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Data Recognition on Inbound Faxes

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I am in search of a solution/process that would
a) allow the scanning of inbound faxed documents ( comparable to a fill-in-the-dot test answer sheet ) as the documents are received via fax, and
b) would then be able to record the scanned information in a database ( or a file that would be database readable ).

It would be highly preferable if the received document was retained for future reference/printing, but I want to bypass being forced to print the document, and then feed the printed document to a scanning device.

Thanks for your help or ideas on the software and hardware required to implement such.

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Data Recognition on Inbound Faxes

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Hi,

You are facing a challenging problem here!

There are solutions, some better than others. The approach will depend on the volume of fax’s you want to process. For small-scale operations the solution will be different than medium to large operations.

An initial approach at a solution (based on a medium to large system) could consist of four components – a fax capture component, an image enhancement and data extraction component, a database interface component, and an image storage component.

First, a comment on each of the components.

1. There are many fax-server products that capture incoming calls electronically – most store images into a queue for processing/distribution. Some even include OCR components to auto-route incoming fax’s to recipients. These products generally store the fax’s in standard image formats (tiff files).

2. The second component is known as forms-processing. From your message I would guess that the incoming fax’s will all be similar – hopefully you have some co

Data Recognition on Inbound Faxes

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Data Recognition on Inbound Faxes

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Hi,

During my research on a different subject, I have run into solution by IBM that sounds like the one you are looking for. Please, check out the following URL:
“http://www-4.ibm.com/software/data/imageplus/about_vi.html#fax” for details. Belowis an extract from and article at this URL “IBM FaxRouter is a high-performance fax solution that can be integrated with ImagePlus VisualInfo. Incoming faxes are captured at the fax server and then automatically imported into VisualInfo. Using several techniques for telephone number identification, faxes can be automatically directed to appropriate queues. Users can select documents from the VisualInfo client and then fax them out. Other facsimile solutions which accept input from a print driver can also be used for outgoing faxes”

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I believe that Caere OmniPage Pro includes a capability for OCRing standard fax image files. Therefore, if your fax software can save in said formats, you might have a solution. OmniPage also allows you to batch-process a group of files. After OCRing, databasing may be the easier part of the task.

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I have seen OCR diagrams in computer supply catalogs, such that the vendor knows which form is being transmitted & can grab relevant data from various places on the form. If you see that on a catalog, you could ask the vendor about their software.

I have a similar challenge where my employer regularly does business with certain customers & vendors using standard forms that were obviously generated by their computer … I believe we ought to be able to have a supply chain agreement in whichthe forms are identified

from what company
to what company
which report is this

then there would be software to cut & paste the data per form combination & stick it into intermediate files for input processing to our data bases

Al

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