Automated identification and data capture
Encyclopedia
Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) refers to the methods of automatically identifying objects, collecting data about them, and entering that data directly into computer
systems (i.e. without human involvement). Technologies typically considered as part of AIDC include bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), biometrics
, magnetic stripes, Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
, smart cards, and voice recognition. AIDC is also commonly referred to as “Automatic Identification,” “Auto-ID,” and "Automatic Data Capture."
AIDC is the process or means of obtaining external data
, particularly through analysis of image
s, sound
s or video
s. To capture data, a transducer
is employed which converts the actual image or a sound into a digital file. The file is then stored and at a later time it can be analyzed by a computer, or compared with other files in a database to verify identity or to provide authorization to enter a secured system. Capturing of data can be done in various ways; the best method depends on application.
AIDC also refers to the methods of recognizing objects, getting information about them and entering that data or feeding it directly into computer systems without any human involvement. Automatic identification and data capture technologies include barcode
s, RFID, bokode
s, OCR
, magnetic stripes, smart card
s and biometrics
(like iris
and facial recognition system
).
In biometric security systems, capture is the acquisition of or the process of acquiring and identifying characteristics such as finger image, palm image, facial image, iris print or voice print which involves audio data and the rest all involves video data.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is relatively a new AIDC technology which was first developed in 1980’s. The technology acts as a base in automated data collection, identification and analysis systems worldwide. RFID has found its importance in a wide range of markets including livestock identification and Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI) systems because of its capability to track moving objects. These automated wireless AIDC systems are effective in manufacturing environments where barcode labels could not survive.
OCR
– for printed text recognition
ICR
– for hand-printed text recognition
OMR
– for marks recognition
OBR – for barcodes recognition
BCR – for business cards recognition
These basic technologies allow extracting information from paper documents for further processing it in the enterprise information systems such as ERP
, CRM
and others.
The documents for data capture can be divided into 3 groups: structured, semi-structured and unstructured.
Structured documents (questionnaires, tests, insurance forms, tax returns, ballots, etc.) have completely the same structure and appearance. It is the easiest type for data capture, because every data field is located at the same place for all documents.
Semi-structured documents (invoices, purchase orders, waybills, etc.) have the same structure but their appearance depends on number of items and other parameters. Capturing data from these documents is a complex, but solvable task.
Unstructured documents (letters, contracts, articles, etc.) could be flexible with structure and appearance.
The global association Auto-ID Center was founded in 1999 and is made up of 100 of the largest companies in the world such as Wal-Mart
, Coca-Cola
, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson
, Pfizer
, Procter & Gamble
, Unilever
, UPS
, companies working in the sector of technology such as SAP, Aliens, Sun as well as five academic research centers. These are based at the following Universities; MIT in the USA, Cambridge University in the UK, the University of Adelaide in Australia, Keio University in Japan and University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
The Auto-ID Center suggests a concept of a future supply chain that is based on the Internet of objects, i.e. a global application of RFID. They try to harmonize technology, processes and organization. Research is focused on miniaturization (aiming for a size of 0.3 mm/chip), reduction in the price per single device (aiming at around $0.05 per unit), the development of innovative application such as payment without any physical contact (Sony/Philips), domotics (clothes equipped with radio tags and intelligent washing machines) and, last but not least, sporting events (timing at the Berlin marathon).
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
systems (i.e. without human involvement). Technologies typically considered as part of AIDC include bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), biometrics
Biometrics
Biometrics As Jain & Ross point out, "the term biometric authentication is perhaps more appropriate than biometrics since the latter has been historically used in the field of statistics to refer to the analysis of biological data [36]" . consists of methods...
, magnetic stripes, Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
, smart cards, and voice recognition. AIDC is also commonly referred to as “Automatic Identification,” “Auto-ID,” and "Automatic Data Capture."
AIDC is the process or means of obtaining external data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
, particularly through analysis of image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
s, sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
s or video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
s. To capture data, a transducer
Transducer
A transducer is a device that converts one type of energy to another. Energy types include electrical, mechanical, electromagnetic , chemical, acoustic or thermal energy. While the term transducer commonly implies the use of a sensor/detector, any device which converts energy can be considered a...
is employed which converts the actual image or a sound into a digital file. The file is then stored and at a later time it can be analyzed by a computer, or compared with other files in a database to verify identity or to provide authorization to enter a secured system. Capturing of data can be done in various ways; the best method depends on application.
AIDC also refers to the methods of recognizing objects, getting information about them and entering that data or feeding it directly into computer systems without any human involvement. Automatic identification and data capture technologies include barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
s, RFID, bokode
Bokode
A bokode is a type of data tag which holds thousands of times more information than a barcode. They were developed by a team at the MIT Media Lab. The bokode pattern is a tiled series of Data Matrix codes. The name is a portmanteau of the words bokeh and barcode – rewritable bokodes are called...
s, OCR
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
, magnetic stripes, smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
s and biometrics
Biometrics
Biometrics As Jain & Ross point out, "the term biometric authentication is perhaps more appropriate than biometrics since the latter has been historically used in the field of statistics to refer to the analysis of biological data [36]" . consists of methods...
(like iris
Iris recognition
Iris recognition is an automated method of biometric identification that uses mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on video images of the irides of an individual's eyes, whose complex random patterns are unique and can be seen from some distance....
and facial recognition system
Facial recognition system
A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source...
).
In biometric security systems, capture is the acquisition of or the process of acquiring and identifying characteristics such as finger image, palm image, facial image, iris print or voice print which involves audio data and the rest all involves video data.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is relatively a new AIDC technology which was first developed in 1980’s. The technology acts as a base in automated data collection, identification and analysis systems worldwide. RFID has found its importance in a wide range of markets including livestock identification and Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI) systems because of its capability to track moving objects. These automated wireless AIDC systems are effective in manufacturing environments where barcode labels could not survive.
Capturing data from printed documents
One of the most useful application tasks of data capture is collecting information from paper documents and saving it into databases (CMS, ECM and other systems). There are several types of basic technologies used for data capture according to the data type:OCR
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
– for printed text recognition
ICR
Intelligent Character Recognition
In computer science, intelligent character recognition is an advanced optical character recognition or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition...
– for hand-printed text recognition
OMR
Optical mark recognition
Optical Mark Recognition is the process of capturing human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.-OMR background:...
– for marks recognition
OBR – for barcodes recognition
BCR – for business cards recognition
These basic technologies allow extracting information from paper documents for further processing it in the enterprise information systems such as ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
, CRM
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
and others.
The documents for data capture can be divided into 3 groups: structured, semi-structured and unstructured.
Structured documents (questionnaires, tests, insurance forms, tax returns, ballots, etc.) have completely the same structure and appearance. It is the easiest type for data capture, because every data field is located at the same place for all documents.
Semi-structured documents (invoices, purchase orders, waybills, etc.) have the same structure but their appearance depends on number of items and other parameters. Capturing data from these documents is a complex, but solvable task.
Unstructured documents (letters, contracts, articles, etc.) could be flexible with structure and appearance.
| Developer | Basic Technologies | Data Capture Application | Data Capture SDK |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABBYY ABBYY ABBYY is a Russian software company, headquartered in Moscow, that provides optical character recognition, document capture and language software for both PC and mobile devices.-History:ABBYY was founded in 1989 by David Yang... |
OCR (195 languages), ICR (113 languages), OMR, OBR, BCR |
ABBYY FlexiCapture FlexiCapture ABBYY FlexiCapture is data and document capture software developed by ABBYY, that automatically converts documents into electronic form. It was named as one of the trend-setting products in 2007 and 2010 by KMWorld Magazine.... is an intelligent data and document capture software that delivers automated processing of any type of structured, semi-structured and unstructured documents and forms |
ABBYY FlexiCapture Engine is a data and document capture SDK for any type of structured, semi-structured and unstructured documents and forms |
| Accusoft Pegasus | OCR (118 languages), ICR (11 languages), OMR, OBR |
ImageGear for .NET is an SDK that delivers fully managed code for WinForms, ASP.NET, and WPF application development. Optional Recognition component enables a comprehensive integrated OCR toolkit. FormSuite, available for .NET or ActiveX, is a structured forms processing SDK designed to handle forms processing from scanning to recognition. Barcode recognition and creation can also be added. |
|
| AnyDoc Software AnyDoc Software AnyDoc Software, founded in 1989 as Microsystems Technology, Inc., is a company based in Tampa, Florida that develops, sells, installs, and supports enterprise content management software which captures data from scanned documents or images into machine-readable text for back-office applications... |
OCR (4 languages), ICR, OMR, OBR |
OCR for AnyDoc automates data capture from all business documents, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents by incorporating AnyApp Technology for template-free processing. | |
| Artsyl | OCR (120 languages), ICR (Latin based languages), OMR, OBR, BCR |
Artsyl docAlpha is a server based Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR) software which performs fully automated distributed data capture, classification, extraction and document processing of any structured, semi-structured or unstructured documents Artsyl SimpleCapture is a desktop data capture, extraction and document processing software with self-learning capabilities for processing any type of structured, semi-structured or unstructured documents and forms |
|
| Cvision Technologies | OCR (60 languages), ICR (60 languages), OMR, OBR |
Cvision's Trapeze is an intelligent software that is able to recognize and capture text from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents including forms, invoices, and EOBs | Cvision's Trapeze's SDK captures data from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents including forms, invoices, and EOBs |
| Expervision ExperVision ExperVision, Inc is a technology company in California founded in 1987 whose main product is optical character recognition systems. It is now owned by ExperExchange, Inc., but retains the trading name ExperVision.... |
OCR (18 languages), ICR (18 languages), OMR, OBR, BCR |
Expervision TypeReader Expervision TypeReader can automatically process full text documents. In under the premise of accurately identification, its processing speed can reach above 100 pages each minute. | Expervision OpenRTK Engine is an intelligent capture data and document processing SDK. It has flexible language support function, in theory, it can support additional anyone language and train the engine to adapt various fonts according to customize demand. Customized API definition and development are supported. |
| I.R.I.S. Group I.R.I.S. Group IRIS : Image recognition integrated systems is a computer software technology company that provides text recognition and document management solutions. IRIS is headquartered in Louvain-la-Neuve, in Belgium.-IRIS history:... |
OCR (120 languages), ICR (Latin based languages), OMR, OBR, BCR |
IRISCapture for Invoices – invoice processing solution IRISCapture Pro for Forms is an intelligent software suite that automatically captures, sorts and identifies all types of documents and forms |
|
| LEADTOOLS | OCR (118 languages), ICR (15 languages), OMR, OBR, BCR |
LEADTOOLS Forms Recognition module is a .NET SDK that harnesses the power of LEAD's image processing technology to intelligently identify form components and features that can be used to recognize structured forms | |
| Nuance Communications Nuance Communications Nuance Communications is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA, that provides speech and imaging applications... |
OCR (120 languages), ICR, OMR, OBR, BCR |
OmniPage Professional 17 makes structured forms made easy from start to finish. You can turn paper forms into electronic forms and then collect the data. | OmniPage Capture SDK for Windows with its advanced Logical Form Recognition (LFR) automates form template creation and structured forms processing. |
| Peladon Software | OCR (118 languages), ICR (15 languages), OMR, OBR, BCR |
DocXP Intelligent Document Capture is a complete capture solution that includes image and keyword based document classification and template and free-form data extraction technologies for processing any document type including invoices, structured forms and unstructured mixed mail. | |
The Internet of Things and the supply chain of the future – Auto-ID initiative
The idea is as simple as its application is difficult. If all cans, books, shoes or parts of cars are equipped with minuscule identifying devices, daily life on our planet will undergo a transformation. Things like running out of stock or wasted products will no longer exist as we will know exactly what is being consumed on the other side of the globe. Theft will be a thing of the past as we will know where a product is at all times.The global association Auto-ID Center was founded in 1999 and is made up of 100 of the largest companies in the world such as Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
, Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
, Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
, Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
, UPS
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
, companies working in the sector of technology such as SAP, Aliens, Sun as well as five academic research centers. These are based at the following Universities; MIT in the USA, Cambridge University in the UK, the University of Adelaide in Australia, Keio University in Japan and University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
The Auto-ID Center suggests a concept of a future supply chain that is based on the Internet of objects, i.e. a global application of RFID. They try to harmonize technology, processes and organization. Research is focused on miniaturization (aiming for a size of 0.3 mm/chip), reduction in the price per single device (aiming at around $0.05 per unit), the development of innovative application such as payment without any physical contact (Sony/Philips), domotics (clothes equipped with radio tags and intelligent washing machines) and, last but not least, sporting events (timing at the Berlin marathon).
AIDC 100
AIDC 100 is a professional organization for the automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) industry. This group is composed of individuals who made substantial contributions to the advancement of the industry. Increasing business's understanding of AIDC processes and technologies are the primary goals of the organization.See also
- Auto-ID LabsAuto-ID LabsThe Auto-ID Labs network is a research group in the field of networked radio-frequency identification and emerging sensing technologies. The labs consist of seven research universities located on four different continents. These institutions were chosen by the former Auto-ID Center to design the...
- Device management
- Field Service ManagementField Service ManagementField service management is an attempt to optimize processes and information needed by companies who send technicians or staff "into the field" . Optimization is difficult, since it involves intelligent scheduling and dispatching of multiple technicians to different locations daily, while...
- Mobile EnterpriseMobile EnterpriseMobile enterprise is general term to describe a corporation or large organization that supports critical business functions and use of business applications via wireless mobile devices...
- Mobile Asset ManagementMobile asset managementMobile asset management is managing availability and serviceability of assets used to move, store, secure, protect and control inventory within the enterprise and along the supply chain or in conjunction with service providing.Mobile assets are e.g...
- Ubiquitous computingUbiquitous computingUbiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...
- Digital MailroomDigital mailroomDigital mailroom is a term used to describe the automation of incoming mail processes. Using document scanning and document capture technologies companies can digitise incoming mail and automate the classification and distribution of mail within the organisation...