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Earlier, the OCR systems required
samples of each character to read a specific font. But with
advancement, the systems can now recognize most fonts with a
high degree of accuracy.
On-line recognition
In on-line handwriting recognition, the handwritten material is
converted into letter codes that can be read by a computer and
used with any text-processing applications. The following
elements are needed for on-line handwriting recognition:
• a pen or stylus to write with
• a touch sensitive screen to write on
• a software application to interpret the writing and translate
digital text
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Apple Newton was the first PDA to
offer handwriting recognition. Apple Newton’s handwriting
recognition was based on the software’s ability to learn and
remember a user’s writing pattern. Since writing styles are so
varied, this software did not work very well. Hence, it did not
succeed. Other products that followed in this vein include the
Go's tablet computer, IBM's Thinkpad tablet computer, Microsoft
Windows for Pen, and IBM's Pen for OS/2. None of these were
commercially successful.
Palm introduced the Graffiti recognition system in their series
of PDAs in the 90s. Microsoft's Windows XPA uses a modern
handwriting recognition system in its operating system for
Tablet PCs. A Tablet PC is a notebook computer that has a
digitizer tablet and a stylus, and allows a user to handwrite
text on the tablet. The operating system recognizes the
handwriting and converts it into typewritten text.
Microsoft's system does not attempt to learn a user's writing
pattern. It has an internal recognition database containing
thousands of possible letter shapes. The technology is based on
block recognition rather than letter recognition. Each block of
handwriting is compared to a dictionary of words. The word with
the closest spelling to the written word is chosen. This works
well with the words in the dictionary but the problem arises
with proper names, terminology, email and web addresses.
Handwriting recognition as an input form has not achieved
widespread use in either desktop computers or laptops. Keyboard
input is considered both faster and more reliable. More research
and smarter technology is needed to make handwriting recognition
universally acceptable.
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