Scan from your smartphone or Tablet is now possible, while ensuring the quality of the documents, and with the ability to run an OCR and to automatically extract data.
Dexelia-Scan-Mobile is an Android or IOS app (could be available on Windows on request) which allows to scan using Wifi scanners or using the camera of your mobile phone or tablet. At the time of the shooting, the application assists you by controlling the brightness, framing, and autofocus to ensure a good quality of the document.
The background of the document can be smooth or not (as here), with a uniform lighting or not (as here). The clipping works despite difficult lighting conditions or with low contrast between the document and the background. The document is automatically framed by a green border when the geometry is close to a rectangle, an orange or red border indicates strong distortions.
Bottom left, the application indicates whether the focus and white balance are good. Shooting is done by pressing the button 
at the top right. The button 
activates the flash. In most cases, the flash is useless, even in low light condition. When used, it may be necessary to tip up the mobile or tablet to avoid reflections. If a Wifi scanner is available, a dedicated button appears automatically.
With a single tap on the screen, a menu pops up, it allows to import a document from the photo gallery, rather than take a picture.
When shooting, auto focus unit is activated again and the picture is taken. The scanned document is now displayed inside a new window.
It is then possible to zoom in/out using the screen and to:
- Delete the document,
- Rotate the image by step of 90°.
- Share the document by using the installed applications (email, MMS, Dropbox,…)
- Launch the recognition of the document (OCR reading). Text and image are then associated when the document is sent to an external application. Depending on settings the automatic fields extraction is launched just after the OCR. The quality of modern devices provides today a resolution of 300 dpi on A4, which guarantees a good OCR recognition. The Tesseract OCR is integrated as standard, the OCR ABBYY Finereader can be integrated as an option. Automatic extraction has been already setup for ID Cards or checks and can be parameterized for any type of documents.
- Configure the application settings: OCR (language, AutoPlay) and automatic data extraction (type of document, AutoPlay)
This application can also be used from another application (email, messages, Dropbox, Web application) using the images import feature. Dexelia-Scan-Web application can be selected in the same way as other applications taking photos, available on the device.
Having the OCR processus and automatic extraction on the device provides real advantages:
- The ability to check the document quality in real time and to use the extracted data during the following processus. In fact, in most current architectures, the image is sent to a server and then processed. Sending the image is not always possible, depending on network availability, and takes time and costs. If the extracted data are not accurate, the response time could be long for the operator in front of customer. For instance, during a contract signature process, the real time data extraction will pre fill form fields and will help operator to win time.
- If some data are not accurate, due to poor original document quality, it is possible to modify the information while having the original document. If the correction is done remotely, it may happen that the image could not be read. As the original document is no more available, the customer has to provide it again.
Marketing:
Stand-alone application: A tool is available to configure the data automatic extraction according to different types of documents. The parameter file is downloaded from the Internet.
Sample application:
Insurance or phone: directly at customer’s home, an agent scans ID card or any other document in order to constitute the contract.