TECHNOLOGY Post recently published an article about a small scanner which reads business cards and then converts the data into digital text for storage. Can you give me more details about this system and where it is available in Hong Kong? RHONA JOHNSTONE A product called CypherScan 1000, distributed in Hong Kong by Advanced Test Control Co Ltd (ATC) allows you to scan your business cards into a IBM PC compatible. It then uses an optical character recognition (OCR) program to transfer the image into text-based information and enters that data into the relevant fields of a database.
You insert a business card (or cards) into the scanner. In just a few seconds, the card is scanned into the computer. The data is automatically entered into the database you are working with. The system is capable of entering up to 25 business cards in eight minutes.
Information such as a person's first and last names, company, title, address and phone number are inserted into the proper fields in the built-in database that comes with the system. CypherScan uses fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence to do all this.
The system is quite versatile when it comes to sorting business cards scanned into the computer. It can sort by any field you like, or in ascending or descending order. It is able to find a group of records based on any criteria, or navigate aplhabetically through your address file using a ''Locator'' bar.
The system is not 100 per cent accurate, and the designers are aware of this. It allows you to go through information scanned in and correct entry errors. One area the system has particular trouble with is company names with additional information underneath them. For example, ''The Acme Card Co, a subsidiary of the Acme Corp'' gives the system headaches.
There are several versions of CypherScan available. In addition to the database and OCR software and the scanner itself, CypherScan 1000 requires the use of a serial interface card. The 1000P, however, simply plugs into the computer's parallel port and does not need the serial card.