Saturday, May 18, 2013

Increase Efficiency And Save Money With HP Teleform OCR Software

By Carissa Glenn


This who are mature enough to remember office work with the familiar clattering of typewriters, remember well the dramatic and surprisingly rapid conversion to information systems. Especially those who worked with documents that needed a high level of accuracy, the elimination of the need to completely recreate a page because of a mistake was an enormous relief. But it would take advanced technology in the form of HP Teleform OCR Software to complete the information revolution.

As more and more personal computers arrived in the workplace, information handling was accomplished more rapidly and efficiently. Instead of creating a document, then reproducing the appropriate number of copies and finally distributing it manually which could take days, an electronic mail with attachment could be distributed in almost no time. One remaining complication was all the data already produced in printed format.

While the majority of office workers and businesses looked forward to the anticipated paper free environment, it was not to be. In the working environment, one of the most common and efficient means of getting information from consumers remains the use of a written form. Customers can fill them out a their leisure and in privacy, eliciting better responses.

The problem for programmers was getting printed characters into digital format. In addition to capturing the characters correctly, it had be accomplished rapidly and reliably. The gold standard for development was to replicate the accuracy and efficiency of people already doing the job, this turned out not to be a very high standard.

Programmers developed the technique of scanning the document optically and then employing character recognition algorithms to establish individual fonts. This is accomplished by having the anticipated fonts established in advance and having the computer compare each scanned image to establish a match. This same technique could also hold lines and tables to facilitate whole document replication.

Using these programmed tables of expected font values and comparing scanned document images pixel by pixel allows for accurate replication of whole pages. The output is a digital replica of the original form or other document, including the lines necessary for charts. This however, s not all that is necessary for a good final product, as there are often problems with the original paper form.

Anyone who has used a copy machine or received a transmitted facsimile of a document knows there are flaws in the product. There are usually random dots and marks all over the paper which the human eye can ignore, but a program cannot. This requires the use of a series of algorithms to eliminate these extraneous marks and even correct for the paper not being quite straight when the photocopy was made..

When all the corrections are anticipated and built into the program, documents can be scanned, put in categories or databases or otherwise handled far more rapidly than a person could achieve. The reduction in manpower, shipping fees and other expenses of storing and handling paper documents represents measurable savings for a company. HP Teleform OCR Software takes the shift to the digital age a step further while reducing cost and workload.




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