Use the Blank Page panel to enable automatic detection and deletion of blank pages, a feature that is especially useful for batch scanning in duplex mode. VRS can detect and delete a blank page, based on its assessment of the content.
You use the Content Sensitivity setting to control how sensitive VRS is to page content. For example, you can configure VRS to ignore small amounts of content, such as speckles. As a result, a speckled page is considered blank, resulting in automatic
removal if blank page deletion is enabled. You can also configure VRS to detect small amounts of content, in which case the same speckled page may not be considered blank and it would not be deleted. When VRS evaluates the page content, the background color is ignored.
Depending on the content sensitivity setting, VRS may fail to identify a blank page if it contains marks caused by holes (such as notebook paper holes) near the edge of the paper. You can avoid this issue by selecting the Ignore Holes option. With Ignore Holes selected, VRS can successfully detect a blank page, even if it contains hole marks near the edges.
Some scanner and scanning applications include their own blank page deletion feature. If you are using VRS with such a scanner, we do not recommend that both blank page deletion features be enabled at the same time. For best results, select blank page deletion from VRS and turn off the counterpart feature.
With ImageControls scanning applications, you can enable VRS blank page detection without deletion. In this case, the scanning application receives a notification from VRS that a blank page has been detected. Instead of deleting the page, VRS sends it to the scanning application, which can be configured to handle the page according to your preference.
When the VRS QC mode is set to First Page and the first page is blank, it is clearly identified in the VRS Interactive Viewer as a detected blank page or a page to be deleted. Similarly, if the QC mode is set to Every Page, any blank page that appears in the viewer is identified the same way (Figure 2-44). Blank pages that are not marked for deletion are sent to the scanning application.
If a page is removed as a result of blank page deletion, any exceptions that it may have generated for other reasons are disregarded and canceled. Any exceptions related to the image on the reverse side of the blank page are processed as usual.
Figure 2-43. Blank Page Panel
X To enable blank page detection
1 Scan a sample blank document that is similar to the documents that you plan to scan in a batch, and then select Preview from the VRS taskbar menu.
2 From the VRS Adjustment Controls, select the Blank Page panel.
3 Select the Enable Detection check box to turn on automatic blank page detection. Select the Delete Blank Pages check box to turn on automatic blank page deletion.
Note When Blank Page Detection is enabled without deletion, the ability to notify the scanning application is supported only for ImageControls-based applications, rather than ISIS- or TWAIN-based applications.
4 Adjust the Content Sensitivity setting to determine how sensitive VRS is to page content. The possible values range from 1 to 100. A high sensitivity value means that VRS is very sensitive to small amounts of content, even if it is scattered on a page. As a result, such a page would not be considered to be blank. A low sensitivity value means that VRS is less likely to detect small amounts of content on a page. As a result, such a page would be considered blank. You can adjust the Content Sensitivity setting by doing one of the following:
Move the slider to the left to decrease the likelihood of detecting small amounts of content on a page.
Move the slider to the right to increase the likelihood of detecting small amounts of content on a page.
Click the arrows in the text box to increase or decrease the Content Sensitivity value.
Click in the Content Sensitivity text box and type a value.
The message “Page Content Detected” or “Page Content Not Detected”
indicates whether or not VRS considers the preview image to be blank based on the current Content Sensitivity setting. You can adjust the Content Sensitivity setting to locate the threshold at which VRS detects content on a page.
5 Select the Ignore Holes check box if you want hole marks to be disregarded when VRS determines if a page is blank. If the check box is not selected, a page that is blank except for hole marks near the edges may not be considered blank by VRS.
6 Click OK.
Note If a page is removed as a result of blank page deletion, any exceptions that it may have generated for other reasons are disregarded and canceled.
Any exceptions related to the image on the reverse side of the blank page are processed as usual.
When You Can Expect to See Blank Page Images in the Viewer
When the blank page deletion feature is in effect, blank pages are automatically deleted and you do not see them in the image viewer. However, when you set the QC
mode to First Page or Every Page, the scanning process stops to display the page that is appropriate for the active mode. If that page happens to be blank, it appears in the image viewing area with a message indicating that it has either been detected or marked for deletion (Figure 2-44). Blank pages may also display in the image viewing area when the QC mode is set to On Errors if an exception occurs in connection with the back side of the blank page. Blank pages that are detected but not marked for deletion are sent to the scanning application.
Figure 2-44. Message Indicating that Blank Page will be Deleted