Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible, Sixth Edition

Types

How the view of the scanning sensor moves to that following line is the fundamental design difference between scanners. Somehow the long line of sensing elements must shift their attention with extreme precision over the entire surface of the image to be captured. Nearly all scanners require a mechanical sweep of the sensors across the image, although a few low-resolution scanners use video technology to sweep their view electronically.

To make a sweep in a mechanical scanner, engineers have devised two primary strategies. One requires the image sensor to move across a fixed original, like you examining a statue in a museum by walking around it. The other moves the original in front of a fixed scanner the same way you might examine an apple ...