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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
What is an OCR System?
An OCR (Optical Character Recognition) system enables you to input printed documents into your
computer automatically via a scanner.
FineReader is an omnifont optical text recognition system. As a result it can recognize texts set in prac-
tically any font without any prior training. FineReader features high recognition accuracy and low sensi-
tivity to print defects due to its incorporation of special recognition technology based on the principles
of Integral Purposeful Adaptive (IPA) perception.
The document input process can be divided into two stages:
1. Scanning. During the first stage the scanner acts as the computer’s "eye". It looks at the
image and transfers it to the computer. The acquired image is nothing more than a picture,
a set of black, white, and color dots impossible to edit in any word processor.
2.
Recognition. During the second stage FineReader carries out OCR image processing.
Let’s take a closer look at the second stage.
FineReader OCR image processing involves analyzing the image file transmitted by the scanner (layout
analysis) and recognizing each character. The layout analysis (selecting the recognition areas, tables,
pictures, lines, and individual characters) and image reading processes are closely related. Page layout
analysis is more accurate if the nature of the text is known to the application.
As mentioned previously, the image recognition process is based on the principles of Integral Purpose-
ful Adaptive (IPA) perception.
● Integrity – the identification of recognition objects based on a set of basic elements and
their interrelations.
● Purposefulness – the generation and purposeful verification of recognition hypotheses.
● Adaptability – the system’s ability to learn and be trained
These three principles determine the system's behavior. The system generates a hypothesis concerning a
recognition object (a character, part of a character, or several glued characters) and then accepts or
rejects this hypotheses according to whether the structural elements are present. These structural ele-
ments are computer equivalents of character parts crucial for human perception (arcs, circles, dots
etc.). The application then adapts itself to the text according to the degree of accuracy attained. Pur-
poseful searching and context information enable the system to recognize even torn and distorted
characters, rendering it almost insensitive to print defects.
The final result is the recognized text that you see in the FineReader
Text window, a text you can edit
and save in any convenient format.
New Features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0
General features
● Now you can open and read PDF files in FineReader. PDF is one of the standard formats
used for publishing documents on the Internet, as well as for document archiving, etc. You
can open, read, and edit any PDF file in FineReader, and then save it in either PDF or any
other format supported by FineReader.
● Integration with Windows Explorer. Image files and FineReader batches can now be
opened directly from Windows Explorer.
● Saving of recognized documents under source image names.
● Customizable toolbars.