Mobile capture news paper columns and OCR using Mobile OCR

1
Overview
The slides here will show you how to use your
mobile camera to take a screenshot on news paper
columns and convert it to text. The
demonstration uses Android mobile device Galaxy
Note 2 with the following apps Mobile OCR
Free CamScanner Dropbox Mobile OCR Free can be
downloaded from Google Play. It has a remarkable
ability to convert image text to characters. The
free version supports four languages, viz,
English, German, Spanish and Thai. However, it
does not have any image editing tools such as
cropping and image brightness adjustment for
these functions we will use CamScanner CamScanner
is a free app which you can download and install
it from Google Play. CamScanner helps to manage
snapped images. It allows you to adjust the
contrast/brightness of your image it also
enables you to crop the correct text area and
remove unwanted content. Dropbox free version
allows you to upload any media to an allocated 2
GB of free space. Galaxy S3 and Note 2 users are
entitled to 50 GB of free space for 2 years. To
use it, you need to sign up for an account.
Dropbox is used to save captured image from
CamScanner which you can then import it to Mobile
OCR.
2
CamScanner Take photo
..
Ensure that the material you wish to capture is
under good lighting condition. Leave your camera
resolution to 3264x2448. Launch CamScanner
and tap this Camera icon to launch the camera.
3
CamScanner - crop
..
1. Notice that this article has 6 columns. I
can select the region I want by touching and
dragging one of the 6-dotted handles shown.
With Mobile OCR remarkable text recognition
function, I can safely select all the 6 columns
(this is almost a news paper size) to be OCRed.
2. I should confirm my selection by tapping this
'tick' icon.
4
CamScanner Contrast/brightness
..
1. CamScanner provides me the option to adjust
the contrast/brightness.
2. I am satisfied with the default settings and
confirm my selection by tapping the 'tick'.
5
CamScanner Re-edit
..
1. This is the edited image
Before saving it, I need to rotate it. I can do
this by tapping this 'Edit' icon.
6
CamScanner Rotate
..
1. 'Re-edit' allows me to make new selection and
adjust brightness which I dont need it now.
2. I select 'Rotate left'
7
CamScanner Upload
..
1. To upload this image to Dropbox, I have to
tap this 'Share' icon.
8
CamScanner Upload
..
A list of installed apps popped up, allowing me
to select an app to share. I can upload it to
Dropbox by tapping this icon.
9
CamScanner Upload
..
Dropbox app popped up, I can start my upload by
tapping 'Upload'
10
Mobile OCR Free Launch
..
Launch Mobile OCR
11
Mobile OCR Free Startup
..
This is Mobile OCR Free startup page. To
proceed, I tap 'Continue'
12
Mobile OCR Free Import from Album
..
To import from Dropbox, I select Album
13
Mobile OCR Free Import from Album
..
In Dropbox, this is my latest upload, I select it
to import it to Mobile OCR.
14
Mobile OCR Free Text recognition
..
Image has been selected, I am ready to tap the
'Convert' button to start the OCR process.
15
Mobile OCR Free Text recognition
..
Original image text.
OCRed text.
16
Mobile OCR Free Copy to clipboard
..
As can be seen the accuracy of Mobile OCR Free is
truely amazing. Using Mobile OCR, CamScanner and
Dropbox save me time and increase productivity.
With the synergy of these apps, I need only to
capture and OCR it once. I have tried it with
Google Drive and never manage to OCR successfully
with 6 columns of text at one go. Hope this can
be useful in your daily work. Thanks for your
interest.
At the bottom of it, this button enables me to
copy the text to the clipboard.
17
CamScanner Re-select columns
..
To re-select new columns, I have to tap on
'Re-edit'.
18
CamScanner Re-select columns
..
CamScanner brough me back to the original image.
I can now select the rest of the columns.
The rest of the steps should be the same as
demonstrated in earlier slides, I will not repeat
it here. Hope you will find this useful. Thank
you for your interest.