A
raster scan, or
raster scanning, is the rectangular pattern of image capture and reconstruction in television. By analogy, the term is used for
raster graphics, the pattern of image storage and transmission used in most computer
bitmap image systems. The word comes from the Latin word (a rake), which is derived from (to scrape); see also
rastrum, an instrument for drawing musical
staff lines. The pattern left by the lines of a rake, when drawn straight, resembles the parallel lines of a raster: this line-by-line scanning is what creates a raster. It is a systematic process of covering the area progressively, one line at a time. Although often a great deal faster, it is similar in the most-general sense to how one's gaze travels when one reads lines of text.