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AN IMPROVED HEAD SCANNER USING AN ADVANCED TEXT-RECOGNITION ALGORITHM TO IMPROVE PORTABILITY AND PERFORMANCE

Award Information
Agency: Department of Education
Branch: N/A
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: 7670
Amount: $206,000.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 1989
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
6075 E Molloy Rd
Syracuse, NY 13211
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Sudha Kailar
 () -
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP AN IMPROVED READER FOR PRINTED TEXT. THE PRESENT STANDARD IN THIS FIELD IS THE KURZWEIL READING MACHINE. THIS MACHINE HAS SEVERAL DISADVANTAGES, MOST NOTABLY ITS PHYSICAL SIZE AND WEIGHT, ITS COST, AND ITS POOR PERFORMANCE WITH CERTAIN SPECIALIZED TYPES OF FORMATS AND FONTS (E.G., CHEMICAL JOURNALS AND FADED PRINT ON DAMAGED PAPER). IT IS PROPOSED HERE TO DEVELOP A NEW SCANNER HEAD MECHANISM AND A NEW CHARACTER INTERPRETATION PROGRAM, RESULTING IN A PHYSICALLY SMALLER, ACCURATE, AND LESS COSTLY READING SYSTEMTHE SCANNER HEAD DESIGN IS MADE POSSIBLE BY IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN TYPES OF SOLID-STATE DEVICES ONLY RECENTLY AVAIL- ABLE. THE MINIATURIZATION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY RECENT AD- VANCES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CUSTOM-DESIGNED CHIPS. THE IMPROVED CHARACTGER INTERPRETATION ALGORITHM IS POSSIBLE BECAUSE, FIRST, OF A CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH IN THE CON- CEPTUALIZATION OF THE CHARACTER-RECOGNITION PROBLEM, AND SECOND, BECAUSE OF DEVELOPMENTS INT HE FIELD OF EXPERT SYSTEMS. BOTH THE SCANNER HEAD DESIGN AND THE SOFTWARE ALGORITHM ARE SUPERIOR IN PRINCIPLE TO THOSE CURRENTLY IN USE, AND SHOULD MAKE POSSIBLE THE PRODUCTION OF A PORTABLE SCANNER HAVING SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS TO BE CURRENTLY-AVAILABLE TEXT READERS.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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