Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!nitrex!rbl
From: rbl@nitrex.UUCP ( Dr. Robin Lake )
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.fax
Subject: Re: fax to ascii conversion
Message-ID: <557@nitrex.UUCP>
Date: 19 Jun 91 21:59:51 GMT
References: <1991Jun4.205833.5884@world.std.com>
Reply-To: rbl@nitrex.UUCP (Robin Lake)
Distribution: na
Organization: BP Research - Warrensville Research and Env. Sci. Center, Cleveland, OH
Lines: 47

In article <1991Jun4.205833.5884@world.std.com> adamg@world.std.com (Adam M Gaffin) writes:
|>If this one has already been beaten to death, please forgive me, but...
|> 
|>Probably nobody gets more junk fax than a newsroom, and we are getting 
|>tired of going through reams of expensive fax paper, so we're looking at 
|>replacing the machine with a computer and fax board. Our computer gurus 
|>have come up with some software that will turn a fax message into a PCX 
|>or TIFF file and another program that will convert THAT into ASCII, and 
|>want to write a batch file to transmit that into our main system. The 
|>problem is this has to be done for each individual fax, because the 
|>software they want to use (ReadRight is one of the programs) apparently 
|>can't be automated. Unfortunately, it all seems more complex than the 
|>average reporter or editor is willing to deal with, especially since we 
|>probably get 40-50 faxes (maybe more; I've never counted) a day. Does 
|>anybody know of any decent software for turning fax into ASCII, 
|>preferably automatically, or, at the least, through macros? Any help 
|>would be most appreciated! 
|> 
|>Thanks!
|> 
|>Adam Gaffin
|>Middlesex News, Framingham, Mass.
|>adamg@world.std.com
|>Voice: (508) 626-3968. Fred the Middlesex News Computer: (508) 872-8461 
|> 


I haven't yet tried this, but it "should" work. \

Get a Macintosh with a FAX board.  Save the incoming image as TIFF.
Acquire an OCR program that accepts TIFF images.  Feed the TIFF image
into the OCR program.

Problems:
1.  FAX scanners tend to smear and add noise to characters.  Many OCR
software packages produce hilarious ASCII versions of noisy characters.

2.  The OCR recognition process is relatively SLOW.  You might need a
Mac II fx to get close to usable performance if your incoming FAX traffic
is typical newsroom level.

Why the Mac?  You should be able to run both the FAX and the OCR at the same
time.  Either using MultiFinder or a FAX-receiving Desk Accessory.  

Rob Lake
BP Research
lake@rcwcl1.dnet.bp.com