Interactive OCR?

[SephYuyX]

I know it has been done, but I do not recall if it has an actual name, or if any commercial type software is available.

Essentially I am looking for a piece of software that can act as a layer over something that can capture what it says, and then put that information somewhere.

There are of course numerous OCR applications that will scan static documents with ease, but I have not seen any that do it dynamically without some sort of hardware involved.

Closer to what I am looking for I have also seen random Kinect apps that have done this in the past, and the closest I can come to finding something I am looking for is this:


The application behind the OCR layer would change every x amount of seconds in a set location (numbers and letters would vary), and I would want that OCR to capture what is displayed there, and then to display and place it is some sort of database, whether it be a text document, excel, access, or sql.

Assume that it is impossible to programmatically extract the data from the application, and the only way to pull the data is via manual input from watching it, or somehow via interactive OCR.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

[Vuitton]

Not sure about a program that does exactly what you say, but I know of ways to extract data from places that do not allow it. When I encounter situations like this what I do is use the Snippit tool to take a screenshot of the desired area I want to copy text from. Save it a JPG or whatever. Then I have a program at work called PDFdocs. It converts anything I drag and drop into it into a PDF instantaneously. It also does other things that allow PDF manipulation. From there I tell PDFdocs to OCR the document, either into a PDF or a word doc, and from there I can grab the info I want. Not exactly what you're looking for but it is a possible work around.

The other way I know of is to print out what you want to copy from. Use the Snippit tool again if you have to. Then I use a copy machine with OCR turned on and I scan the document as a PDF. I can then select text from the PDF to copy.

If it's easier/faster to type out manually then these aren't ideal solutions. If you're looking at complex and voluminous documents, then it's a big time saver.

[SephYuyX]

Hmm, good alternate idea.
Thanks.