HD Camera - Accurate OCR - High Quality Audio - $199
SnapVision is a low-cost document recognition system that can be used to help people who have difficulty reading books, magazines or other printed material.
It has a very easy to learn Accessible User Interface.
This Accessible User Interface is combined with a fast OCR engine to provide state-of-the-art image processing, document layout analysis and optical character recognition.
SnapVision's OCR engine automatically uses AT&T's Natural Voices© text to speech processing system to transform the OCR output into high quality human sounding speech that can be played on a headset or saved on an MP3 player.
SnapVision is equipped with a high resolution 5.0 MP Document Camera.
Installation of the Document Camera is incredibly simple. Just plug it into any available USB port on your PC and you're done!
The Document Camera is powered directly from the USB port, so batteries aren't required and it also includes built-in adjustable LEDs, so you can scan documents even when the background light is not strong enough.
The Document Camera's large depth-of-field, fixed focus lens also means you never have to worry about having your documents in focus.
Compared to flatbed scanners, Document Cameras are faster, quieter, lighter, take up less space, and are far easier to use by requiring fewer manual steps between pages.
SnapVision's software installation Flash Drive includes two high quality AT&T Natural Voices© Text To Speech English voices (Audrey/Lauren) as well as the SnapVision Accessible OCR application.
Click here for a short sample of AT&T Natural Voices© UK English voice Audrey.
Click here for a short sample of AT&T Natural Voices© US English voice Lauren.
SnapVision's Accessible User Interface
SnapVision's Accessible User Interface is very easy to use.
Just position your document on the included Image Capture Mat and press the "Esc" key on your PC's keyboard to take a picture of the document.
SnapVision will then "read" the image and "speak" the OCR output to you.
No need to worry if the document is in the proper orientation.
SnapVision takes care of this automatically with it's Auto-Rotation capability.
SnapVision will also give you audio feedback if the text in the image is "clipped" in any direction and will tell you which direction to shift the document to fix it.
SnapVision is launched automatically each time you turn on your computer (it's installed in the Startup folder).
You may optionally configure SnapVision to always be the top DeskTop Window.
When you're finished using SnapVision, just press the F8 key to automatically exit the program and to optionally turn off your PC.
SnapVision also announces whenever it gains or loses the Window "focus".
This makes it easier to use on PCs that may have multiple concurrent applications with random "pop-up" windows.
If SnapVision loses the Window Focus, simply press the "Alt"+"Tab" keys until you hear the Audio prompt, "SnapVision Has Focus", and then you can again enter SnapVision keyboard commands.
SnapVision's Image Magnifier/Enhancer
In addition to reading documents, people with low vision can use SnapVision's "+" key to quickly magnify and remove the background from document images to make them easier to read.
This key is easily located on the far right side of a standard keyboard.
If you have a recent PC with an HDMI port, you can plug in a low cost HDMI cable from your PC to a big screen HD TV to view document images at even greater magnification.
SnapVision's Graphical User Interface (GUI)
SnapVision's GUI Interface has a single click real-time document image preview and capture dialog.
Those with reading difficulties can use the high-lighted Text To Speech function with real-time audio sync and variable playback speed.
It's perfect for ESL students or anyone wanting to convert document images to high quality MP3 audio.
Of course, you can also save your text in .txt, .rtf or .pdf formats.
You can easily switch between the Accessible Mode and the GUI Mode by turning on or off the Settings->Accessibility... menu item in the SnapVision Image Window.
How Easy is it Really?
Here is a sample image from a children's book, note the use of inexpensive paper clips to hold the pages flat.
Click here for the full size image.
To scan, OCR the image, and listen to the speech output in a headset, just press the "Esc" key on your keyboard.
To copy the audio to an MP3 player plugged into a USB port on your PC, just press the "F5" key on your keyboard.
Here's the actual unedited audio output MP3 file.
That's how easy it is!
Platform Requirements
OS: Windows XP or better - Windows 7 recommended
RAM: 2 GB or better