Driverless Language for Communication Between Scanners and Software Applications Formally Released at Capture 2019 Conference
Raleigh, NC – September 4, 2019 - The TWAIN Working Group (TWG), a not-for-profit organization designed to provide and foster an open source, public standard for image acquisition devices and software applications, will be showcasing its public release of its TWAIN Direct specifications at the Harvey Spencer Associates Capture 2019 conference in Glen Cove, New York on September 4th & 5th. TWAIN Direct is designed to provide application vendors with a simplified and universal approach to directly integrate and support any model document scanner via client or web-based application, regardless of its operating system. TWAIN Direct eliminates the need for costly and time-consuming hardware regression testing and limited operating system support of vendor provided drivers and API.
The TWAIN Working group has created specification documents and sample code for multiple platforms to help expedite the
development of applications accessing scanners via a local area network or via the cloud. TWAIN Direct addresses the need for something simple, allowing developers to deliver a feature-rich end
user experience regardless of equipment being used, by supporting direct network communications between the application and scanning device which can be operated via mobile or desktop application
through a web browser.
Historically, application developers had to decide which Image Capture API to use (e.g., TWAIN, WIA, ISIS, SANE, ICA, etc.) in order to acquire images to an application. This decision was
primarily influenced by the hardware OEM’s available APIs and customer’s desired product, which presented challenges for developers as most APIs were limited to specific operating systems. TWAIN
Direct is a simple develop once, support all technology, and allows for true plug and play functionality, eliminating a complicated installation processes.
TWAIN Direct is also designed to support any TWAIN Direct enabled scanner or legacy TWAIN based USB device using the TWAIN Direct Bridge application or Side Car solution. These available options
are designed to support existing TWAIN driver-based devices without having to purchase hardware to support the TWAIN Direct protocol.
TWAIN Direct is designed to minimize the coding requirements to integrate fully-featured image capture solutions within their applications. It also reduces development time from weeks to days,
supports modern programming languages, and allows application developers full control of the actual user experience with a feature set best suited for their document management application.
One of the great features included in the new TWAIN Direct Specification is PDF/raster, which provides a new image-only file format that provides many advanced features not currently supported by
TIFF image format. PDF Raster is designed to be efficient to implement on any scanner and can be compiled into complete documents using any modern-day PDF Library while being 100% compatible with
any PDF reader or PDF supported application.
“TWAIN Direct is unlike any Image Capture API available to application developers before,” says Jon Harju, Chair of the TWAIN Working Group. “This allows developers to write to one driver for
different scanner manufacturers’ products and to use the operating system of their preference whether it be Windows, Mac, Linux or even mobile applications.”
Information and download of the TWAIN Direct specification and tools can be found at www.twaindirect.org
About The TWAIN Working Group
The TWAIN Working Group, established in 1992, is a not-for-profit association of industry leaders who have gathered to create a standard that benefits the imaging industry as a whole. TWAIN's purpose is to provide and foster a universal public standard which links applications and image acquisition devices. The ongoing mission of this organization is to continue to enhance the standard to accommodate future technologies. TWAIN generates multiple opportunities for application developers and users to access information and broaden the standard; through a developer’s forum (twainforum.org), main website (twain.org), TWAIN Direct website (twaindirect.org) and online self-certification process. Current members of the TWAIN Working Group include Visioneer, Inc., Panasonic Corporation, ExactCODE GmbH, Fujitsu Computer Products of America Inc., InoTec GmbH Organisationssyteme, Alaris, Atalasoft, Microtek, Inc., Picture Elements, Dynamsoft, Epson, PDF Association, HazyBits, P3iD Technologies, Inc., and LEAD Technologies.