Abstract: A method for processing forms in a computer system includes receiving from a human operator a design of a unified from template including data fields and respective attributes. Paper forms and electronic forms (e-forms) are automatically produced based on the unified form template. Filled-in paper forms and filled-in e-forms are accepted from the clients of the computer system, the filled-in forms including data items filled into the respective data fields by the clients. The data items are extracted from the filled-in paper forms and the filled-in e-forms responsively to the unified form template.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for check code line recognition at a point-of-sale terminal having OCR and MICR capabilities. Images of problematic characters are extracted and automatically transmitted to a remote location for on-line manual validation or data entry. Video coding of problematic characters is performed for the correction of either or both MICR and OCR results. The correctly encoded characters are returned to the point of sale within a few seconds, and combined as necessary with locally recognized characters, to assemble a correct code line for entry into a payment system.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for the compression and decompression of binary test images. The method distinguishes between large low-frequency areas and small high-frequency areas in the original frame. For the low-frequency areas, a scheme for lossy compression is used, whereas for the high-frequency areas, a scheme permitting lossless compression is applied. The compression/decompression process involves five stages; namely prefiltering to remove all black patches (e.g.

Abstract: This method relates to the compression of information contained in filled-in forms (O) by separate handling of the corresponding empty forms (CP) and of the information written into them (VP). Samples of the empty forms are pre-scanned, the data obtained digitized and stored in a computer memory to create a forms library. The original, filled-in form (O) to be compressed is then scanned, the data obtained digitized and the retrieved representation of the empty form (CP) is then subtracted, the difference being the digital representation of the filled-in information (VP), which may now be compressed by conventional methods or, preferably, by an adaptive compression scheme using at least two compression ratios depending on the relative content of black pixels in the data to be compressed.

Abstract: A method for substituting interpolated values for ambiguous symbols in an arithmetically encoded symbol string, symbols in the unencoded original string being drawn from a Markov source and a finite alphabet. Ambiguity of a symbol is defined as where its symbol occurrence statistic lies outside of a predetermined range. Interpolation involves selectively combining the occurrence statistics of symbols adjacent the ambiguous symbol and recursively and arithmetically encoding the combined statistics. The method otherwise encodes unambiguous symbols in a conventional arithmetic manner. The decoding duals are also described.

Abstract: An improved method of generating a compressed representation of a source data string, each symbol of which is taken from a finite set of m+1 symbols, a.sub.o to a.sub.m. The method is based on an arithmetic coding procedure wherein the source data string is recursively generated as successive subintervals within a predetermined interval. The width of each subinterval is theoretically equal to the width of the previous subinterval multiplied by the probability of the current symbol. The improvement derives from approximating the width of the previous subinterval so that the approximation can be achieved by a single SHIFT and ADD operation using a suitable shift register.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving 3-dimensional video images of a scene using conventional video transmission channels. The method requires the production of two images of the scene obtained from slightly different viewing angles, the images being sampled so as to generate for each image sets of component picture elements which are then sub-sampled according to a predetermined pattern, so as to form first and second sets of signals for each image. Both sets of signals corresponding to one of the images are transmitted to enable a conventional receiver to display a 2-dimensional image. A second set of signals for the other image is predicted both at the transmitter and at a modified receiver, enabling a correction signal corresponding to the difference between the predicted and actual signals to be transmitted to the modified receiver which regenerates the actual signals and displays them together with the corresponding first set of signals of the first image.