Beginner · Computer Vision

Optical Character Recognition

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. A technology that enables the conversion of different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, into editable and searchable data.

Technical Definition

A technology that enables the conversion of different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, into editable and searchable data.

How it works

OCR works by analyzing images of text characters and translating them into machine-readable text data. This allows for digital manipulation, storage, and search of information originally found in printed form. It's commonly used to digitize historical documents, process invoices, and convert handwritten notes.

Related Concepts

• Computer vision — Computer vision enables computers to interpret and understand information from digital images and videos, automating tasks typically done by human sight.
• Pattern recognition — The automatic identification of regularities and patterns in data using algorithms for tasks like classification.