Full Text OCR Processing -

Images are useful only if they can be found when needed. There are four common approaches to image retrieval:

	"Filing" related images in subdirectories or electronic folders.
	Matching images with index fields or keywords in a structured database
	Linking images using hypertext links.
	Matching images with text files in a full-text database.

If images are to be found by searching a full-text database, a machine-readable ASCII text version of the image must be created. This is done using OCR (optical character recognition) processing engines. These engines are useful for full-text processing only if the text is machine print. They will not produce acceptable results from hand printed or cursive data. The text produced by these engines from machine printed data can range from extremely accurate to poor, depending on image quality, resolution, typefaces and the OCR engine employed. We recommend a careful analysis of your documents before making a decision on whether to full-text OCR process them.

Form OCR/ICR Processing -

Form OCR and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) processing differs from full-text OCR processing in that it does not attempt to translate an entire image into ASCII text. Instead, form OCR/ICR processing attempts only to translate image form fields located at specific defined image coordinates. These field coordinates are always located at the same places on a given form. Since fields are part of a form, steps can be taken to control the way data inside the coordinates is presented. For example, the data from a form can be presented in a database for large data evaluation and trend analysis. Handprint recognition is quite practical under these kinds of constraints.

Whether in stand alone mode or assisted by human data entry and editing, Form OCR/ICR processing tremendously reduces the burden of key data entry.

Annapolis Technologies has considerable experience with the image recognition needs of clients in various industries and has developed its own qualitycontrol measures to provide superior results.