Multifunction Peripherals for PCs

Introduction

Personal computers have been associated with peripherals since their inception. The most common single-function peripheral has been the printer. Recent surveys have shown that more than 25 million printers have been installed with Windows-95-based PCs. Prior to that, single-function scanners and fax cards have been associated with PCs to make possible computer fax.

For several years PCs and fax machines sat side by side in offices without utilizing the printer and scanner in the fax machine to replace separate single-function printers and scanners used by PCs. However, during the 1980s, it became apparent to some inventors that fax machines could be altered in their design to replace the single-function devices. Other inventors ...