intro
Did you ever think that we can make a book searchable with the computer? Or we can scan our documents images with just a tool? Both of them answer is yes! Today we are going to review what OCR really is and how OCR can help us in some parts of our work. Let's start
What is OCR?
OCR is the short form of Optical Character Recognition which means the technology can extract available text from an image or document or any other computer file. the OCR is working by Computer Vision algorithms and techniques. OCR or Optical Character Recognition is one of the technologies that can help us directly or indirectly in some parts of our works.
How does OCR work?
first of all, we need to know what is AI and Computer Vision. AI or Artificial Intelligence is a technology that makes machines think and do tasks like the human brain. This technology is deep and has some branches. we reviewed AI programs types in the What is AI? article. Computer Vision is one of the AI branches which is focusing on the environment or visual views such as images, videos, cameras, or something that we are seeing with our eyes. auto-drive cars, face recognition, OCR, object detection are some of the projects for Computer Vision. As far as we reviewed in the previous part OCR programs are working by Computer Vision algorithms. Normal OCR technique turns normal images or files into white-black colors and then recognizes words, symbols, numbers, or other things from the content and then by using other tools, it extracts and turns it as editable text. but by using this technique OCR programs can not detect in detail. there is a more professional OCR that can detect text size, text weight, font, styles, and some other details.
Where is OCR used?
OCR can be used in some areas. as far as we know OCR technology can make physical documents editable and we can search our files. OCR can be used in passport checks, credit card checks, and some other places for extracting data and scanning for validating or credibility.
Conclusion
AI or Artificial Intelligence is one of the technologies that it can have big effects on our life. Computer Vision is one of the AI branches that it's focusing on visual views like cameras, images, or the things that we are seeing with our eyes. OCR is one of the computer vision projects. Normal OCR technique turns normal images or files into white-black colors and then recognizes words, symbols, numbers, or other things from the content, but we have more professional OCR algorithms and programs that they can extract text details like font or size. OCR technology can be used in some areas like passport checks, credit card checks, and some other places for extracting data and scanning for validating.