TECHNICAL BULLETIN #150 - Rev 1.10 (9/03/96)

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TITLE   : OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
PRODUCT : Procomm Plus 4.x, 3.x
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This document explains how to setup the OCR portion of Procomm Plus. It will
also cover known problems and solutions, as well as the recommended fonts for
clearer imaging of scanned and received faxes.

SETUP
For more information on the setup and use of Procomm plus' OCR utility, please
refer to the appropriate section of the User's Guide.

SCANNED AND RECEIVED FAX IMAGE PROCESSING
The processing of scanned and/or received faxes is a simple function to
access in Procomm Plus.

  1. Select Tools from the Drop Down Menu Bar in the terminal window.

  2. Click Fax Viewer.

  3. Click File from the Drop Down Menu Bar.

  4. Click Open and choose a fax file to load into the viewer.

TROUBLESHOOTING RECEIVED FAX IMAGES
Once the file has been loaded into your viewer, you may find some of the
lines difficult to read.  If this is the case, you may try several things
to make the fax more readable.

ANTI-ALIASING
If you are viewing faxes in a reduced scale, try clicking on View from
the Drop Down Menu Bar, then click Anti-Aliasing. This toggles the use
of the viewer's anti-aliasing technology. Anti-aliasing does not affect
the image file, only how that image is displayed by the viewer.

FAX CLEANING
The Fax Viewer's built-in fax cleaning technology can help you improve the
image quality of faxes you have received. To clean a fax, click on Tools
then choose the Cleanup Fax... menu item.  You may also select the
Clean Fax icon from the Action Bar.

CROOKED OR SLANTED FAXES
If your fax seems crooked or slanted on the page, it was probably badly
scanned by the transmitting fax machine. To help you correct the problem,
the Fax Viewer provides a built-in deskewing engine. Procomm Plus' deskewing
engine automatically converts standard resolution images to fine resolution.
If one or more pages of a multi-page fax are converted to fine resolution, the
entire fax will also be converted when you save it.

To deskew your fax, click on Tools and choose the Deskew Fax menu item. If you
are viewing a single page fax, deskewing is performed immediately. If you are
viewing a multi-page fax, the Fax Viewer displays the Fax Deskew dialog, where
you can specify the page(s) you want to deskew.

KNOWN PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Q:  Whenever I try to view a fax, the image appears to be distorted or
    corrupt.

A:  This can be caused by certain video drivers. If you are using S3 video
    drivers such as Diamond Stealth Viper, turn off Fast Screen updating.

Q:  When I receive a fax I can read it just fine, however when I OCR  the
    fax, there are a lot of highlighted words in the editor with the wrong
    characters.

A:  Have the sender re-send the document using one of the recommended
    fonts and point sizes listed below:

    Font                    Point Size
    Times New Roman         8
    Times New Roman         10
    Arial                   10
    Arial                   12
    Courier New             8
    Courier New             12

Q:  I'm getting the error message "Scanner was not set to a valid fax
    resolution."

A:  Some scanners want to start out at a resolution of at least 300 dpi.
    A fax of fine resolution can only have the resolution of 200 dpi.  On
    the scanner or the scanner driver interface, have the user change the
    resolution either to 100 or 200 dpi.
                          
Q:  I'm getting the error message "Scanner not ready."

A:  This error can be caused by a number of issues.

    1. The scanner may not be turned on.

    2. The scanner may not be plugged into the PC.

    3. The scanner driver may not be loading in the CONFIG.SYS.

    4. The scanner driver may not have been loaded during Windows startup.
       Check to see if it even exists.

Q:  I'm getting the error message "Unable to initialize the scanner
    process.  The needed libraries may not be installed.  Run setup again."

A:  The TWAIN.DLL must be in either the Procomm Plus home directory or the
    Windows directory.  This error will appear if it is missing or not in
    one of these directories.

Q:  My annotated fax contains colors; however, when faxed the image only
    appears in black and white. Why?

A:  This is by design. Group 3 faxing only supports black and white.

Q:  I am unable to import an image in the form of a TIF file.

A:  TIF files are not supported in Procomm Plus. You will need to convert the
    TIF file format by using a conversion program. If you do not have a
    conversion program, try loading the image into Word, cut or copy the image 
    into the Windows Clipboard, and paste the image into our viewer.

NOTE: There are several standalone programs for converting graphic
formats. Hijack, by Quarterdeck, supports most formats and converts
several vector formats to bitmaps. ImagePals, by U-Read systems, converts
between bitmap formats including; BMP, EPS, TPG, PCX, TGA and TIF. Windows
Paintbrush will load a file in either BMP or PCX and save it in either
format.

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           Copyright (c) 1996 Quarterdeck  All rights reserved.
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