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OCR
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What is OCR? |
| OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. Very simply stated, OCR means converting an electronic picture of text (such as a letter) into a form your text-based applications-such as word processors, DTP, spreadsheets, and databases-can use. |
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| Technically speaking, OCR products look at a picture of a character and convert it into an ASCII or ANSI character that applications programs can utilize. This conversion process is called recognition. |
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What Scanners Do |
Scanners are nothing more than fancy cameras. They simply take a picture of a page, then pass it to the PC in electronic format as a bit-mapped image file. Taking an electronic picture is called scanning.
For graphics applications, an electronic picture is just fine. Using a program like PC Paintbrush", you can easily clip the picture or illustration that you want to put in a report, newsletter, or brochure, for example.
Fax machines include a scanner; they take an electronic picture, then send it over telephone lines. So, if you are using OCR on a fax file, whoever sent the fax has done the scanning for you. What you receive on a fax board is a scanned image which can also be converted to text using OCR. |
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What Scanners Don't Do |
| Scanners do not give you useable text. That's what OCR is all about. |
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How Do You Buy OCR? |
Generally, scanners and OCR are sold separately. Some specialized OCR products have both a scanner and an OCR engine built in. This means that you don't have to buy the components separately. Usually these types of systems are designed for production/high-volume applications and are more expensive than a system where the components are sold separately.
Your volume and throughput requirements will determine the solution most appropriate for you. |
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