Systems and methods for document scanning using a variable intensity display of an information handling system

1. An information handling system configured for document scanning, said information handling system comprising:

a base assembly comprising an upper surface; and

a lid portion hingeably coupled to said base assembly at a hinge line, said lid portion comprising a display screen and a camera oriented to face said upper surface of said base assembly when said lid portion is brought together with said base assembly around said hinge line;

wherein said upper surface of said base assembly is configured to receive a document to be scanned by said camera and said display screen is configured to display an image to illuminate said document for scanning by said camera when said lid portion is brought together with said camera to face said upper surface of said base assembly at an angle θ with said document positioned therebetween such that said camera is positioned to capture an image of said document;

wherein said information handling system is configured to control said display screen to produce an image that varies in brightness intensity across said display screen in a manner that at least partially compensates for differences in illumination of portions of said document by said display screen during scanning caused by varying distance of said portions of said scanned document from the light source of said display screen when said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ; and

wherein said camera is configured to capture an image of said document while said produced image on said display screen is being displayed to illuminate said document with said lid portion positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein said information handling system is a portable information handling system; and wherein said upper surface of said base assembly comprises an upper user input surface configured with one or more user input devices.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein said information handling system comprises a notebook computer; and wherein said upper surface of said base assembly comprises a keyboard.

4. The information handling system of claim 3 , further comprising at least one alignment feature defined on said upper surface of said base assembly, said alignment feature being configured to facilitate alignment of said document with said camera for said scanning by said camera.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein said camera is configured to articulate in a downward direction toward said base assembly when said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ so that an axis of a lens of said camera is substantially perpendicular to a plane of said document to be scanned by said camera and so that said axis of said lens of said camera is substantially alignable over the center point of said document to be scanned.

6. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein said information handling system is further configured to display a first pre-defined image display template on said display screen to produce said image that varies in brightness intensity across said display screen in a manner that at least partially compensates for differences in illumination of portions of said document by said display screen during scanning caused by varying distance of said portions of said scanned document from the light source of said display screen when said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ; and to capture an image of said document while said first pre-defined image display template is displayed on said display screen.

7. The information handling system of claim 6 , wherein said information handling system is further configured to:

analyze the luminance across a document image captured by said camera while said first pre-defined image display template is displayed on said display screen with said lid portion positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ;

determine luminance difference between the maximum luminance value of said captured image and the minimum luminance value of the captured image;

compare said determined luminance difference to a pre-defined luminance threshold; and

use said first pre-defined image display template as a default image display template for future scanning operations if said determined luminance difference is less than or equal to said pre-defined luminance threshold, or select another pre-defined image display template as a default image display template for future scanning operations if said determined luminance difference is greater than said pre-defined luminance threshold.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising a locking mechanism configured to temporarily lock said lid portion in position relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ.

9. The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising a proximity sensor and a scanning position indicator; and wherein said information handling system is configured to:

use a signal from said proximity sensor to sense when said lid portion is positioned at said angle θ relative to said upper surface of said base assembly; and

activate said scanning position indicator when said signal from said proximity sensor indicates that said lid portion is positioned at said angle θ relative to said upper surface of said base assembly.

10. A method of scanning a document with an information handling system comprising:

providing an information handling system comprising a base assembly comprising an upper surface, and a lid portion hingeably coupled to said base assembly at a hinge line, said lid portion comprising a display screen and a camera oriented to face said upper surface of said base assembly when said lid portion is brought together with said base assembly around said hinge line;

positioning a document to be scanned by said camera on said upper surface of said base assembly;

positioning said lid portion with said camera to face said upper surface of said base assembly at an angle θ with said document positioned therebetween such that said camera is positioned to capture an image of said document;

displaying an image to illuminate said document for scanning by said camera;

while said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ, controlling said display screen to produce a image to illuminate said document for scanning by said camera, said image varying in brightness intensity across said display screen in a manner that at least partially compensates for differences in illumination of portions of said document by said display screen during scanning caused by varying distance of said portions of said scanned document from the light source of said display screen when said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ; and

capturing an image of said document with said camera while said produced image is being displayed to illuminate said document with said lid portion positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said information handling system is a portable information handling system; and wherein said upper surface of said base assembly comprises an upper user input surface configured with one or more user input devices.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein said information handling system comprises a notebook computer; and wherein said upper surface of said base assembly comprises a keyboard.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising articulating said camera in a downward direction toward said base assembly when said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ so that an axis of a lens of said camera is substantially perpendicular to a plane of said document to be scanned by said camera and so that said axis of said lens of said camera is substantially aligned over the center point of said document to be scanned that is positioned on said upper surface of said base assembly.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying a first pre-defined image display template on said display screen to produce said image that varies in brightness intensity across said display screen in a manner that at least partially compensates for differences in illumination of portions of said document by said display screen during scanning caused by varying distance of said portions of said scanned document from the light source of said display screen when said lid portion is positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ; and capturing an image of said document while said first pre-defined image display template is displayed on said display screen.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

analyzing the luminance across said document image captured by said camera while said first pre-defined image display template is displayed on said display screen with said lid portion positioned relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ;

determining luminance difference between the maximum luminance value of said captured image and the minimum luminance value of said captured image of said document;

comparing said determined luminance difference to a pre-defined luminance threshold; and

using said first pre-defined image display template as a default image display template for future scanning operations if said determined luminance difference is less than or equal to said pre-defined luminance threshold, or selecting another pre-defined image display template as a default image display template for future scanning operations if said determined luminance difference is greater than said pre-defined luminance threshold.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising using a display locking mechanism to temporarily lock said lid portion in position relative to said upper surface of said base assembly at said angle θ.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein said information handling system further comprises a proximity sensor and a scanning position indicator; and wherein said method further comprises:

using a signal from said proximity sensor to sense when said lid portion is positioned at said angle θ relative to said upper surface of said base assembly; and

activating said scanning position indicator when said signal from said proximity sensor indicates that said lid portion is positioned at said angle θ relative to said upper surface of said base assembly.

18. A computer program of instructions embodied in a non-transitory tangible computer readable medium, said computer program comprising instructions embodied in the non-transitory tangible computer readable medium that when executed are configured to:

display an image on a display screen of an information handling system to illuminate a document for scanning by a camera of said information handling system when said display screen is positioned relative to a plane of said document at an angle θ, said image varying in brightness intensity across said display screen in a manner that at least partially compensates for differences in illumination of portions of said document by said display screen during scanning caused by varying distance of said portions of said scanned document from the light source of said display screen when said display screen is positioned relative to a plane of said document at said angle θ; and

capture an image of said document with said camera while said produced image is being displayed to illuminate said document with said display screen positioned relative to a plane of said document at said angle θ.

19. The computer program of claim 18 , further comprising instructions embodied in the non-transitory tangible computer readable medium that when executed are configured to:

display a first pre-defined image display template on said display to produce said image that varies in brightness intensity across said display in a manner that at least partially compensates for differences in illumination of portions of said document by said display during scanning caused by varying distance of said portions of said scanned document from the light source of said display when said display screen is positioned relative to a plane of said document at said angle θ; and

capture an image of said document while said first pre-defined image display template is displayed on said display.

20. The computer program of claim 19 , further comprising instructions embodied in the non-transitory tangible computer readable medium that when executed are configured to:

analyze the luminance across said document image captured by said camera while said first pre-defined image display template is displayed on said display with said display screen is positioned relative to a plane of said document at an angle θ;

determine luminance difference between the maximum luminance value of said captured image and the minimum luminance value of said captured image of said document;

compare said determined luminance difference to a pre-defined luminance threshold; and

use said first pre-defined image display template as a default image display template for future scanning operations if said determined luminance difference is less than or equal to said pre-defined luminance threshold, or select another pre-defined image display template as a default image display template for future scanning operations if said determined luminance difference is greater than said pre-defined luminance threshold.