Glossary of Terms

ALL

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

O

OCR OCR stands for optical character recognition. OCR transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system.

All OCR starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an OCR scanner, but the OCR is actually performed by OCR software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it.

The OCR software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system.

Why OCR Alone is Not Enough
OCR is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But OCR alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process.

Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing OCR for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With OCR alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.

Also, OCR results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor OCR results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.

OCR Software OCR software transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. (OCR stands for optical character recognition.)

All OCR software starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an OCR scanner, but the OCR is actually performed by optical character recognition software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it.

The OCR software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system.

Why OCR Software Alone is Not Enough
OCR software is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But OCR alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process.

Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing OCR for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With OCR alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.

Also, OCR software results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor OCR results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.

ODBC Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a standard software API specification for using database management systems (DBMS). ODBC is independent of programming language, database system and operating system. The goal of ODBC is to make it possible to access any data from any application, regardless of which DBMS handles the data.

OEM Software Software that is licensed for distribution by other manufacturers for incorporation into their own products.

OMR Optical mark recognition. Recognizes pencil or pen marks in specific document positions (such as filled-in check boxes or circles) and translates the marks into computer-readable data.

Optical Character Recognition Optical Character Recognition software transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. (Optical character recognition is usually abbreviated as OCR.) All optical character recognition software starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an optical character recognition scanner, but the optical character recognition is actually performed by optical character recognition software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it. The optical character recognition software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system.
Why Optical Character Recognition Software Alone is Not Enough
Optical character recognition software is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But optical character recognition alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process. Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing optical character recognition for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the optical character recognition software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With optical character recognition alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort. Also, optical character recognition software results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor optical character recognition results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.

Optical Character Recognition Software Optical Character Recognition software transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. (Optical character recognition is usually abbreviated as OCR.) All optical character recognition software starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an optical character recognition scanner, but the optical character recognition is actually performed by optical character recognition software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it. The optical character recognition software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system.

Why Optical Character Recognition Software Alone is Not Enough
Optical character recognition software is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But optical character recognition alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process. Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing optical character recognition for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the optical character recognition software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With optical character recognition alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort. Also, optical character recognition software results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor optical character recognition results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.

Orientation The relative direction of a page, either horizontal (called landscape) or vertical (called portrait).

Glossary compiled from a variety of sources, including Kofax, MS Tech Net and Wikipedia.

Feedback...

We'd love to hear what you think of our website.

Make our day and tell us what you really think!

O
OCR	OCR stands for optical character recognition. OCR transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. All OCR starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an OCR scanner, but the OCR is actually performed by OCR software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it. The OCR software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system. Why OCR Alone is Not Enough OCR is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But OCR alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process. Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing OCR for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With OCR alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort. Also, OCR results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor OCR results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.
OCR Software	OCR software transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. (OCR stands for optical character recognition.) All OCR software starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an OCR scanner, but the OCR is actually performed by optical character recognition software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it. The OCR software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system. Why OCR Software Alone is Not Enough OCR software is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But OCR alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process. Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing OCR for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With OCR alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort. Also, OCR software results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor OCR results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.
ODBC	Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a standard software API specification for using database management systems (DBMS). ODBC is independent of programming language, database system and operating system. The goal of ODBC is to make it possible to access any data from any application, regardless of which DBMS handles the data.
OEM Software	Software that is licensed for distribution by other manufacturers for incorporation into their own products.
OMR	Optical mark recognition. Recognizes pencil or pen marks in specific document positions (such as filled-in check boxes or circles) and translates the marks into computer-readable data.
Optical Character Recognition	Optical Character Recognition software transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. (Optical character recognition is usually abbreviated as OCR.) All optical character recognition software starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an optical character recognition scanner, but the optical character recognition is actually performed by optical character recognition software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it. The optical character recognition software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system. Why Optical Character Recognition Software Alone is Not Enough Optical character recognition software is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But optical character recognition alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process. Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing optical character recognition for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the optical character recognition software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With optical character recognition alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort. Also, optical character recognition software results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor optical character recognition results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.
Optical Character Recognition Software	Optical Character Recognition software transforms printed or hand-printed text into electronic data that can be used in a computer system. (Optical character recognition is usually abbreviated as OCR.) All optical character recognition software starts with an electronic image of the text, usually created with a document scanner. Some people think of this as an optical character recognition scanner, but the optical character recognition is actually performed by optical character recognition software after scanning. The scanner only produces an image of the document, much like taking a picture of it. The optical character recognition software then examines the image of the scanned document; identifies each letter, number and punctuation mark; and produces equivalent text in a machine-readable digital form that can be used by a computer system. Why Optical Character Recognition Software Alone is Not Enough Optical character recognition software is extremely accurate for machine-printed or typewritten text. A related technology, ICR (intelligent character recognition) can convert clearly written hand-printed text. But optical character recognition alone is not enough when a company or government agency must deal with documents as part of a business process. Companies that rely on a document-driven business process must do more than simply convert written text to digital text. For example, just doing optical character recognition for invoices does not identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on). It does not verify that the optical character recognition software has converted the information correctly. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. With optical character recognition alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort. Also, optical character recognition software results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor optical character recognition results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.
Orientation	The relative direction of a page, either horizontal (called landscape) or vertical (called portrait).