NovoDynamics, a developer of optical character recognition (OCR) and pattern recognition technologies, has announced the release of NovoImage+, a device-agnostic, automated image optimisation solution for digitised documents. 

The company says that unlike traditional document image processing applications, which are typically bundled with and exclusive to specific devices, NovoImage+ is a post-scan solution that significantly improves the image quality of digitised documents regardless of what device was used and where or when capture occurred.

Targeted to the distributed enterprise, NovoImage+ cleans up images and clarifies text, consistently preparing all incoming content for more efficient and effective downstream document processing.  As NovoImage+ optimses the digitised document, file size is reduced, making file transmission faster and reducing the burden on networks and storage space. 

In today’s distributed organisations, paper-based documents are often digitised at various points of entry using a wide assortment of peripheral devices including fax servers, MFPs and desktop scanners. 

Documents may also arrive as email attachments after they have already been digitised.  This creates a bottleneck for document automation, as damaged or degraded originals and poorly captured documents make recognising and extracting data challenging. 

The effects of image improvement early in the capture process are multiplied as the document progresses through a workflow.  Using NovoImage+ to improve optical character recognition (OCR) accuracy by just 5 percent can reduce the time spent in data verification by over 50 percent.

“Image enhancement no longer has to be conducted in series with scanner hardware at the time of scan, and is no longer reliant on the quality and associated level of cost of the device for success,” notes NovoDynamics vice president of marketing Tim Dubes.

“This source-agnostic approach enables NovoImage+ to provide consistent, production-level document image quality – at the point of capture or at any point in the workflow.  For remote offices or departmental needs, document images can be enhanced centrally before entering a forms processing, content management or other backend business system.”

A 64-bit, Windows-based software application, NovoImage+ cleans PDF, TIFF, BMP, GIF, JPG and most standard image file types, producing cleaner documents, clearer characters, smaller image files and better recognition results for OCR, IDR, document classification and other document processing systems.

Pricing for NovoImage+ begins at $US299.  A trial version of NovoImage+ is available for download at www.novodynamics.com.