\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename ocrad.info
@documentencoding ISO-8859-15
@settitle GNU Ocrad Manual
@finalout
@c %**end of header

@set UPDATED 10 March 2014
@set VERSION 0.23

@dircategory GNU Packages
@direntry
* Ocrad: (ocrad).               The GNU OCR program
@end direntry


@ifnothtml
@titlepage
@title GNU Ocrad
@subtitle The GNU OCR Program
@subtitle for GNU Ocrad version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
@author by Antonio Diaz Diaz

@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@end titlepage

@contents
@end ifnothtml

@node Top
@top

This manual is for GNU Ocrad (version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}).

@sp 1
GNU Ocrad is an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program and library
based on a feature extraction method. It reads images in pbm (bitmap),
pgm (greyscale) or ppm (color) formats and produces text in @w{byte
(8-bit)} or UTF-8 formats. The pbm, pgm and ppm formats are collectively
known as pnm.

Ocrad includes a layout analyser able to separate the columns or blocks
of text normally found on printed pages.

@menu
* Character sets::              Input charsets and output formats
* Invoking ocrad::              Command line interface
* Library version::             Checking library version
* Library functions::           Descriptions of the library functions
* Library error codes::         Meaning of codes returned by functions
* Image format conversion::     How to convert other formats to pnm
* Algorithm::                   How ocrad does its job
* OCR results file::            Description of the ORF file format
* Problems::                    Reporting bugs
* Concept index::               Index of concepts
@end menu

@sp 1
Copyright @copyright{} 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Antonio Diaz Diaz.

This manual is free documentation: you have unlimited permission
to copy, distribute and modify it.


@node Character sets
@chapter Character sets
@cindex input charsets
@cindex output format

The character set internally used by ocrad is ISO 10646, also known as
UCS (Universal Character Set), which can represent over two thousand
million characters (2^31).

As it is unpractical to try to recognize one among so many different
characters, you can tell ocrad what character sets to recognize. You do
this with the @samp{--charset} option.

If the input page contains characters from only one character set, say
@w{@samp{ISO-8859-15}}, you can use the default @samp{byte} output
format. But in a page with @w{@samp{ISO-8859-9}} and
@w{@samp{ISO-8859-15}} characters, you can't tell if a code of 0xFD
represents a 'latin small letter i dotless' or a 'latin small letter y
with acute'. You should use @w{@samp{--format=utf8}} instead.@*
Of course, you may request UTF-8 output in any case.

@sp 1
NOTE: 10^9 is a thousand millions, a billion is a million millions
(million^2), a trillion is a million million millions (million^3), and
so on. Please, don't "embrace and extend" the meaning of prefixes,
making communication among all people difficult. Thanks.


@node Invoking ocrad
@chapter Invoking ocrad
@cindex invoking
@cindex options
@cindex usage
@cindex version

The format for running ocrad is:

@example
ocrad [@var{options}] [@var{files}]
@end example

Ocrad supports the following options:

@table @samp
@item -h
@itemx --help
Print an informative help message describing the options and exit.
@w{@samp{ocrad --verbose --help}} describes also hidden options.

@item -V
@itemx --version
Print the version number of ocrad on the standard output and exit.

@item -a
@itemx --append
Append generated text to the output file instead of overwriting it.

@item -c @var{name}
@itemx --charset=@var{name}
Enable recognition of the characters belonging to the given character set.
You can repeat this option multiple times with different names for
processing a page with characters from different character sets.@*
If no charset is specified, @w{@samp{iso-8859-15}} (latin9) is assumed.@*
Try @w{@samp{--charset=help}} for a list of valid charset names.

@item -e @var{name}
@itemx --filter=@var{name}
Pass the output text through the given postprocessing filter.@*
@w{@samp{--filter=letters}} forces every character that resembles a
letter to be recognized as a letter. Other characters will be output
without change.@*
@w{@samp{--filter=letters_only}}, same as @w{@samp{--filter=letters}},
but other characters will be discarded.@*
@w{@samp{--filter=numbers}} forces every character that resembles a
number to be recognized as a number. Other characters will be output
without change.@*
@w{@samp{--filter=numbers_only}}, same as @w{@samp{--filter=numbers}}
but other characters will be discarded.@*
Try @w{@samp{--filter=help}} for a list of valid filter names.

@item -f
@itemx --force
Force overwrite of output files.

@item -F @var{name}
@itemx --format=@var{name}
Select the output format. The valid names are @samp{byte} and @samp{utf8}.@*
If no output format is specified, @samp{byte} (8 bit) is assumed.

@item -i
@itemx --invert
Invert image levels (white on black).

@item -l
@itemx --layout
Enable page layout analysis. Ocrad is able to separate blocks of text of
arbitrary shape as long as they are clearly delimited by white space.

@item -o @var{file}
@itemx --output=@var{file}
Place the output into @var{file} instead of into the standard output.

@item -q
@itemx --quiet
Quiet operation.

@item -s @var{value}
@itemx --scale=@var{value}
Scale up the input image by @var{value} before layout analysis and
recognition. If @var{value} is negative, the input image is scaled down
by @var{-value}.

@item -t @var{name}
@itemx --transform=@var{name}
Perform given transformation (rotation or mirroring) on the input image
before scaling, layout analysis and recognition.@*
Try @w{@samp{--transform=help}} for a list of valid transformation names.

@item -T @var{value}
@itemx --threshold=@var{value}
Set binarization threshold for pgm or ppm files or for @samp{--scale}
option (only for scaled down images). @var{value} should be a rational
number between 0 and 1, and may be given as a percentage (50%), a
fraction (1/2), or a decimal value (0.5). Image values greater than
threshold are converted to white. The default value is 0.5.

@item -u @var{left},@var{top},@var{width},@var{height}
@itemx --cut=@var{left},@var{top},@var{width},@var{height}
Cut the input image by the rectangle defined by @var{left}, @var{top},
@var{width} and @var{height}. Values may be relative to the image size
@w{(-1.0 <= value <= +1.0)}, or absolute @w{(abs( value ) > 1)}.
Negative values of @var{left}, @var{top} are relative to the
right-bottom corner of the image. Values of @var{width} and @var{height}
must be positive. Absolute and relative values can be mixed. For example
@w{@samp{ocrad --cut 700,960,1,1}} will extract from @samp{700,960} to
the right-bottom corner of the image.@*
The cutting is performed before any other transformation (rotation or
mirroring) on the input image, and before scaling, layout analysis and
recognition.

@item -v
@itemx --verbose
Verbose mode.

@item -x @var{file}
@itemx --export=@var{file}
Write (export) OCR results file to @var{file} (@pxref{OCR results file}).
@w{@samp{-x -}} writes to stdout, overriding text output except if
output has been also redirected with the @samp{-o} option.

@end table

Exit status: 0 for a normal exit, 1 for environmental problems (file not
found, invalid flags, I/O errors, etc), 2 to indicate a corrupt or
invalid input file, 3 for an internal consistency error (eg, bug) which
caused ocrad to panic.


@node Library version
@chapter Library version
@cindex library version

@deftypefun {const char *} OCRAD_version ( void )
Returns the library version as a string.
@end deftypefun

@deftypevr Constant {const char *} OCRAD_version_string
This constant is defined in the header file @samp{ocradlib.h}.
@end deftypevr

The application should compare OCRAD_version and OCRAD_version_string
for consistency. If the first character differs, the library code
actually used may be incompatible with the @samp{ocradlib.h} header file
used by the application.

@example
if( OCRAD_version()[0] != OCRAD_version_string[0] )
  error( "bad library version" );
@end example


@node Library functions
@chapter Library functions
@cindex library functions

These are the OCRAD library functions. In case of error, all of them
return -1 or a null pointer, except @samp{OCRAD_open} whose return value
must be verified by calling @samp{OCRAD_get_errno} before using it.


@deftypefun {struct OCRAD_Descriptor *} OCRAD_open ( void )
Initializes the internal library state and returns a pointer that can
only be used as the @var{ocrdes} argument for the other OCRAD functions,
or a null pointer if the descriptor could not be allocated.

The returned pointer must be verified by calling @samp{OCRAD_get_errno}
before using it. If @samp{OCRAD_get_errno} does not return
@samp{OCRAD_ok}, the returned pointer must not be used and should be
freed with @samp{OCRAD_close} to avoid memory leaks.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_close ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes} )
Frees all dynamically allocated data structures for this descriptor.
After a call to @samp{OCRAD_close}, @var{ocrdes} can no more be used as
an argument to any OCRAD function.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun {enum OCRAD_Errno} OCRAD_get_errno ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes} )
Returns the current error code for @var{ocrdes} (@pxref{Library error codes}).
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_set_image ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const struct OCRAD_Pixmap * const @var{image}, const bool @var{invert} )
Loads @var{image} into the internal buffer. If @var{invert} is true,
image levels are inverted (white on black). Loading a new image deletes
any previous text results.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_set_image_from_file ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const char * const @var{filename}, const bool @var{invert} )
Loads a image from the file @var{filename} into the internal buffer. If
@var{invert} is true, image levels are inverted (white on black).
Loading a new image deletes any previous text results.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_set_utf8_format ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const bool @var{utf8} )
Set the output format to @samp{byte} (if @var{utf8}=false) or to
@samp{utf8}. By default ocrad produces @samp{byte} (8 bit) output.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_set_threshold ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const int @var{threshold} )
Set binarization threshold for greymap or RGB images. @var{threshold}
values between 0 and 255 set a fixed threshold. A value of -1 sets an
automatic threshold. Pixel values greater than the resulting threshold
are converted to white. The default threshold value if this function is
not called is 127.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_scale ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const int @var{value} )
Scale up the image in the internal buffer by @var{value}. If @var{value}
is negative, the image is scaled down by @var{-value}.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_recognize ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const bool @var{layout} )
Recognize the image loaded in the internal buffer and produce text
results which can be later retrieved with the @samp{OCRAD_result}
functions. The same image can be recognized as many times as desired,
for example setting a new threshold each time for 3D greymap
recognition. Every time this function is called, the produced text
results replace any previous ones. If @var{layout} is true, page layout
analysis is enabled, probably producing more than one text block.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_result_blocks ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes} )
Returns the number of text blocks found in the image by the layout
analyser or 1 if no layout analysis was requested.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_result_lines ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const int @var{blocknum} )
Returns the number of text lines contained in the given text block.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_result_chars_total ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes} )
Returns the total number of text characters contained in the recognized
image.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_result_chars_block ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const int @var{blocknum} )
Returns the number of text characters contained in the given text block.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_result_chars_line ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const int @var{blocknum}, const int @var{linenum} )
Returns the number of text characters contained in the given text line.
@end deftypefun



@deftypefun {const char *} OCRAD_result_line ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes}, const int @var{blocknum}, const int @var{linenum} )
Returns the line of text specified by @var{blocknum} and @var{linenum}.
@end deftypefun


@deftypefun int OCRAD_result_first_character ( struct OCRAD_Descriptor * const @var{ocrdes} )
Returns the byte result for the first character in the image. Returns 0
if the image has no characters or if the first character could not be
recognized. This function is a convenient short cut to the result for
images containing a single character.
@end deftypefun


@node Library error codes
@chapter Library error codes
@cindex library error codes

Most library functions return -1 or a null pointer to indicate that they
have failed. But this return value only tells you that an error has
occurred. To find out what kind of error it was, you need to verify the
error code by calling @samp{OCRAD_get_errno}.

Library functions do not change the value returned by
@samp{OCRAD_get_errno} when they succeed; thus, the value returned by
@samp{OCRAD_get_errno} after a successful call is not necessarily
OCRAD_ok, and you should not use @samp{OCRAD_get_errno} to determine
whether a call failed. If the call failed, then you can examine
@samp{OCRAD_get_errno}.

The error codes are defined in the header file @samp{ocradlib.h}.

@deftypevr Constant {enum OCRAD_Errno} OCRAD_ok
The value of this constant is 0 and is used to indicate that there is no
error.
@end deftypevr

@deftypevr Constant {enum OCRAD_Errno} OCRAD_bad_argument
At least one of the arguments passed to the library function was
invalid.
@end deftypevr

@deftypevr Constant {enum OCRAD_Errno} OCRAD_mem_error
No memory available. The system cannot allocate more virtual memory
because its capacity is full.
@end deftypevr

@deftypevr Constant {enum OCRAD_Errno} OCRAD_sequence_error
A library function was called in the wrong order. For example
@samp{OCRAD_result_line} was called before @samp{OCRAD_recognize}.
@end deftypevr

@deftypevr Constant {enum OCRAD_Errno} OCRAD_library_error
A bug was detected in the library. Please, report it (@pxref{Problems}).
@end deftypevr


@node Image format conversion
@chapter Image format conversion
@cindex image format conversion

There are a lot of image formats, but ocrad is able to decode only three
of them; pbm, pgm and ppm. In this chapter you will find command
examples and advice about how to convert image files to a format that
ocrad can manage.

@table @samp
@item .png
Portable Network Graphics file. Use the command
@w{@code{pngtopnm filename.png | ocrad}}.@*
In some cases, like the ocrad.png icon, you have to invert the image
with the @samp{-i} option: @w{@code{pngtopnm filename.png | ocrad -i}}.

@item .ps
@itemx .pdf
Postscript or Portable Document Format file. Use the command
@w{@code{gs -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -sDEVICE=pnmraw -r300 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=- -q filename.ps | ocrad}}.@*
You may also use the command
@w{@code{pstopnm -stdout -dpi=300 -pgm filename.ps | ocrad}},@*
but it seems not to work with pdf files. Also old versions of
@code{pstopnm} don't recognize the @samp{-dpi} option and produce an
image too small for OCR.

@item .tiff
TIFF file. Use the command@*
@w{@code{tifftopnm filename.tiff | ocrad}}.

@item .jpg
JPEG file. Use the command
@w{@code{djpeg -greyscale -pnm filename.jpg | ocrad}}.@*
JPEG is a lossy format and is in general not recommended for text images.

@item .pnm.gz
Pnm file compressed with gzip. Use the command
@w{@code{gzip -cd filename.pnm.gz | ocrad}}

@item .pnm.lz
Pnm file compressed with lzip. Use the command
@w{@code{lzip -cd filename.pnm.lz | ocrad}}

@end table


@node Algorithm
@chapter Algorithm
@cindex algorithm

Ocrad is mainly a research project. Many of the algorithms ocrad uses
are ad hoc, and will change in successive releases as I myself gain
understanding about OCR issues.

The overall working of ocrad may be described as follows:@*
1) Read the image.@*
2) Optionally, perform some transformations (cut, rotate, scale, etc).@*
3) Optionally, perform layout detection.@*
4) Remove frames and pictures.@*
5) Detect characters and group them in lines.@*
6) Recognize characters (very ad hoc; one algorithm per character).@*
7) Correct some ambiguities (transform l.OOO into 1.000, etc).@*
8) Output result.

@sp 1
Ocrad recognizes characters by its shape, and the reason it is so fast
is that it does not compare the shape of every character against some
sort of database of shapes and then chooses the best match. Instead of
this, ocrad only compares the shape differences that are relevant to
choose between two character categories, mostly like a binary search.

As there is no such thing as a free lunch, this approach has some
drawbacks. It makes ocrad very sensitive to character defects, and makes
difficult to modify ocrad to recognize new characters.


@node OCR results file
@chapter OCR results file
@cindex OCR results file

Calling ocrad with option @samp{-x} produces an OCR results file (ORF),
that is, a parsable file containing the OCR results. The ORF format is
as follows:

@itemize @minus
@item
Any line beginning with @samp{#} is a comment line.
@item
The first non-comment line has the form
@w{@samp{source file @var{filename}}}, where @var{filename} is the name
of the file being processed (@samp{-} for stdin). This is the only line
guaranteed to exist for every input file read without errors. If the
file, or any block or line, has no text, the corresponding part in the
ORF file will be missing.
@item
The second non-comment line has the form
@w{@samp{total text blocks @var{n}}}, where @var{n} is the total number
of text blocks in the source image.
@end itemize

@noindent
For each text block in the source image, the following data follows:

@itemize @minus
@item
A line in the form @w{@samp{text block @var{i} @var{x y w h}}}. Where
@var{i} is the block number and @var{x y w h} are the block position and
size as described below for character boxes.
@item
A line in the form @samp{lines @var{n}}. Where @var{n} is the number of
lines in this block.
@end itemize

@noindent
For each line in every text block, the following data follows:

@itemize @minus
@item
A line in the form @samp{line @var{i} chars @var{n} height @var{h}},
where @var{i} is the line number, @var{n} is the number of characters in
this line, and @var{h} is the mean height of the characters in this line
(in pixels).
@item
N lines (one for every character) in the form
@w{@samp{@var{x} @var{y} @var{w} @var{h}; @var{g}[, '@var{c}'@var{v}]...}},
where:@*
@var{x} is the left border (x-coordinate) of the char bounding box in the
source image (in pixels).@*
@var{y} is the top border (y-coordinate).@*
@var{w} is the width of the bounding box.@*
@var{h} is the height of the bounding box.@*
@var{g} is the number of different recognition guesses for this character.@*
The result characters follow after the number of guesses in the form of
a comma-separated list of pairs. Every pair is formed by the actual
recognised char @var{c} enclosed in single quotes, followed by the
confidence value @var{v}, without space between them. The higher the
value of confidence, the more confident is the result.
@end itemize

Running @code{./ocrad -x test.orf examples/test.pbm} in the source directory
will give you an example ORF file.


@node Problems
@chapter Reporting bugs
@cindex bugs
@cindex getting help

There are probably bugs in ocrad. There are certainly errors and
omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get fixed. If
you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will remain unfixed
for all eternity, if not longer.

If you find a bug in GNU Ocrad, please send electronic mail to
@email{bug-ocrad@@gnu.org}. Include the version number, which you can
find by running @w{@samp{ocrad --version}}.


@node Concept index
@unnumbered Concept index

@printindex cp

@bye
