OCR is short for Optical Character Recognition. It scans images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text and convert them into editable text. It is used to effectively convert paper books and documents into electronic files.
When scans a paper page into a computer, it usually produces just an image file, a photo of the page, but the computer cannot understand the letters on the page. Now you can use OCR software to convert images and files into a text or word processor file, then you can search for words or edit it and have the words re-wrap as you type, or change the font. The result will be much more flexible and compact than the original page photo.
OCR is a field of research in pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and computer vision. There are two kinds of OCR recognition, Optical character recognition(using optical techniques such as mirrors and lenses) and digital character recognition (using scanners and computer algorithms).In addition, OCR term has been broadened to include digital image processing as well.
