OCR Document Scanning With Smartphones

Martin — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:07:56 +0000

The common way to scan documents is to use a hardware scanner to do so and a text recognition software afterwards using optical character recognition (ocr). The advent of digital cameras and smartphones created alternative means for OCR document scanning. A good enough digital camera is capable of photographing the document which can then be processed by OCR software programs like TOP OCR.

TOP OCR processes images of documents that have either been taken by scanners, digital cameras or smartphones. It basically allows to emulate the usual document scanning that is done by a hardware scanner with images taken by digital cameras instead.

The software ocr application will process images that get loaded into the software program by the user of the computer system. It will display the scanned document in the left window and the text that has been processed by the OCR document scanning in the right window. The software developers of the OCR software are recommending at least a 3 Megapixel camera to take the image of the document. They have setup a tutorial page with many helpful tips on getting the best results.

The OCR document scanning process itself takes only a few seconds per page. Results are instantly shown in the right window which offers basic text editing capabilities to correct any errors in the automatic text recognition process.

The OCR part of the software program is providing basic image manipulation features like rotating the scanned images or changing the image contrast. TOP OCR is a multi-lingual OCR software program for the Windows operating system that produces impressive results if the source image is of good quality.

Tags: digital camera, document scanning, ocr, ocr scanning, ocr software, smartphones, text recognition, top ocr, windows software

Document Scanning With Digital Cameras

Martin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:26:59 +0000

Document scanning can be done with digital cameras. The process is very similar to scanning documents with a scanner. Instead of using a scanner that is connected to the computer to scan the document a picture of the document is taken and uploaded to the computer. The result is the same: A document in electronic form on the computer. Using a digital camera for document scanning might not result in professional scans that high quality scanners produce but it certainly is enough for every day scanning activities.

Results vary depending on the digital camera used but it can be basically said that most digital cameras should be able to produce a good enough scan. It is a good idea to use enough lighting and place the document on a one colored background. This makes it easier later on to process the scanned document in an image editor.

It really depends on the purpose of the scan. If you just want to scan a document to a friend or family member a simple image might suffice but if you have to send it to authorities, business or other formal contacts you might want to make sure that it looks extra fine.

The one colored background ensures that it is easy to copy and paste the document to create a new document that is using the exact document borders as its resolution. This looks way more professional than a document photographed on a kitchen table.

The scanned document can then be printed or send electronically. It is really an easy and efficient process. Have additional tips? Let us hear them.

Tags: computer tips, digital camera, document scanner, document scanning, scan documents, scanner, scanner alternative, scanning

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OCR Document Scanning With Smartphones

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