Item Description

Includes, Glossary of Terms; Optical Reading Machines -- what they do and how they work;

Commercially Available Optical Page Readers; Input Methods and Recognition Problems;

Role of Optical Page Reading Machines in Information Retrieval; appendix; index

'The purpose of optical page reading machine -- the conversion of large amounts of printed information into computer-readable language through a series of well-defined processes -- is thoroughly dealt with in this authoritative reference work... surveys the important developments in numerous types of information retrrieval devices and equipment... introduces and explains these devices in non-technical manner; and outlines the ways in which these machines, when teamed with the digital computer, can be used to channel vast amounts of printed information...

'how they function and what they are capable of doing -- paper handling, optical scanning, recognition, storing the material in machine-readable form, and preparing the source material for optical reader input. The various kinds of commercially available optical readers are examined, and input methods and recognition problems are discussed in depth. The final chapter covers the role of these reading machines in information retrieval -- the uses for direct indexing, indexing for retrieval on the basis of subject content, indexes compiled by machine for human manipulation, and machine indexing for search and retrieval...

A special feature of the book is an exhaustive and valuable glossary...' (from the front jacket flap).