Latest developments in the field of handling image information — A short report on the AIIM-show

Abstract

This is a short report on an exhibition held by the Association for Information and Image Management, the AIIM-Show, in San Francisco, 12–15 May 1986. There was a comprehensive display of the various forms of digital optical disc systems, which seem to be the most promising carrier of digitized textual and graphics information of patent documents, and such systems dominated the exhibition. Analog operation on the basis of microforms, however, still seems to be attractive for many applications, and it was emphasised that microforms from 16 mm roll film to COM (Computer-Output Microfiche) and UMF (Ultra-Microfiche) will probably coexist with digitized systems for some time to come. Scanners for converting documents on paper or microform to ‘bit maps’ are available, which can be switched from 200 dots/in. to 400. Hard copies from maps at 200 dots/in. are acceptable for text, but lack resolution for patent drawing with close parallel lines. Many screens for presentation of full A4 documents were on show, and one with a scanning rate of 100 cycles per second removed all trace of flickering of the image. The question of standardization, especially of digital optical discs, led to much argument, but the overall impression was that new generations of digital optical discs and related hardware will follow in ever shorter periods.