OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

Man and OCR

Using OCR technology (Optical Character Recognition), a computer is in a position to automatically read type. Even if a computer does not have to understand the meaning of the text and will just convert type into a code representation that can be handled by a computer, the process of reading text into a computer is quite complex. None of the existing computers and OCR systems will, of course, come up to man's optical character recognition capabilities. The process of deciphering complex documents (consider a foreign language with a unique alphabet) requires good understanding and knowledge about the text being read and even more about human life as such. It is not likely that an affordable computer system able to rival human thought will be available in the near future. Nevertheless, it does make sense to make use of modern OCR systems for particular applications. You must know the circumstances under which modern OCR systems outdo man's capabilities in order to employ OCR technology efficiently and cost-effectively. 

The centre uses a number of these systems

• ProLector
• Abbey FineReader
• Nuance OmniPage
• and many more