laptop computer a pda or a palm computer using a communication link 126 communication link 126 may use an internal bus a standard serial or parallel protocol such as universal serial bus usb rs232 general purpose interface bus gpib fiber optical communication link rf communication such as bluetooth preferably usb2 communication link is used when using an external data processing unit optional indicator light 116 indicates the status of the system such as ready busy etc to extract information the user places an identity card or identity document such as a passport against the transparent face 112 of box 110 optionally a frame 114 is used to guide the user in placing the identity card at a predefined position in respect to the front face 112 optionally the frame 114 may be replaceable wherein each of the several replaceable frames is built to accommodate identity card of different dimensions alternatively the frame is substantially as large as the field of view of the camera 120 and the identity card is placed flush against one of the corners of frame 114 alternatively an identity card smaller than front face 112 may be placed anywhere against the front face and image processing program executed in data processing unit 160 is used to determine the location of the identity card in another embodiment of.