benefit of ISIS to scanner manufacturers and software developers is reduced support cost. The code upon which ISIS is based has been used and refined for more than ten years. ISIS-enabled toolkits and scanners reduce risk for developers and scanner manufacturers, as they have been subjected to a rigorous, time-proven testing procedure. With ISIS, the motto has been, “If it’s not broken, make it better.”

ISIS for the End User
The benefits ISIS delivers to the developer are passed on to the end user. For example, the support and testing available to developers allows users to experience an increased level of reliability in their ISIS-based applications, which simply cannot be found in applications based on less formally supported standards.

But end users also enjoy an additional, distinct set of benefits not found in other imaging solutions. By presenting users with a standard interface—regardless of what scanner they may be using, and regardless of what path may have been chosen by the developer—ISIS delivers consistency.

And as a result of ISIS’ ubiquitous market presence and intrinsic compatibility, users will save money on hardware and software investments. Most production scanners and imaging applications currently support ISIS, and both hardware and software support is expanding on a monthly basis. Users can upgrade or add scanners as they see fit and be assured that their application will support these new investments easily, with no systems overhaul required.