Google has received a patent that will aide in their Google Book Search technology that has the likes of Amazon reeling.
Google has come up with a system that uses two cameras and infrared light to automatically correct for the curvature of pages in a book. By building a 3D model of each page and then “de-warping” it afterward, Google can present flat-looking pages online without having to slice books up or mash them onto a flatbed scanner.*
This should make the process of converting millions upon millions of books much easier.
This diagram shows patented Google technology for correcting for curved pages while scanning books.
