1. Current Challenges in Digitization
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present and welcome
Who we are – What we do
Background Ivo Iossiger
Ivo IOSSIGER President Director General

2. Digitization Brings Documents Online
paper content
digital images
digital files
digital content
Books, magazines and newspapers are precious collections of knowledge and reference
Allow users to search and access valuable content through most recent online technologies
The new trend : "What is not online, does not exist !”

3. Content, knowledge are imprisoned between pages of books.
The Problem
Content, knowledge are imprisoned between pages of books.
Millions of documents are written in various languages.
How to digitize by preserving the book or the unique copy.
Why do we exist – Level of pain

4. Manipulate the large variety :
Challenges of Books
Manipulate the large variety :
page formats
paper types
binding types
soft or rigid covers
Turn one by one all pages of a book and present them to a camera.
Reproduce accurately the aspect of every page
page layout
calligraphy
images

5. Enhancing images of pages
Challenges of Pages
Enhancing images of pages
remove typical artifacts (borders, split pages)
remove transparency of print from the opposite page (unbleed)
correct rotation of page (deskew)
correct page curvature of bound documents
enhance contrast and clear page background

6. Challenges of Text
Recognize text and make it accessible for full text search, copy and paste.

7. How to reduce costs per page ?
Challenges of Costs
Equipment and production tools
are more performing and reliable
engages fixed costs
Human Labor
is expensive and slow
engages variable costs
Logistics and workflow
are sophisticated and diverse
Why do we exist – Level of pain
How to reduce costs per page ?

8. The Solution Everybody is Looking for
How to digitize a large number of books
as quick and as cheap as possible
with preserving superior quality ?
automatic solution without operator
superior productivity beyond humans
insure digitization of all pages
produce high quality images
unattended
faster
reliable
Increase VOLUME, Keep QUALITY, Decrease PRCE

9. The Solution of the Past
An operator turns pages all day long ... an endless task
forbidding and tedious task
limited performance by concentration and tiredness
irregular quality due to individuals
contradiction between performance and motivation

10. The Solution of the Future

11. Technology and Production Challenges
Image Scanning
Image Treatment
OCR
Indexing Structuring
Providing
Online
Paper
Content
4DigitalBooks
ABBYY
Digital Library
Digital
Content
Digitizing Line
Recognition Server
Page Improver
Text Search

12. Challenges of File Formats
-17
-16
-11 -9 -8 -4 -1
time
you are here
Image & Text
1993
PDF
(Acrobat 1)
2001
PDF
hidden text
(Acrobat 5)
2005
PDF/A
2008
PDF is an
open standard
(Acrobat 9)
1992
JPEG
2000
JPEG 2000
Image
1992
TIFF
1998
XML
Text
Which formats will survive ? - The most popular and widely spread !

13. ratio GS RGB BW Challenges of Storage
bitmap image A4 at 300 dpi : 8.5 MB 25.5 MB 1.0 MB
% % %
lossless quality (recommended for multiple edits)
TIFF .TIF 1:
TIFF LZW .TIF 2:1 ~50 ~150 ~6
TIFF CCITT G4 .TIF 100:1 ~1
loss on quality (not recommended for multiple edits)
JPEG .JPG 5-10:1 ~20-10 ~25-12
JPEG JP2 6-12:1 ~16-8 ~20-10
Archive or reference files are NOT intended for multiple edits.
Therefore all these formats are good for long term preservation.

14. Challenges Joining Digital and Paper Born Content
PDF Image PDF Text PDF Image over Text
(large size) (small size) PDF hidden text
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
Paper Born
OCR
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
accurate subject to read & print search
to original OCR mistakes copy & paste
Word Text PDF Text
(small size) (small size)
Digital Born
read & print
search
copy & paste
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz

15. Challenges Selecting Source Material - Microfilm or Digital
computer
output
microfilm
COM
digital media lifetime 20 y
NEEDS MIGRATION
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
microfilm printer
analog media
lifetime 500 y
STORAGE
possible image enhancement and restoration
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
microfilm
microfilm scanner
microfilm camera
book
scanner
5-10% quality loss
analog media
lifetime 500 y
REFERENCE
no quality loss

16. Challenges to Bring Files Online