Freedom Scientific TOPAZ OCR, User Manual

Page 1: ...440927 001 Revision B TOPAZ OCR Desktop Video Magnifier with OCR and Speech User s Guide Freedom Scientific Inc www FreedomScientific com...

Page 2: ...ontains no user serviceable parts Keep the unit away from wet areas rain and other sources of liquids or high humidity Do not submerge the unit Always operate the unit in a place where the temperature...

Page 3: ...e instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful i...

Page 4: ...een and Image Brightness 11 Changing Screen Colors 12 Freezing an Image 13 Using the Find Feature 13 Locking Camera Focus 14 Advanced Operation 15 Turning LED Reading Lights On or Off 15 Lines Masks a...

Page 5: ...Magnification Table 34 Changing the Magnification Display Number 35 Troubleshooting Video Magnification 36 OCR AND SPEECH 37 OCR and Speech Quick Start 38 Changing Text and Background Colors 41 Magni...

Page 6: ...gs Main menu 53 Restore Defaults Setting menu 56 About Settings menu 56 CONNECTING TOPAZ OCR TO YOUR COMPUTER 57 Using TOPAZ OCR as a Computer Monitor 58 USB Connection to a Computer 60 Service and Su...

Page 7: ...mode you can tap the screen and use the on screen button bar to Acquire and process documents displayed on the screen Listen to TOPAZ read the processed text See a full page view of the document with...

Page 8: ...when you want it to hold steady Working distance between XY table and camera 8 25 inches 21 cm In video magnifier mode you can connect TOPAZ and your computer through the VGA video ports to use it as...

Page 9: ...Setting Up Your TOPAZ OCR 3 SETTING UP YOUR TOPAZ OCR...

Page 10: ...l 8 Magnification Dial 9 Brightness Dial 10 Focus Lock Button bottom of control panel 11 Find Button 12 Freeze Frame Button 13 Reference Line Button or Computer View Toggle Button TOPAZ can be connect...

Page 11: ...5 Control panel jack Connects the control panel to the camera Do not disconnect cable unless servicing TOPAZ 6 Monitor HDMI connector Connects the monitor to the camera There is no need to remove it u...

Page 12: ...e XY table 1 to stop it from moving by pulling the red brake lock toward you 2 Lift and carry TOPAZ to a sturdy surface such as a table desk or countertop One suggested method is to stand behind TOPAZ...

Page 13: ...s located near the LED reading light on the right side of TOPAZ 3 Press the green standby power switch on the right side of the control panel Note As TOPAZ boots an audible beep is heard for approxima...

Page 14: ...8 Setting Up Your TOPAZ OCR...

Page 15: ...Video Magnifier 9 VIDEO MAGNIFIER...

Page 16: ...want to magnify onto the center of the reading table If it is a document move it back so that it touches the rear of the XY table To read a cylindrical item such as a pill bottle place it in the inde...

Page 17: ...Magnification dial clockwise to zoom in or counterclockwise to zoom away from the object that is displayed on the screen TOPAZ can display 16 levels of magnification Adjusting Screen and Image Brightn...

Page 18: ...sier to read text on the screen There are five default color modes True Full Color always available cannot be deleted Black on White high contrast positive always available cannot be deleted White on...

Page 19: ...moving and repositioning a document or item under the camera Crosshairs display on the screen to assist with positioning 1 Press and hold the Find button located in the center of the yellow Brightness...

Page 20: ...your hand or any other item that passes in front of the camera This is useful when working or writing directly under the camera To use Focus Lock do the following 1 Press the red Focus Lock button on...

Page 21: ...lossy magazine pages may be too shiny or reflective to view easily When viewing such items you can turn off the reading lights if you like 1 To turn off the LED reading lights press and hold the cente...

Page 22: ...asks or shades that display on the screen Note The switch and dials that control lines masks and shades are located under the plastic cover on the bottom of the control panel Press the two recessed ta...

Page 23: ...Video Magnifier 17 Moving Lines Masks or Shades Left Wheel Turn the left purple Adjustment wheel to the left or right to move lines masks or shades up and down or left and right on the screen...

Page 24: ...ch moves the top line mask or shade up or down This increases or decreases the distance between horizontal lines masks or shades For vertical lines masks or shades Turn the right purple Width wheel to...

Page 25: ...om the bottom of the screen 2 Next move the XY table to the right to continue reading text To read the next line move the reading table away from you so that the reading line displays under the next l...

Page 26: ...1 high contrast negative 14 Black on Green 25 Orange on Black 4 Yellow on Blue 2 15 Red on White 26 Black on Orange 5 Yellow on Black 2 16 White on Red 27 Green on Yellow 6 Grayscale 17 White on Green...

Page 27: ...color mode settings display The color mode setting T displays in the lower left corner of the screen The hollow outline displays for positions 1 3 and indicates that color settings cannot be changed...

Page 28: ...as necessary to configure other positions 3 Press the red Focus Lock button to move to other settings which are listed below For more information about these settings see page 29 Icon Description Def...

Page 29: ...enable a setting Clear and disable a setting Cycle through the different options available for a setting 5 When finished press and hold the red Focus Lock button for at least 10 seconds to save your n...

Page 30: ...ss settings and then save all changes as your default user settings Being able to recall these settings is useful if you decide to experiment with other colors and settings but are not satisfied with...

Page 31: ...ys powers on with the same settings as the previous session to include color mode brightness adjustments and any lines masks or shades used If you want TOPAZ to always start in a specific color mode a...

Page 32: ...red Focus Lock button again to move to the Find setting It is selected by default Press the center of the black Magnification dial to clear Find 4 Press the red Focus Lock button again to move to the...

Page 33: ...ault factory settings press and hold the following dials and buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds Release the dials and buttons when the screen goes blank Red Focus Lock button Center of yellow Brigh...

Page 34: ...e version number The word Ver followed by several sets of numbers flash one at a time on the screen The first three sets indicate the unit s firmware version If you need technical assistance please ha...

Page 35: ...is always full color Position 2 is black on white high contrast positive Position 3 is white on black high contrast negative Solid icon Displays for positions 4 through 12 These positions can be added...

Page 36: ...n you press the red Focus Lock button during normal operation In this case only the red position locator beam is available when the button is pressed The Focus Lock setting is selected by default When...

Page 37: ...displayed on the screen This setting is enabled by default If you disable it Find is no longer available when you press the center of the yellow Brightness button during normal operation Single Readi...

Page 38: ...can choose the best magnification power for you Table 1 is the default magnification table and is ideal for most users Table 2 is best if you are comfortable with lower magnification It provides finer...

Page 39: ...f the black Magnification dial to select a value Select the icon with 88 to display the magnification in use relative to the 16 dial positions for example 1 2 3 14 15 16 Select the icon with the clear...

Page 40: ...fication It provides finer adjustments between positions 1 8 Table 3 provides finer adjustments for midrange magnification available between positions 8 14 This table is good if you need greater magni...

Page 41: ...een 2 Press the center of the black Magnification dial to select how magnification values display This is represented by the magnifying glass icon Select to display the magnification in use relative t...

Page 42: ...power and are not malfunctioning If the outlets are connected to a wall switch make sure that the switch is on The image on the screen is not changing Press the red Freeze Frame button to return to l...

Page 43: ...OCR and Speech 37 OCR AND SPEECH...

Page 44: ...on camera to the OCR camera Note To switch to OCR mode the default method is to tap the screen in the lower right corner This can be changed so that any tap on the screen while in video magnifier mode...

Page 45: ...mera captures and processes the document and starts reading within several seconds 4 The document displays on the screen with each reading zone marked with large blue numbers These numbers represent t...

Page 46: ...y number and TOPAZ starts reading from the selected zone The white number is the zone that is being read Note Photos display in their original colors To magnify a photo tap it once To return to the fu...

Page 47: ...mode and return to video magnifier mode Tap the red Close button on the right side of the button bar Changing Text and Background Colors To enhance the contrast of the text a text foreground and back...

Page 48: ...ea of the document displayed on the screen press and hold your finger on the text you want to magnify Touch the screen as long as you like to zoom in To scroll up down left or right within the magnifi...

Page 49: ...n Description Menu Gray Tap to enter the menu Magnification Yellow Tap the Minus button to decrease magnification Tap the Plus button to increase magnification Tap the center Overview button to switch...

Page 50: ...eech volume Tap the right blue speaker button to increase speech volume Reading Speed Green Tap the left green button to decrease reading speed Tap the right green button to increase reading speed Clo...

Page 51: ...bar It is in the lower left corner when the button bar appears on the screen The OCR Main menu now appears on the screen It contains two rows of three large buttons and a Close button 2 To open a menu...

Page 52: ...drive connect a drive to the USB port on TOPAZ Once the document is saved it appears on the screen You can read it by tapping the white Play Pause button on the Button bar To save a document do the fo...

Page 53: ...r the voices of the languages detected if automatic language detection is on Not all voices can be used to save as an MP3 audio file The available voices are limited to only the Nuance voices In case...

Page 54: ...Yes or No If you tap Yes 1 The yellow document outline box appears on the screen 2 Place the next page inside the box and tap the screen to capture the new page 3 Repeat this process to continue addin...

Page 55: ...t is done while reading the document Open Main menu To open a document or view pictures do the following 1 In the Main menu tap the green Open button Select the Document button to see the list of save...

Page 56: ...Pictures can be magnified It is also possible to open text documents in TXT format or photos from a USB drive To open documents in TXT format the document should be in the root of the USB drive or SD...

Page 57: ...ages from the voice selection refer to Voice Settings on page 54 Note When automatic language detection is enabled refer to Options Settings menu on page 55 this button only changes between voices of...

Page 58: ...text to be highlighted on the screen as it is spoken For example the highlight can appear around words or lines of text Color View menu This option is not available when viewing a photo or other docum...

Page 59: ...r of the screen Pictures are not shown in this mode Page Mode Shows a photograph of the document in its original layout including the pictures There are two Page modes the high contrast Page mode and...

Page 60: ...list with all available reading voices and languages To select languages and add or remove reading voices do the following 1 Tap the gray Voice button A list of languages appears on the screen 2 Tap...

Page 61: ...ity Activate Speech Automatic Language Detection Column Filter Text Recognition Quality Use this option to set the recognition quality Optimal This is the recommended mode and offers the best text rec...

Page 62: ...and will ignore the menu language Column Filter This option contains two settings Ignore incomplete columns This is the default and recommended setting and offers the most comprehensive text recogniti...

Page 63: ...Connecting TOPAZ OCR to Your Computer 57 CONNECTING TOPAZ OCR TO YOUR COMPUTER...

Page 64: ...onnect one end of a 15 pin VGA video cable to the video port on your computer Refer to your computer documentation for the location of this port Connect the other end of the cable to the VGA connector...

Page 65: ...ing brightness and so on When the computer view displays on the TOPAZ monitor TOPAZ video magnifier functionality is disabled Note If the image on your monitor is distorted in some way for example the...

Page 66: ...ocumentation Note GEM software can be used only in video magnifier mode and not OCR mode Connecting TOPAZ to a computer requires a cable with a USB Mini B plug This cable is not provided with TOPAZ 1...

Page 67: ...d be prepared to provide the following information Product name Product serial number What you were doing when the problem occurred How you tried to solve the problem Warranty Information and Product...

Page 68: ...62 Notes...