Scanner web service for web application and scanner driver communication

1. A computer system, comprising:

a processor configured to:

provide a scanner web service set up as a local host on the computer system, wherein the scanner web service is configured to:

receive from a client-side web application code running in a web browser on the computer system an HTTP message to the scanner web service, wherein the scanner web service only accepts HTTP messages from the computer system;

generate a message based at least in part on the HTTP message;

send the generated message to a scanner driver, wherein the scanner driver is in communication with a scanner connected to the computer system and is configured to get scanned image information from the scanner at least in part in response to the generated message;

receive the scanned image information from the scanner driver; and

provide the scanned image information to the client-side web application code running in the web browser; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application code establishes a connection with the scanner web service by searching through a list of ports on the local host.

3. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application code establishes a connection with the scanner web service by receiving a start scan session HTTP message from the client-side web application code.

4. The system as in claim 3 , wherein the start a scan session HTTP message includes an application identifier.

5. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application code is written in browser executable code.

6. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application code is written using a web application framework.

7. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application code uses an add-on library to generate HTTP messages to the scanner web service.

8. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to store the scanned image information from the scanner driver to local storage.

9. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the HTTP message is sent over a secure HTTP connection from the client-side web application code to the scanner web service.

10. The system as in claim 1 , wherein providing the scanned image information to the client-side web application code comprises providing scanned image information in JSON format.

11. The system as in claim 1 , further comprising encoding the scanned image information.

12. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the scanned image information comprises image data and image metadata.

13. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the scanned image information comprises a stream object.

14. The system as in claim 1 , wherein if the scanner web service is receiving the HTTP message from the client-side web application code for a first time to access the scanner connected to the computer system, then providing a pop-up message to receive user confirmation to allow the client-side web application code to use the scanner.

15. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the scanner driver is an ISIS scanner driver.

16. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the scanner driver is a TWAIN scanner driver.

17. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the message to the scanner driver comprises a message to open a configuration settings GUI (Graphical User Interface), and receiving scanner configuration settings from the GUI.

18. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application code receives the scanned image information from the scanner web service and sends the scanned image information to a server.

19. A method comprising:

providing a scanner web service set up as a local host on a computer system, wherein the scanner web service is configured to perform the steps of:

receiving from a client-side web application code running in a web browser on a computer system an HTTP message to the scanner web service, wherein the scanner web service only accepts HTTP messages from the computer system;

generating a message based at least in part on the HTTP message;

sending the generated message to a scanner driver, wherein the scanner driver is in communication with a scanner connected to the computer system and is configured to get scanned image information from the scanner at least in part in response to the generated message;

receiving the scanned image information from the scanner driver; and

providing the scanned image information to the client-side web application code running in the web browser.

20. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

providing a scanner web service set up as a local host on a computer system, wherein the scanner web service is configured to perform the steps of:

receiving from a client-side web application code running in a web browser on a computer system an HTTP message to the scanner web service, wherein the scanner web service only accepts HTTP messages from the computer system;

generating a message based at least in part on the HTTP message;

sending the generated message to a scanner driver, wherein the scanner driver is in communication with a scanner connected to the computer system and is configured to get scanned image information from the scanner at least in part in response to the generated message;

receiving the scanned image information from the scanner driver; and

providing the scanned image information to the client-side web application code running in the web browser.