CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Page Preface 1 Overview of DECimage Character Recognition Software and Optical Character Recognition Concepts What Is DECimage Character Recognition Software? What Do You Need to Run DECimage Character Recognition Software? What Can You Do with DECimage Character Recognition Software? Purpose of OCR OCR Process Segmenting the Image into Regions Recognizing Text Formatting and Saving Text 2 Getting Started Beginning a DECimage Character Recognition Software Session Invoking from the DCL Level Invoking from DECwrite and DECpresent Invoking from DECimage Scan Software Choosing an Option DECimage Character Recognition Software Windows and Menus Image View Window Image View Menus ASCII Text View Window ASCII Text View Menus Navigating a DECimage Character Recognition Software Session DECimage Character Recognition Software Messages Ending a DECimage Character Recognition Software Session 3 Recognizing and Saving Text Importing an Image Opening an Image File Checking Image Quality Recognizing and Displaying Text Saving and Viewing the Output Saving the Output Fonts Returned 4 Modifying Images and Text Modifying an Image Checking an Image Rotating an Image Scaling an Image Using the Navigation View Window Clearing the Image Display Canceling Changes Creating Regions of Interest Modifying Text Checking Text for Recognition Errors Checking Spelling Editing Text 5 Sending and Printing Files Sending the Output Printing the Output 6 Customizing the Recognition and Output Process Adjusting the Recognition Options Setting the Language Field Setting the Resolution Field Setting the Segmentation Field Setting the Monospaced Source Field Setting the Reject Character Field Setting the Dictionary Field Adjusting the Output Options Saving Settings Restoring Settings Returning to the Factory Default Settings A Error Messages Software Error Messages Operational Error Messages B Online Help Using the Help Menu Using Help Overview Using Help About Using Help Menus Using Help Glossary C More About Preparing Images for Text Recognition Original Document Quality Font Size Font Typeface Color of Text and Background Dot Matrix Text Text from Fax Printers Input Process Quality Examples of Recognized Text D ISO Latin-1 Character Set E List of Acronyms Glossary FIGURES 1-1 Creating an Image 1-2 Example of Image Data 1-3 Segmentation Regions 1-4 Similarly-Shaped Characters 1-5 Recognized Text 2-1 Image View Window 2-2 ASCII Text View Window 2-3 Sequence of Tasks in DECimage Character Recognition Software 2-4 DECwindows Motif Acknowledge Box 2-5 DECimage Character Recognition Software Quit Dialog Box 3-1 Open Image As Dialog Box 3-2 Scanned Original in the Image View Window 3-3 Recognized Text in the ASCII Text View Window 3-4 Save Dialog Box 3-5 Fonts Returned by DECimage Character Recognition Software 3-6 Spacing of Text 4-1 Portrait Image in Landscape Orientation 4-2 Rotate Image Dialog Box 4-3 Scale Image Dialog Box 4-4 Image View Window with Magnification and Navigation View On Activated 4-5 Creating Regions of Interest 4-6 Region of Interest Reorder Dialog Box 4-7 ASCII Text View Window with Spell Check Activated 4-8 Editing ASCII Text 5-1 DECimage Mail: Create Dialog Box 5-2 Print Dialog Box 6-1 Recognition Options Dialog Box 6-2 Dictionary Options Dialog Box 6-3 Output Options Dialog Box 6-4 Save Settings Dialog Box 6-5 Restore Settings Dialog Box C-1 Measuring Font Size C-2 Comparison of 10-Point Font Size in Different Fonts C-3 Highly-Stylized Font C-4 Dot Matrix Characters C-5 Placement of Original C-6 Enlarged Text from Low-Quality Image Before Text Recognition C-7 Text from Low-Quality Image After Text Recognition C-8 Text from Low-Quality Image After Text Recognition Using an Electronic Dictionary C-9 Enlarged Text from High-Quality Image Before Text Recognition C-10 Text from High-Quality Image After Text Recognition D-1 ISO Latin-1 Character Set TABLES 2-1 DECimage Character Recognition Software Options and Keyboard Accelerators 2-2 Buttons on the ASCII Text View Window 3-1 Most Desirable Characteristics for Text Recognition 3-2 Returned Fonts 4-1 Manipulating Regions of Interest 4-2 Recognition Errors C-1 Most Desirable Characteristics for Text Recognition C-2 Least Desirable Characteristics for Text Recognition C-3 Font Size and Resolution Combinations