FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970 (39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION See Section 10, and rule 13)
1. TITLE OF INVENTION
A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONVERTING A FILE FROM HARD COPY TO SOFT COPY FORMAT
2. APPLICANT (S)

a) Name
b) Nationality
c) Address

I MEDIA CORP LIMITED
INDIAN Company
EL 201, TTC INDUSTRIAL ESTATE,
MIDC MAHAPE,
NAVI MUMBAI - 400 079
MAHARASHTRA

3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed : -

A Method and System for Converting a File from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY Format
Field of Invention:
The present invention relates to onversion of Hard copy files to Image files within a computer system. Particularly if relates to conversion of Hard copy files to both by scanning.
More particularly if relates to a method as well as a system for converting Hard copy into soft copy by scanning.
Prior Art:
HARD COPY (Tag Image File Format) is a common format for exchanging raster graphics (bitmap) images between application programs, including those used for scanner images. A HARD COPY file can be identified as a file with a ".Hard Copy" or ".tif" file name suffix. The HARD COPY format was developed in 1986 by an industry committee chaired by the Aldus Corporation (now part of Adobe Software). Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard were among the contributors to the format. One of the most common graphic image formats, HARD COPY files are commonly used in desktop publishing, faxing, 3-D applications, and medical imaging applications.
HARD COPY files can be in any of several classes, including gray scale, color palette, or RGB full color, and can include files with IPEG, LZW, or CCITT Group 4 standard run-length image compression.
HARD COPY formats have the following problems due to which its use is avoided:
HARD COPY is not supported by Web browsers.
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• Extensibility results in many different types of HARD COPY pictures. Not all HARD COPY files are compatible with all programs that support the baseline HARD COPY standard.
• HARD COPY image is a picture of a document, it can contain images or pictures of text. Yet, it can't be electronically searched without OCR technology. Extra scanning, saving and loading is needed in order to obtain word searching capabilities —HARD COPY files have to be linked to a database first. Moreover, even if HARD COPY was used for exchanging textual information, zooming in for better readability would produce poor quality imaging.
• One most notable drawback of the format is that there is a minimum amount of development of the format and as such, the format lacks support for more advanced imaging features developed over the last couple of years. Thus, HARD COPY is no longer ideal or adequate for distributing converted documents.
SOFT COPY (Portable Document Format) is a widely used document exchange format which is readable by anyone using Adobe's freely available Acrobat Reader. It is distantly related to Adobe's popular document language, Postscript. Because SOFT COPY is rich in features to support photographic images, graphics and color profiles. It has started the first choice for users who requires accurate reproduction-and are willing to wait for it, for example in the desktop publishing and color print fields. Beginning in the late 20th century, SOFT COPY rapidly rose in popularity as a general format for electronic document exchange, primarily due to the availability of Adobe's free reader.
SOFT COPY is an open file format. It is suitable for more secure, dependable electronic information exchange which is recognized by industries and Governments around the world. It is also supported on multiple platforms. It is viewable and
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printable on any platforms (Macintosh, Microsoft windows, UNIX and any mobile platforms).
SOFT COPY has a unique number of advantages:
• It is a cross platform standard. This means that somebody can create a SOFT COPY file on a Unix workstation and you can open it on a Mac or PC and still see the document just like it was intended to be viewed.
• SOFT COPY files can be device independent. This means that a SOFT COPY file can be printed on a cheap ink jet printer as well as on an expensive image setter. This does not necessarily mean that the output will be optimized for each device. A lot depends on the way the document is created.
• SOFT COPY files are compact. SOFT COPY supports a number of sophisticated compression algorithms as well as a clever file structure to keep the file size of SOFT COPY files down to an absolute minimum.
• SOFT COPY files can contain multimedia elements like movies or sound as well as hypertext elements like bookmarks, links to e-mail addresses or web pages and thumbnail views of pages.
SOFT COPY supports security. The creator of a SOFT COPY file can set various security options. It is possible to lock a SOFT COPY so it can only be opened with a password. It is also possible to forbid changing the content of a SOFT COPY or disable the option to print a SOFT COPY file
From above discussion it is clear that why SOFT COPY format is needed over HARD COPY. Hence by considering this it necessary to provide a method as well as system to convert a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format.
Object of the Invention:

The object of the present invention is to convert a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format.
Another object of the present invention is to provide system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format which virtually supports all HARD COPY compressions.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method and system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format which can combine multiple HARD COPY files into one SOFT COPY file.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format which supports multi page HARD COPY file to SOFT COPY conversion.
Statement of the Invention:
To achieve the above mentioned objects there is provided a method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format within a computer system, said method comprising:
storing HARD COPY file to be converted in to SOFT COPY in a computer readable storage medium within said computer system;
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storing one or more conversion parameters required for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format in said computer readable storage medium;
requesting for the conversion of said file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format to the conversion software module;
retrieving automatically said conversion parameters from said computer readable storage medium by the conversion software module;
performing conversion of said file into SOFT COPY using conversion parameters and
outputting the resulting SOFT COPY file from said conversion software module to application folder.
It is preferable according to present invention to enter conversion parameters manually.
A method of present invention further comprises step of initializing said conversion software module, thereby allowing said conversion software module to be executed automatically.
According to present invention conversion software module consists of a set of instructions capable of being performing the task of HARD COPY to SOFT COPY conversion.
Also there is provided a computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format, said system comprises:
at least one processor being arranged to accept a request for conversion of file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format;
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computer readable storage medium for storing a HARD COPY file to be converted and conversion parameters required for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format;
conversion software module consisting of set of instructions capable of being executed by said processor to perform the task of HARD COPY to SOFT COPY conversion.
In a preferred form of invention a processor includes a computer server arrangement.
The method and system of the present invention virtually supports all HARD COPY compressions. The compressions are one of ZIP, LZW, CCITX G4/G3 and JEPG.
According to preferred embodiment of the invention single HARD COPY file is converted into one SOFT COPY file.
According to another preferred embodiment multiple HARD COPY files are combined into one SOFT COPY file.
Brief description of the Drawings:

Figure 1(a) and1(b) Shows block diagram of a computer system performing task of conversion of file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format according to present invention.
Figure 2 Shows flow chart of a method for conversion of file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format according to present invention.
Figure 3 Shows flow chart of another preferred embodiment of the invention
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Detail Description of the Invention:
The above, and the other objects, features & advantages of invention will become apparent from following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
According to present invention a computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format comprises: at least one processor being arranged to accept a request for conversion of file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format; computer readable storage medium for storing a HARD COPY file to be converted and conversion parameters required for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format; and conversion software module consisting of set of instructions capable of being executed by said processor to perform the task of HARD COPY to SOFT COPY conversion.
One such computer system in its physical form is shown in figures 1(a) and 1(b).
FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) illustrate a computer system 100 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1(a) shows one possible physical form of the computer system. Of course, the computer system may have many physical forms ranging from an integrated circuit, a printed circuit board and a small handheld device up to a huge super computer. Computer system 100 includes a monitor 102, a display 104, a housing 106, a disk drive 108, a keyboard 110 and a mouse 112. Disk 114 is a computer-readable medium used to transfer data to and from computer system 100.
FIG. 1(b) is an example of a block diagram for computer system 100. Attached to system bus 120 are a wide variety of subsystems. Processor(s) 122 (also referred to as
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central processing units, or CPUs) are coupled to storage devices including memory 124. Memory 124 includes random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). As is well known in the art, ROM acts to transfer data and instructions uni-directionally to the CPU and RAM is used typically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. Both of these types of memories may include any suitable of the computer-readable media described below. A fixed disk 126 is also coupled bi-directionally to CPU 122; it provides additional data storage capacity and may also include any of the computer-readable media described below. Fixed disk 126 may be used to store programs, data and the like and is typically a secondary storage medium (such as a hard disk) that is slower than primary storage. It will be appreciated that the information retained within fixed disk 126, may, in appropriate cases, be incorporated in standard fashion as virtual memory in memory 124. Removable disk 114 may take the form of any of the computer-readable media described below.
CPU 122 is also coupled to a variety of input/output devices such as display 104, keyboard 110, mouse 112 and speakers 130. In general, an input/output device may be any of: video displays, track balls, mice, keyboards, microphones, touch-sensitive displays, transducer card readers, magnetic or paper tape readers, tablets, styluses, voice or handwriting recognizers, biometrics readers, or other computers. CPU 122 optionally may be coupled to another computer or telecommunications network using network interface 140. With such a network interface, it is contemplated that the CPU might receive information from the network, or might output information to the network in the course of performing the above-described method steps. Furthermore, method embodiments of the present invention may execute solely upon CPU 122 or may execute over a network such as the Internet in conjunction with a remote CPU that shares a portion of the processing. In a preferred form of invention a system includes a computer server arrangement. Also conversion software module is stored in memory or fixed/removable disk.
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In addition, embodiments of the present invention further relate to computer storage products with a computer-readable medium that have computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program code, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer code include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter.
Figure 2 shows flow chart of a method for conversion of file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format according to present invention. According to method of present invention first HARD COPY file to be converted into SOFT COPY is stored in a computer readable storage medium. Along with HARD COPY file conversion parameters required for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format are also stored in this computer readable medium. These conversion parameters are entered manually. Such computer readable medium includes, but are not limited to: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks.
Then these all i.e. HARD COPY file and conversion parameters are given to file conversion software module. This conversion module consists of program instructions which are executed by the processor. This conversion module receives
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the request for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format. Then it retrieves the conversion parameters from the computer readable medium.
After getting conversion parameters conversion module converts the HARD COPY file into SOFT COPY format and output the same to the application folder.
One more embodiment is shown in figure 3. Figure shows flow chart of the embodiment of the invention. Figure shows the flow chart of the method which simultaneously converts plurality of HARD COPY files in to SOFT COPY files. In this the count number which is equal to total number of HARD COPY files along with HARD COPY files to be converted in SOFT COPY and conversion parameters are feed in to the computer readable storage medium. Then all HARD COPY files are converted into SOFT COPY format one by one by and outputted to application folder by the conversion software module.
Advantages of the present invention of HARD COPY to SOFT COPY conversion:
• It supports virtually all HARD COPY compressions, including ZIP, LZW, CCITT, G4/ G3JPEG, Packbits.
• It has outstanding compression capability.
• It can combine multiple Hard Copy files into one SOFT COPY file.
• It supports Multi-page Hard Copy file to SOFT COPY conversion.
• It supports sorting on file name when converting batches.
• It supports single file processing, single directory processing, multi-level directory processing and many other processing modes
• It can set automatic skew-correction (of B/W images).
• It makes use of effective compression processing to minimize space occupied by the created SOFT COPY files; for example, an A4 size file with a B/W
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image the output size is about 40KB to 50KB per page; color and gray-scale images are also compressed and optimized.
• It supports drag and drop.
• It supports scanner.
• It can set file permissions to restrict printing, copying, and future modifications to the document.
• It can specify any resolution (DPI) in the generated SOFT COPY file.
• It can optimize to increase speed.
• It can set the document information (title, subject, author and keywords, creator).
• It support watermark, viewer setting.
Industrial Applicability:
As SOFT COPY is rich in features to support photographic images, graphics and color profiles. Hence it widely used as a document exchange format by the user of any kind of the computer system. It is suitable for more secure, dependable electronic information exchange which is recognized by industries and Governments around the world.
SOFT COPY can be used for:
• creating electronic documents. SOFT COPY is as close as you can get to 'the paperless office'.
• exchanging data. More and more applications can read SOFT COPY files. Advertisements are often exchanged as SOFT COPY files.
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• archiving data. There are tools on the market that allow you to index SOFT COPY files so you can create and search an electronic library of SOFT COPY files.
• interactive documents. SOFT COPY can be used for electronics forms in which the filled-in data can be stored in a data base.
The present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, and various alterations, modifications, and / or alternative applications of the invention may be possible, if desired, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention which can be read from the claims and the entire specification. All these possible alterations, modifications, and / or alternative applications of the invention are also intended to be within technical scope of the present invention.
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WE CLAIM:
1. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format
within a computer system, said method comprising:
storing HARD COPY file to be converted in to SOFT COPY in a computer readable storage medium within said computer system;
storing one or more conversion parameters required for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format in said computer readable storage medium;
requesting for the conversion of said file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format to the conversion software module;
retrieving automatically said conversion parameters from said computer readable storage medium by the conversion software module;
performing conversion of said file into SOFT COPY using conversion parameters and
outputting the resulting SOFT COPY file from said conversion software module to application folder.
2. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format
within a computer system as claimed in claim 1 wherein conversion
parameters can be entered manually.
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3. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format within a computer system as claimed in claim 1 wherein it further comprises step of initializing said conversion software module, thereby allowing said conversion software module to be executed automatically.
4. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format within a computer system as claimed in claim 1wherein said conversion software module consists of a set of instructions capable of being performing the task of HARD COPY to SOFT COPY conversion.
5. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format within a computer system as claimed in claims 1 to 4 wherein said method converts single HARD COPY file into one SOFT COPY file.
6. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format within a computer system as claimed in claims 1 to 4 wherein said method combines multiple HARD COPY files into one SOFT COPY file.
7. A computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format, said system comprises:
at least one processor being arranged to accept a request for conversion of file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format;
computer readable storage medium for storing a HARD COPY file to be converted and conversion parameters required for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format; and
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conversion software module consisting of set of instructions capable of being executed by said processor to perform the task of HARD COPY to SOFT COPY conversion.
8. A computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format as claimed in claim 7 wherein processor includes a computer server arrangement.
9. A computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format as claimed in claim 7 wherein it virtually supports all HARD COPY compressions.
10. A computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format as claimed in claim 7 wherein said compressions are one of ZIP, LZW, CCITX G4/G3 and JEPG.
11. A method for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format within a computer system as hereinbefore described and illustrated with reference to accompanying drawings.
12. A computer system for converting a file from HARD COPY to SOFT COPY format as hereinbefore described and illustrated with reference to accompanying drawings.

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Dated this 7th day of February, 2007.