MCLC: OCR software for Chinese (3)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: bob eng <robert_eng at redlands.edu>
Subject: OCR software for Chinese (3)
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In addition to ABBYY FineReader version 11, Readiris Pro 11 & TwinBridge's
Dan Ching Chinese, Japanese & English OCR suggested by Sterling Swallow &
Marjorie Chan on the list, below are some additional tips on
OCR/Handwriting Recognition/Speech Recognition sent by other MCLC list
members off list.

* Fujitsu Lifebook Tablet PC with multitouch & stylus input (or any
Windows Tablet PC)

     -I did some additional investigation on this option. Here's what I
found so far.

     -According to Microsoft, for Windows XP Tablet PC edition, you can
download a Tablet PC Recognizer Pack
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828729>, which provides handwriting
recognition engines for 9 languages, including Chinese (both Taiwan &
PRC), Japanese & Korean, & 4 speech-recognition engines, including Chinese
(both Taiwan & PRC) & Japanese, as well as English (US).

     -As for Windows Vista, according to Microsoft's page on Personalize
handwriting recognition for another language
<http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Personalize-handwriting-r
ecognition-for-another-language>, "Handwriting recognition personalization
is currently available for English, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional),
Chinese (Simplified), and Korean only."

     -As for Windows 7, Download a language pack to get handwriting
recognition for another language
<http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Download-a-language-pack-to-ge
t-handwriting-recognition-for-another-language>, language packs to support
handwriting recognition are available for Chinese (Traditional), Chinese
(Simplified), Japanese, & Korean.  These are availabe only for Windows 7
Ultimate (optional update) & Windows Enterprise.

     -Also, according to Dictate text using Speech Recognition
<http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Dictate-text-using-Speech-Reco
gnition> on Microsoft's site, speech recognition is available on Windows 7
for Chinese (both Traditional & Simplified) and Japanese. However, I have
not found specifics on whether it's a built-in feature that needs
activation or whether you need to download some software (as in the case
of Windows XP).

* Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.0 (or later) can be used to convert scanned
Chinese documents into editable Chinese text.

* Dragon Dictation, free on the iPad, can translate Mandarin speech into
editable text.

* Chinese Plus <http://www.biderworld.com/chineseplus.asp> by Biderworld
on Windows "has many features including conversions between simplified to
traditional and vice versa, add pinyin, and OCR is built into the system."

Many thanks to list members for sharing their experiences and information.

Bob