CAMREAD -- A HIGH-SPEED OPTICAL RECOGNITION SYSTEM

AN IBM-AT-BASED MULTIFUNCTIONAL SYSTEM-CAMREAD-IS PLANNED. CAMREAD IS AN INEXPENSIVE, REAL-TIME IMAGE-PROCESSING SYSTEM WITH THE CAPABILITY OF HIGH-SPEED CHARACTER RECOGNITION TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF CONVERTING PRINTED DOCUMENTS INTO MACHINE-READABLE RECORDS. DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE EXPENSIVE MONOFUNCTIONAL READING MACHINES, THIS SYSTEM HAS MANY UNIQUE FEATURES. FIRST, IT IS A REAL-TIME IMAGE-PROCESSING WORKSTATION WITH A VARIETY OF REAL-TIME IMAGE-PROCESSING CAPABILITIES. SECOND, IT EMPLOYS FOUR VIDEO CAMERAS INSTEAD OF THE SLOW SCANNERS USED BY MOST READING MACHINES. BESIDES THEIR HIGH-SPEED CAPABILITY FOR IMAGE ACQUISITION, THE MAJOR ADVANTAGE OF USING VIDEO CAMERAS IS THAT NONPLANAR PAGE DOCUMENTS, SUCH AS BOOKS, MAGAZINES, AND OTHER PRINTING MEDIA, CAN BE READ BY THIS SYSTEM. THIRD, BY USING REAL-TIME IMAGE-PROCESSING TECHNIQUES, CAMREAD IS EXPECTED TO BE FASTER THAN ANY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE READING MACHINES. IN PHASE I, A PROTOTYPE CAMREAD WILL BE COMPLETED; A 99.9-PERCENT CORRECT RECOGNITION RATE WITH THE SPEED OF 300 CHARACTERS PER SECOND FOR MOST FONTS THAT ARE PROPORTIONALLYSPACED IS EXPECTED. IN PHASE II, AN OMNIFONT NONPROPORTIONALLY SPACED CHARACTER RECOGNITION CAPABILITY WILL BE ADDED.