OCR Software

OCR is a field of research in pattern recognition, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Vision. Though research is still being conducted in the field, the implementation of proven techniques such as the use of mirror and lenses and digital character recognition which were originally considered separate fields but because very few applications survive that use “true” (or original) optical techniques, the OCR term has now been broadened to include digital image processing as well.

Basics of OCR
Optical character recognition or OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of images of typewritten or handwritten text; this is usually captured by a scanner into a computer-editable text.
So basically, what it does is it scans handwritten images and text. It is the technology behind scanners and other hardware that turn “real” text and images into digital objects.

Development of OCR
Early systems required training (the provision of known samples of each character) to read a specific font but now, advance systems with a high degree of recognition accuracy for most fonts are common.
Some systems are even capable of reproducing formatted output that closely approximates the original scanned page including images, columns and other non-textual components.

The accurate recognition of Latin Script, typewritten text is now considered largely a solved problem. Typical accuracy rates exceed 99%, although certain applications demanding even higher accuracy require human review for errors.
Handwriting and hand printing is still the subject of active research, as is recognition of printed text in other scripts (especially those with a very large number of characters) are still being studied and trained into OCR hard wares today.

OCR Softwares in The Market Today

1. Apple Newton Software
The Apple Newton software is one of the most popular softwares that are being used in the market today. It doesn’t get too much recognition because its name is not printed on the programs that it runs. It is the technology behind almost all the Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s) from Palm OS and other companies.
This variety of OCR is now commonly known in the industry as ICR, or Intelligent Character Recognition.
The algorithms used in these devices take advantage of the fact that the order, speed, and direction of individual lines segments at input are known. Also, the user can be retrained to use only specific letter shapes.
These methods cannot be used in software that scans paper documents, so accurate recognition of hand-printed documents is still largely an open problem. Accuracy rates of 80% to 90% on neat, clean hand-printed characters can be achieved, but that accuracy rate still translates to dozens of errors per page, making the technology useful only in very limited contexts.
2. Other OCR Softwares
There are several other OCR software applications available to convert scanned images to text, Word, HTML or searchable PDF. The differences between them can often be obscure, and some cost around $100 while others cost $500!
The main features that differentiate OCR applications are:

• OCR accuracy
• Page layout reconstruction accuracy
• Multi-engine voting technology
• Support for languages
• Support for searchable PDF output
• Speed
• User interface

Because of the infinite combinations of document types, OCR engines and settings, it may be possible that one engine may perform better with your particular documents than another.
For this reason, most OCR Softwares provide demo downloads to allow you to choose and try out their software without purchasing it. These free trials often last for 30-60 days and then you can decide if you want to buy the product or not.
In my opinion, try different OCR programs and then use their features and slowly choose the one that fits your needs, because some of these programs have good marketing and will make buy impulsively. By trying out their programs you will know if their program is the real deal and if it will suit your needs.