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<p><span class="header">OCR Technology</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">Turning your paper documents into editable electronic
text files requires a scanner and OCR software (Optical Character Recognition).
Without such software, scanned documents are recognized only as images
(pictures) that cannot be edited. Worse, images (i.e. gif and JPEG) are
significantly larger than text files, with the result that transfer times
(uploading — downloading) on the Internet are considerably greater
— <i>much</i> greater. It is, therefore, essential to convert scanned
documents into editable text files, such as Microsoft Word documents,
before sending these over the Internet.</span></p>
<p><span class="header">What is OCR?</span></p>
<p><span class="cm"> Optical character recognition (OCR) is the process
of turning a scanned image into computer-editable text so that you do
not have to retype the text manually. When initially scanned, a text document
is nothing more than an electronic picture, or photograph, which is comprised
of many tiny dots (pixels). The characters, or text, you see in such images
cannot be edited, in that word-processing programs cannot see the alphanumeric
characters. In short, that contract you just finished scanning for editing
purposes is seen only as one very large image, and might just as well
have been a picture of a tree. To create an editable text file, your scans
must be processed through an OCR program.</span></p>
<p><span class="header">The OCR Test</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">Adjusters Asia has tested the two most popular programs
on the market today: OmniPage Pro by Caere Corp., and TextBridge Pro Millennium
by ScanSoft.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">An HP ScanJet 6300C USB flatbed scanner was used to
perform the tests.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">The first test involved a simple text document, with
each program responding almost exactly the same, taking less than 30 seconds
to convert the scanned page into an editable MS Word document. As well,
character (text) recognition was flawless, with both OmniPage and TextBridge
returning a score of 100% accuracy. This is a remarkable achievement when
compared to the early days of OCR technology.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">Again, these tests involved a simple typed document
containing no pictures.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">The second test involved a page from a magazine containing
both text and pictures in a multi-column layout.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">Once again, each of the two programs took about the
same length of time to process the scan - about 60 seconds in total -
double that of a simple text document. As well, character recognition
was again executed in a flawless manner, with each utility registering
a perfect score.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">The difference was in replicating the layout of the
magazine page. While not perfect, OmniPage retained the characteristics
and layout of the original document, reproducing the columns and images
on a single page in Microsoft Word. Conversely, TextBridge transposed
the scan over two pages of a MS Word document, failing to replicate the
exact appearance of the original document. Upon closer inspection, unnecessary
line breaks were inserted in the TextBridge scan, causing the physical
size of the document to lengthen.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm"><span class="bold">Newsworthy:</span> On March 13, 2000,
ScanSoft acquired the assets of Caere Corporation, with the result that
this same company now owns the two most popular OCR programs on the market.</span></p>
<p><span class="header">Conclusion</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">For speed and accuracy, both programs were found to
be virtually identical. If replicating the layout of multi-column articles
is your thing, though, you might want to consider OmnPage Pro. Based on
our own tests, this particular utility would appear to have a slight edge
over TextBridge Pro, but certainly not enough to justify a price tag of
$499.00, versus only $79.99 for TextBridge Pro. In fact, you'd pretty
much have to be experiencing a total electrical blackout above the shoulders
to fork over the additional $400.00 plus for OmniPage Pro.</span></p>
<p><span class="cm">Conclusion: stick with TextBridge; you'll be much richer
for the experience.</span></p>
<span class="cm">To learn more about these products, as well as a sister
utility known as OmniForm, visit the <a href="http://www.scansoft.com/" target="_blank" onMouseOver="MM_displayStatusMsg('Go to ScanSoft');return document.MM_returnValue" class="link_2">ScanSoft</a>
web site.</span></td>
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