Connect scanner to cell phone

[ksraghavendra]

Hello, is there any possibility to connect a business card scanner to a SmartPhone using USB cable?

 

[Guest]

If not, you should invent it -- but I'd use Bluetooth.

Ah, iPhone app kinda beat us to it:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/worldcard-mobile-business/id333211045?mt=8

 

[ksraghavendra]

I need to somehow connect a Business card scanner to a Smartphone, may be Android/Windows/Symbian based. I need a 300+ dpi scan, so the quality achieved by a Cellphone camera is not good enough(in terms of pixels it may be enough, but a lot depends on the light quality when the pic is clicked, a steady hand, etc). It is required for field salesforce automation, where my sales team requires to scan a Business card & transmit it to the server immediately thru 3G.
The closest I could find was this-
http://www.planon.com/products/docupen/xseries
The cost is on the higher side, a business card scanner that connects to a PC thru USB costs $100+ but this one is nearly $300.
Anyone can suggest a way around? (other than all those smartphone apps which can run OCR on pics of business cards & add info to phonebook).

 

[ksraghavendra]

Just like there is PictBridge for connecting Mobiles/Cameras to a printer without the need for a PC, is there something similar for Scanners as well?

 

[buwish]

You would think that it would be possible to do so via a mini-USB to USB adapter so you could actually connect the two. However, I don't think the phone would recognize the scanner simply because a lack of driver support for the mobile OS.

 

[ksraghavendra]

Ya it is obvious that the Mobile would not recognize the scanner because of lack of driver support. My doubt is whether it is possible, atleast theoretically to establish a connection between the two, for example by creating drivers(I am not sure how difficult a task that is, but speaking theoretically). Or is there some other way of achieving similar results? Any ideas?