ID card image reader

Claim 1

An image reader for reading a substantially rigid document, comprising: a contact image sensor protected by transparent glass, the contact image sensor including an image sensitive area located on a line of focus at an outer surface of the transparent glass, the contact image sensor being adapted to undergo a pendulum-like swinging motion; motorized means for feeding, in one of a forward and a reverse direction, the substantially rigid document over the line of focus at a controlled feed rate and with a controlled pressure against the transparent glass; deep input guiding means for ensuring precise alignment and guidance of the document while the document is being fed over the line of focus of the contact image sensor, the guiding means creating a small gap immediately over the line of focus to avoid contact between the document and the image sensitive area, the guiding means being disposed such that the document, when introduced into the guiding means, causes the contact image sensor to undergo the swinging motion to accommodate a thickness of the substantially rigid document between the line of focus and the motorized feeding means while maintaining the small gap over the line of focus; and electronic control means for controlling the contact image sensor and the motorized feeding means, whereby, the controlled feed rate of the document by the motorized feeding means and the precise alignment of the document by the guiding means allows the contact image sensor to generate an electronic signal from which a digitized image of the document may be derived while the document is being fed over the line of focus of the contact image sensor.