The technology underlying OCR software
OCR software is a very popular and frequently encountered tool for dealing with scanned text. In a world where fewer and fewer documents are saved on paper, scanning is an important tool for preserving access to information. OCR maximizes the benefits of scanning by identifying the text in scanned files, making them fully searchable and editable. However, many people do not actually know how OCR works. Every OCR tool is powered by an OCR engine, whose task it is to compare newly encountered text characters to shapes that are already programmed into its memory. If the new character matches to a pre-existing one, it can be identified. Other variations of the software, such as ICR, learn as they go, finding patterns in different fonts and handwriting styles in order to improve accuracy.
Using OCR for forms processing
OCR is an extremely important component of forms processing, because this is what enables the forms processing software to actually recognize the text. Forms processing entails a great deal more than just OCR: it involves extracting information, validating new data, and creating XML-based output. However, none of this is possible without the initial step of making the scanned text computer-readable. The accuracy of the OCR engine being used is an important determinant of the quality of the software overall.
Uses of forms processing OCR software
There are many different applications of forms processing OCR software. One of the most common documents processed automatically is the invoice. Invoice processing is such a popular use of the software that there are some document automation tools designed specifically to handle invoices. It is also possible to process invoices with a general-purpose forms processing tool. OCR is also used to process medical records, financial records, school transcripts, bank checks, legal documents and more. As the technology grows, the field to which is can be applied expands as well.
[ Back ]