Table of Contents Copyrights................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Introducing the IRISPen..................................................... 3 What is the IRISPen? ...................................................................................3 How does it work?........................................................................................5 The steps to follow... ............................................................
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide Left-handed scanning .................................................................................28 Vertical text (optional) ...............................................................................29 Negative image...........................................................................................30 Small print..................................................................................................31 Unknown symbol ...............................
Copyrights Copyrights ©1993-2007 I.R.I.S. All Rights Reserved. The IRISPen Mini, the IRISPen Express, the IRISPen Executive, the IRISPen Translator software were designed and developed by I.R.I.S. OCR ("Optical Character Recognition") and Linguistic technology by I.R.I.S. I.R.I.S.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING THE IRISPEN WHAT IS THE IRISPEN? The IRISPen is a hand-held pen scanner and software that allows you to scan data and instantly convert it into real editable text with the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology of I.R.I.S. The result is directly available in any Windows or Mac application. Major applications You will use the IRISPen to scan and enter into your active application any of the following: - notes and short entries like addresses, phone numbers, etc.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide barcodes, handprinting, dot matrix text, scan multiple lines at a time, or even read out or translate the scanned lines. The IRISPen series Here is the IRISPen series. Each version offers a different range of functionalities. - IRISPen Mini (+ Asian version) - IRISPen Express (+ Asian version)* - IRISPen Executive (+ Asian version)* - IRISPen Translator (*) Available for Windows and for Mac OS X.
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCING THE IRISPEN The OCR technology The IRISPen integrates the latest OCR (Optical Character Recognition) engine developed by I.R.I.S. It is able to recognize lines of text with top accuracy in up to 125 languages. All American and European languages are supported, including Central-European languages. Greek, Turkish, the Cyrillic ("Russian") and the Baltic languages and Hebrew are also supported.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide in the center of the scanning head, directly under the guide line. ! Yellow is the IRISPen's invisible color. It cannot be picked up by the scanner. Do not scan any data printed in yellow. Also see: Additional options: Left-handed scanning, Vertical text, Negative image. Warning: The pen scanning band is 0.41" (10.5mm.) high and covers in many cases several lines of text.
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCING THE IRISPEN Incorrect positions • Once you have reached the end of the line, lift the IRISPen. Make sure you lift it after the last character of the line. ! Do not scan a line longer than 12" (30.5 cm). The scanning stops as soon as this line length is exceeded. • Operate exactly the same way for the next line.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide dot matrix text, etc. - and in which language, you must select the appropriate basic settings and if necessary, fine-tune these settings via the frequent commands. See: Basic parameters. 2. Open the target application and position your cursor Choose the application in which you want to insert the read data: open your target document, spreadsheet, database, etc. Place your cursor at the position where you want to insert the data.
CHAPTER 2 INSTALLATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Here is the minimal system configuration required to use the IRISPen for Mac OS X: • A MAC OS computer with either a PowerPC (minimum G3)- or an Intel processor. • The operating system MAC OS X version 10.3.9 (PowerPC chip), or version 10.4.3 ("Tiger - Mac OS X on Intel") (Intel chip). • 150 MB of free hard disk space. • A free USB port. The IRISPen requires a USB port that provides sufficient power: USB ports on the computer and USB "hubs" do fine.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide To install the IRISPen: • First start your computer and log on as administrator or make sure you have the necessary administration rights. • Insert the CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive. • Double-click on the CD-ROM icon from the desktop. The IRISPen window appears. • Double-click on the IRISPen Installer icon to run the installation. Then fill in your name and password and follow the on-screen instructions.
CHAPTER 2 - INSTALLATION USA - Hotline 1-561-921-0847 / 800-447-4744 (working hours) - Fax: 1-561-921-0854 - support@irisusa.com HOW TO REGISTER? Don't forget to register your IRISPen! By doing so, you will: - be kept informed of future product developments and related I.R.I.S. products, - be entitled to free product support - be entitled to special offers on I.R.I.S. products How to register? Registration form You can directly access the registration form on the I.R.I.S. Web site: http://www.irislink.
CHAPTER 3 STARTING UP THE APPLICATION WINDOWS The IRISPen Palette The IRISPen Palette appears above the dock, on the left side. It comprises a series of buttons that give access to all basic parameters. A tooltip appears when you hold the mouse cursor over each of its button. The IRISPen Palette can be hidden using the closing button on the top corner or using the Hide Palette option from the View menu. To reopen it, select Show Palette from the View menu.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide The Scan window The Scan window appears above the dock. It allows you to see the image you generate with your pen. You can use it to check the quality of the scanning. By default, the image produced is a grayscale image. You can display a black&white version of the image by deselecting the option Grayscale Image from the View menu. The window contains a Status bar that gives information to the user.
CHAPTER 3 - STARTING UP CALIBRATING THE PEN SCANNER Before you start using the IRISPen, you must calibrate the pen scanner. If you don't calibrate the scanner, the image quality will be low and the recognition results may be mediocre. You are automatically prompted to calibrate the pen scanner when running the software for the first time. All you need to do is push your pen on a white piece of paper for a few seconds. The software indicates when the calibration is complete.
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CHAPTER 4 BASIC PARAMETERS SELECTING THE READING MODE Before you start using the IRISPen, you must select the appropriate reading mode. The reading mode determines the nature of the data to be scanned and read with your pen. To select the Reading mode: • Click on Select the reading mode in the IRISPen Palette or select Reading Mode from the Settings menu, and select the appropriate reading mode: Text (default value) To read machine-printed text in a certain language.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide languages in the IRISPen Palette or select Languages from the Settings menu, and select Numeric. By doing so, you will limit the set of used characters to numeric symbols only and eliminate any possible confusion between figures and letters like "5" and "S", ""9" and "g", "8" and "B", etc. Image To produce a grayscale image of small graphics such as signatures, mathematical formulae, logos, small pictures, etc.
CHAPTER 4 - BASIC PARAMETERS names, etc.). The IRISPen will automatically switch languages whenever needed. To select the language: Lists of available languages in the IRISPen Palette • Click on or select Languages from the Settings menu, and select the language in which the data is to be read in the list of available languages. The top part of the list gathers the languages that were selected recently. Click on Other to access the whole list of available languages.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide CHOOSING THE OUTPUT TARGET You can choose the way the read data is being inserted in your active application: either via "keyboard emulation", which sends the data directly into the active application, or via the clipboard, which requires a manual Paste or CTRL+V command. You can also determine some other elements such as the font and the size of the inserted data.
CHAPTER 4 - BASIC PARAMETERS • If you have selected Clipboard as output target, you have access to the following advanced options via the button Choose the output target in the IRISPen Palette or the command Options from the Settings menu. Select the required options and values, then click on OK to confirm. Include font and size You can determine the font and the size of the data to be inserted in the active application.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide sequences, add characters, switch from one reading mode to another, etc. without having to touch your keyboard. The buttons programming is particularly useful, for example, when entering data into a database: you can program the command to get to the next field and program the to move the cursor to the next row. When entering amounts in a spreadsheet, you can program the keying of the currency ("$", etc.).
CHAPTER 4 - BASIC PARAMETERS • Select the button to be programmed (left or right), then select the operation to be executed with a single click and/or double click (use the arrows on the right). Click OK to confirm and close the window. Frequent operations are proposed. The User String option can be used to program custom operations. None This corresponds to a "null" operation. A single or double click will not trigger off any action. This option is usually used to deactivate a programmed operation.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide SETTING THE TEXT ALIGNMENT With the Text Alignment feature, you can indicate how the scanned lines must be delimited. Where should the reading actually start if a word has been cropped during scanning? How should hyphens be interpreted when occurring at the end of a line? Should prefixes or suffixes be added before and/or after the read data? To set the text alignment: Set the text Alignment in the IRISPen Palette or • Click on select Alignment from the Settings menu.
CHAPTER 4 - BASIC PARAMETERS when you scan text from columns (like in magazines, etc.): if you start scanning slightly on the previous word/column and end scanning on the next one, the unwanted parts can be deleted. Select this option if you want to ignore the rejected characters at the beginning and at the end of the scan. If characters are rejected within the lines, these will be kept for the output. Also see: Additional options, Unknown Symbol.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide The default ending code is: . If you insert data into a database, you can select the suffix to automatically position the cursor in the next field.
CHAPTER 5 ADDITIONAL OPTIONS ENDING SOUND The Sound option enables to activate a beep sound during the scanning: you will hear a beep sound when the pen scanner stops scanning and when the recognized data is being sent to the target application or clipboard. To activate the beep sound: • Select Sound from the Options menu. You can choose a sound within a wide range of possible sounds. Select the sound that you prefer. The option None is used to deactivate the ending sound.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide LEFT-HANDED SCANNING By default, the pen scanner is set to operate from left to right, but you can adapt the scanning direction and scan from right to left. You will follow this scanning direction if you are left-handed. You will also operate this way if you intend to read right-to-left text like e.g. in Hebrew. To scan from right to left: • Select the option Left-handed Scanning under the Options menu.
CHAPTER 5 - ADDITIONAL OPTIONS Note: If you select Hebrew as recognition language, the option Left-handed Scanning will be grayed out. VERTICAL TEXT (OPTIONAL) If you intend to read some Asian vertical text, you must tell the software that the text flow is vertical rather than horizontal. The new text flow will be indicated in the Status window.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide NEGATIVE IMAGE With the IRISPen, you can scan negative images, i.e. light text or graphics on a dark background. The image produced by scanning is automatically inverted by the software and displayed in the Scan window: the black pixels will become white, and the white pixels will become black. The recognition is carried out on the inverted image. To scan negative images: • Select the option Negative Image under the Options menu.
CHAPTER 5 - ADDITIONAL OPTIONS SMALL PRINT The IRISPen scanning band is 0.41" (10.5mm.) high. It can thus read characters having point sizes of 8 to 20. If you have to read data printed in a font size smaller than 10 point, you must activate the Small print option. This will help you get optimized results with the IRISPen. To read small text: • Select the option Small print from the Settings menu. • Operate as for any other type of printed data: just slide the pen scanner over the text line.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide UNKNOWN SYMBOL If characters are not properly recognized by the IRISPen, they are by default represented by a tilde, i.e. a "~" symbol, in the recognition result. If you wish to, you can choose another symbol. You can select a different symbol than the default tilde. To define the symbol for unknown characters: • Select the option Unknown Symbol from the Settings menu. • Replace the symbol in the required field, then click OK to confirm.
CHAPTER 5 - ADDITIONAL OPTIONS encounters a vertical line during scanning, it executes a tabulation in your target application. If your target application is a spreadsheet, the moves your cursor to the next cell and the various bits of data are inserted in separate cells. Various keyboard commands are proposed for the conversion, but you will also be able to replace vertical lines by characters or any combination of characters and commands.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide Tip: If your table does not contain vertical bars, the easiest procedure is to quickly add them on the original document with a pen and a ruler.
CHAPTER 6 SAVING SETTINGS SAVE/OPEN/RESTORE SETTINGS When you launch the IRISPen for the first time, options are selected by default (e.g.: reading mode: Text, language: English, etc.). These selected options form the so-called "factory settings". You will of course change these default settings to make the IRISPen perfectly fit your particular needs. Once your own settings have been defined, you can save them as default or even save them in a specific file.
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide Save... You can save your custom settings in a file, rather than save them as the default settings. You can save as many custom settings as you wish. At any moment in time, you will be able to reopen any of them. When quitting and reopening the IRISPen, the application will open again with the default settings. Open... This option offers to reopen any of the custom settings saved in a file.
INDEX A invisible color ............................... 4 alignment ....................................20 IRISPen ........................................ 3 application window.....................11 IRISPen Palette........................... 11 asian languages ...........................24 B beep sound ..................................23 C calibration ...................................12 check the scanning........................4 correct position of the pen ............4 customize settings........
IRISPen Express 6 - User's guide programming pen buttons ...........18 R reading options ...........................15 registration ..................................10 small print................................... 25 support........................................ 10 system requirements ..................... 9 T rejected characters ......................26 table frame conversion................ 27 replacing vertical lines ................27 target...........................................
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