Intelligent Character Recognition
Encyclopedia
In computer science
, intelligent character recognition (ICR) is an advanced optical character recognition
(OCR) or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition
system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting
to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition levels.
Most ICR software has a self-learning system referred to as a neural network
, which automatically updates the recognition database for new handwriting patterns. It extends the usefulness of scanning devices for the purpose of document processing, from printed character recognition (a function of OCR) to hand-written matter recognition. Because this process is involved in recognising hand writing, accuracy levels may, in some circumstances, not be very good but can achieve 97%+ accuracy rates in reading handwriting in structured forms. Often to achieve these high recognition rates several read engines are used within the software and each is given elective voting rights to determine the true reading of characters. In numeric fields, engines which are designed to read numbers take preference, while in alpha fields, engines designed to read hand written letters have higher elective rights. When used in conjunction with a bespoke interface hub, hand-written data can be automatically populated into a back office
system avoiding laborious manual keying and can be more accurate than traditional human data entry.
An important development of ICR was the invention of Automated Forms Processing
in 1993. This involved a three stage process of capturing the image of the form to be processed by ICR and preparing it to enable the ICR engine to give best results, then capturing the information using the ICR engine and finally processing the results to automatically validate the output from the ICR engine.
This application of ICR increased the usefulness of the technology and made it applicable for use with real world forms in normal business applications. Modern software applications use ICR as a technology of recognizing text in forms filled in by hand (hand-printed):
(IWR) can not only recognize and extract printed-handwritten information, but cursive handwriting as well. ICR recognizes on the character-level, whereas IWR works with full words or phrases. Capable of capturing unstructured information from every day pages, IWR is said to be more evolved than hand print ICR (according to the CCA (Committee for Capturing Abstractions)).
Not meant to replace conventional ICR and OCR systems, IWR is optimized for processing real-world documents that contain mostly free-form, hard-to-recognize data fields that are inherently unsuitable for ICR. This means that the highest and best use of IWR is to eliminate a high percentage of the manual entry of handwritten data and run-on hand print fields on documents that otherwise could be keyed only by humans.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, intelligent character recognition (ICR) is an advanced optical character recognition
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
(OCR) or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting
Handwriting
Handwriting is a person's particular & individual style of writing with pen or pencil, which contrasts with "Hand" which is an impersonal and formalised writing style in several historical varieties...
to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition levels.
Most ICR software has a self-learning system referred to as a neural network
Neural network
The term neural network was traditionally used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons. The modern usage of the term often refers to artificial neural networks, which are composed of artificial neurons or nodes...
, which automatically updates the recognition database for new handwriting patterns. It extends the usefulness of scanning devices for the purpose of document processing, from printed character recognition (a function of OCR) to hand-written matter recognition. Because this process is involved in recognising hand writing, accuracy levels may, in some circumstances, not be very good but can achieve 97%+ accuracy rates in reading handwriting in structured forms. Often to achieve these high recognition rates several read engines are used within the software and each is given elective voting rights to determine the true reading of characters. In numeric fields, engines which are designed to read numbers take preference, while in alpha fields, engines designed to read hand written letters have higher elective rights. When used in conjunction with a bespoke interface hub, hand-written data can be automatically populated into a back office
Back office
A back office is a part of most corporations where tasks dedicated to running the company itself takes place. The term "Back office" comes from the building layout of early companies where the front office would contain the sales and other customer-facing staff and the back office would be those...
system avoiding laborious manual keying and can be more accurate than traditional human data entry.
An important development of ICR was the invention of Automated Forms Processing
Forms Processing
Forms processing is a process by which one can capture information entered into data fields and convert it into an electronic format. This can be done manually or automatically, but the general process is that hard copy data is filled out by humans and then "captured" from their respective fields...
in 1993. This involved a three stage process of capturing the image of the form to be processed by ICR and preparing it to enable the ICR engine to give best results, then capturing the information using the ICR engine and finally processing the results to automatically validate the output from the ICR engine.
This application of ICR increased the usefulness of the technology and made it applicable for use with real world forms in normal business applications. Modern software applications use ICR as a technology of recognizing text in forms filled in by hand (hand-printed):
| Company | Products | ICR Languages Supported |
|---|---|---|
| Parascript | Parascript CheckPlus Parascript AddressScript Parascript FormXtra Parascript FieldScript |
English, French, German, Italian, Kazak, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish |
| A2IA | A2iA DocumentReader A2iA CheckReader A2iA AddressReader A2iA FieldReader |
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish |
| ABBYY ABBYY ABBYY is a Russian software company, headquartered in Moscow, that provides optical character recognition, document capture and language software for both PC and mobile devices.-History:ABBYY was founded in 1989 by David Yang... |
ABBYY FlexiCapture ABBYY FlexiCapture Engine ABBYY FineReader Engine |
Afrikaans, Albanian, Aymara, Azerbaijani (Latin), Basque, Bemba, Blackfoot, Breton, Bugotu, Bulgarian, Cebuano, Chamorro, Corsican, Crimean Tatar, Croatian, Crow, Czech, Dakota (Sioux), Dutch (Belgium), Dutch (Netherlands), English, Estonian, Even, Evenki, Fijian, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Galician, Ganda, German, German (Luxembourg), German (new spelling), Greek, Guarani, Hani, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jingpo, Karachay-balkar, Kasub, Kawa, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Kongo, Kpelle, Kumyk, Kurdish, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luba, Malagasy, Malinke, Maori, Maya, Miao, Minangkabau, Mohawk, Moldavian, Mongol, Mordvin, Nahuatl, Nivkh, Nogay, Nyanja, Ojibway, OldFrench, OldGerman, OldItalian, OldSpanish, Papiamento, Polish, Quechua, Rhaeto-Romanic, Romanian, Romany, Rundi, Russian, Rwanda, Sami (Lappish), Samoan, Scottish Gaelic, Selkup, Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tswana, Tun, Turkish, Uigur (Latin), Ukrainian, Wolof, Xhosa, Zapotec, Ido, Interlingua |
| Accusoft Pegasus | SmartZone ICR/OCR > English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish (.NET supports all listed, ActiveX is English only) |
|
| Cognitive Technologies | Cognitive Forms | Russian, ? |
| ExperVision ExperVision ExperVision, Inc is a technology company in California founded in 1987 whose main product is optical character recognition systems. It is now owned by ExperExchange, Inc., but retains the trading name ExperVision.... |
TypeReader TypeReader Expervision TypeReader is an Optical Character Recognition software application developed by Expervision.TypeReader converts scanned documents into electronic files at speed of 8,000 pages per hour with maximum reliability... OpenRTK |
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Hungarian, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Finnish and Polynesian |
| I.R.I.S. Group I.R.I.S. Group IRIS : Image recognition integrated systems is a computer software technology company that provides text recognition and document management solutions. IRIS is headquartered in Louvain-la-Neuve, in Belgium.-IRIS history:... |
IRISCapture Pro for Forms | Latin based languages |
| LEADTOOLS | LEADTOOLS ICR SDK Module | Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
Taking ICR to the Next Level
Intelligent word recognitionIntelligent word recognition
Intelligent Word Recognition, or IWR, is the recognition of unconstrained handwritten words. IWR recognizes entire handwritten words or phrases instead of character-by-character, like its predecessor, Optical Character Recognition...
(IWR) can not only recognize and extract printed-handwritten information, but cursive handwriting as well. ICR recognizes on the character-level, whereas IWR works with full words or phrases. Capable of capturing unstructured information from every day pages, IWR is said to be more evolved than hand print ICR (according to the CCA (Committee for Capturing Abstractions)).
Not meant to replace conventional ICR and OCR systems, IWR is optimized for processing real-world documents that contain mostly free-form, hard-to-recognize data fields that are inherently unsuitable for ICR. This means that the highest and best use of IWR is to eliminate a high percentage of the manual entry of handwritten data and run-on hand print fields on documents that otherwise could be keyed only by humans.