The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 01, 2000
Filed:
May. 05, 1997
Thomas Mario Cipolla, Katonah, NY (US);
Janusz Stanislaw Wilczynski, Sanda Park, NM (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An inventive system and method for continually advancing film through an air-bearing film flattening system having at least one scanning area through which the air-flattened film may be scanned. The film is provided to an air-bearing mechanism comprising two opposing air-bearing plates which create opposing air cushions for maintaining the planarity of the film. The scanning area may comprise at least one optical aperture in the air-bearing plate or plates through which the scanner views the film, or a 'viewing' area occupied by bundled coherent optical fibers which sequentially pick up image information from aligned regions of the image. The system provides for time efficient, clean, and error-free reading of the scanned image.