Support: Spectrum XF: FAQs

How do I maximize throughput and minimize file size using my Spectrum XF scanner?

To help you maximize document throughput of your Böwe Bell + Howell Spectrum XF scanner, please follow the steps below. The steps below also explain the relationship between some of the scanner’s functions and its performance.

Step 1 – Follow the Recommended PC Specifications

  •  Pentium IV,
  • 3.0 GHz or faster
  • 512 MB RAM or better
  • AGP or PCIe video card with at least 128MB of dedicated video RAM (non-shared).

Impact: up to a 60% throughput increase in color duplex at 200 dots per inch (dpi)

 

Step 2 – Set Your Application to Scan in Color

The remaining steps apply mainly to color scanning but some steps include tips for grayscale scanning as well. Please ensure that your scanning application software is set to scan in color. To do this:

  • Start your application
  • Select Color for your Image Output Type or Color Mode (the exact wording may vary per application)
  • Select a resolution in dots per inch (dpi) in Scanner Settings – 200 dpi is recommended as the best setting to maximize image quality and throughput while minimizing file size

 

Step 3 – Disable Image Viewer if Using a Video Board with Shared Memory

To maximize document throughput in color or grayscale, you should use an AGP or PCIe video card with at least 128MB of dedicated video RAM (non-shared).

Impact: up to a 45% throughput increase in duplex color at 200 dpi

If you cannot use a dedicated video card, to increase throughput, disable your image viewer. To do this:

  •  In VC Demo: select Source on the VC Demo toolbar and uncheck Display While Processing
  •  If you’re using another application, please follow the step above but keep in mind that different applications may describe the same functionality in different ways

Impact: up to 45% throughput increase in duplex color at 200 dpi

 

Step 4 – Set JPEG Compression in Both Your Application and in VRS

To set in your scanning application:

  • From the toolbar, click File and Storage Format (may be worded somewhat differently)
  • Select JPEG as both File Type and Compression Type and click OK
    • Please Note: In most applications, JPEG compression will automatically be selected as file type and/or compression type when color is selected as image output type.
    • Please Note: When utilizing Auto Color Detect, your application’s File Type should be set to TIFF and Compression Type to CCITT Group 4 (all color images that are detected will then be saved as JPEG-compressed color TIFFs).

To set in VRS (VirtualReScan):

  • Open the VRS Interactive Properties dialog box by right clicking on the VRS logo in the lower right hand corner of your PC screen, then select Preview
  • Click the VRS Profile tab, select the Default Settings Profile and click Load
  • Click the VRS Options tab and click the Special Features button – this will launch the VRS Advanced Properties dialog box
  • Click the VRS Color tab, click the JPEG Compression Enabled checkbox and click OK
  • Go back to the VRS Profile tab, click Save and then click OK

Impact: 50%+ throughput difference in color duplex at 200 dpi

Please Note: JPEG compression is available in hardware as a function of the scanner’s onboard EGSA board. This allows each color image to be compressed at the rated speed of the scanner according to the step above (step 4). If the scanner’s hardware compression is disabled and the application is set to compressed format (i.e. JPEG), VRS compresses via software. This will slow down the scanner’s throughput by more than half. In addition, if hardware JPEG compression is disabled and any software VRS functionality is enabled (see step 5 for details), VRS will decompress each image in software, perform the operation and recompress the image, thus lowering throughput even further.

 

Step 5 – Set Doc Prep (8140 models only)

If you have an 8090 or 8120 model, please proceed to Step 6.

For 8140 models, you can select the level of scanner sensitivity based on the degree of document preparation. Selecting AVERAGE lowers scanner throughput slightly and thus avoids “stream feeding” problems caused by excessive document skew at maximum throughput speeds. This setting can also be useful for fragile documents.

To select doc prep, follow the directions below:

  • From the home menu, press the RIGHT arrow key until you reach the USER SETUP menu, then press F3 NEXT until you reach the doc prep menu
  • Press +/- to toggle between GOOD and AVERAGE document preparation o Select GOOD if documents are well prepared and aligned, i.e. skew is less than 6°
  • Select AVERAGE if documents are poorly aligned, i.e. skew is more than 6°, or if documents are fragile
  • Press CLEAR to return to the home menu

 

Step 6 – Set Hole Size

The entry and exit sensors on your scanner can be adjusted to ignore holes on the leading or trailing edge of a document, like three-hole punches, that may cause the scanner to detect false starting or trailing edges of the document. Use the setup procedure below to adjust for the maximum size hole that may appear in the leading or trailing edge of your documents:

  •  From the home menu, press the RIGHT arrow key until you reach the user setup menu, then press F3 NEXT until you reach the max hole size menu
  • Press the +/- keys to adjust the hole size in increments of .05” (1.2 mm) – set the parameter to a width just slightly larger than the holes in the paper · Press the CLEAR button on the scanner to exit and return to the home menu

Impact: 12%+ throughput difference in duplex color at 200 dpi

 

Step 7 – Set VRS Image Quality and JPEG Compression Level

All scanner throughput measurements are typically done with VRS image quality set to Good. However, you can also set the scanner to Better, Best or to a custom setting. Please keep in mind that the higher the image quality, the lower the compression level. To set image quality level:

  • Open the VRS Interactive Properties dialog box
  • Click the VRS Options tab and click the Special Features button – this will launch the VRS Advanced Properties dialog box
  • Click the VRS Color tab and choose from one of three choices:
    • Good – 65% image quality, medium compression
    • Better – 85% image quality, low compression
    • Best – 95% image quality, very low compression
  • For custom image quality settings, click the JPEG Compression Custom radio button next to the Good, Better, Best options and enter a compression percentage in the Value field
    • Please Note: If you set image quality lower than 65%, you may experience poor image quality due to high levels of compression
  • Click OK and close the VRS Advanced Properties dialog box

Impact: about 5% throughput difference in duplex color at 200 dpi

 

Step 8 – Set Brightness for White Saturation

When scanning documents in color mode with white backgrounds, like standard office-use paper (referred to as “bond”), you’ll want to set VRS to retain a bright uniform white, also known as “saturated white,” in your images instead of what may appear to be an off-white or a light gray. Not only will this image be easier to read, but file sizes will also be reduced. To do this:

  • Open the VRS Interactive Properties dialog box and click on the Clarity tab
  • Enter a value of between 60 and 65 in the Brightness field – exact settings may vary

Impact: about 5% increase in duplex color at 200 dpi

 

Step 9 – Set Advanced Color Functionality

Auto Color Detect

When scanning documents with varying color content ― some of which contain color you want to keep and some of which don’t ― you’ll want to turn on Auto Color Detect. To do so:

  • Open your application and set it to Color mode
  • Scan one document that has the least amount of color information that you want to capture
  • Open your VRS Interactive Properties dialog box and click on the Color tab
  • Click Enable under Automatic Color Detection
  • Move the Color Content Aggressiveness slider until the document image appears in color
  • Small Color Object Detection: If your document has a small color object that you want to capture in color, such as a logo, highlighting, notation in color ink, etc., click Enable under Small Color Object Detection and then move the Color Object Size Aggressiveness slider until the document image appears in color 
    • Please note: Setting Color Content Aggressiveness close to or all the way to “High” could trigger false positives – that is, documents that only contain bitonal information could be captured in color
  • If you are scanning documents with color backgrounds, please read the next section – otherwise, Click OK and close the VRS Advanced Properties dialog box

Impact: Total scanning throughput is increased up to 60% using onboard implementation of ACD – in comparison to pre-sorting and scanning color and bitonal batches separately, using patch code separator sheets, or using the ACD software functionality by itself.

Color Background Saturation and Dropout

When scanning documents with color backgrounds, both Color Background Saturation and Dropout will significantly reduce file size and increase image quality. To use these features:

  • Open your application and set it to Color mode
  • Scan one document that has a color background that you want to capture
  • Open your VRS Interactive Properties dialog box and click on the Color tab
  • Click Enable under Color Background Saturation
  • Choose either Black, White or Smooth under Background Saturation
    • Smooth: All background pixels are smoothed to the same value. The behavior of the Smooth radio button is dependent on the state of the Snap To White checkbox, which is subordinate to the Smooth radio button and is selectable and effective only when Smooth is chosen
      • If Snap To White is selected and the background is close to white, the resulting background color will be white; the actual white color used is determined by the Brightness and Contrast settings in the located on the Clarity tab of the VRS User Interface
      • If Snap To White is selected and the background is not close to white, the background color is set to a smoothed color value selected by the EGSA firmware; this color value is an aggregate of the detected background color(s)
      • If Snap To White is not selected, the background color is set to a smoothed color value selected by the EGSA firmware, in the same manner as the bullet point immediately above this one
        • White: All background pixels are set to white and the Snap To White checkbox is disabled
        • Black: All background pixels are set to black and the Snap To White checkbox is disabled
  • Move the Color Background Saturation slider until the document’s background is either smoothed or dropped out (depending on your setting in the previous step)
  • Click OK and close the VRS Advanced Properties dialog box

Impact: file sizes on documents with color backgrounds are reduced up to 40%

 

Step 10 – Blank Page Deletion

 Blank Page Deletion or “auto duplex” is used to determine whether a page is blank before the image is passed to the application. Previously, images were passed to the application and the applications decided whether or not a page was blank based on the file size of an image. Those images that were below a preset threshold were deleted.

VRS 4.0 Plus Blank Page Deletion automatically eliminates blank pages when scanning in duplex output mode. This algorithm determines whether or not a page is not blank based on the detection of a single 9-point character – not based on file size which can be problematic, especially with color images. Any image with even a single character is kept, and those without any characters or other data are discarded automatically. Blank Page Detection thereby can dramatically reduce files size and storage requirements by deleting images having no data.

In addition, Blank Page Detection also reduces document preparation, as operators scan both simplex and duplex documents in the same batch, eliminating the need to make any manual duplex/simplex setting changes. Further, the new algorithm takes bleed-­through into consideration when determining blank pages.

The Blank Page Deletion feature is found in the VRS Interactive Properties dialog box. To find it:

  • Open your VRS Interactive Properties dialog box and click on the Blank Page tab
  • Click Enable Deletion u
  • Move the Content Sensitivity slider until the document image blank pages are deleted.

Impact: about 20% throughput decrease in duplex at 200 dpi.

 

Step 11 – Auto Orientation

The Auto Orientation feature provides automatic, content-based rotation of the page (90, 270 or 180 degrees; for Latin Characters and Forms). This feature presents a great benefit; as yet another step can be taken out of document preparation thus reducing prep costs. Additionally, users can decrease their total batch throughput time because using this feature allows users to scan all documents in landscape mode, and portrait documents will automatically be oriented to portrait mode.

The Auto Orientation feature is found in the VRS Interactive Properties dialog box under the Deskew tab. To find it:

  • Open your VRS Interactive Properties dialog box and click on the Deskew tab
  • Check the Auto Orientation option under Deskew

Impact: about 10% throughput decrease in duplex at 200 dpi