CamWorks: A Video-based Tool for Efficient Capture from Paper Source Documents

We describe the design and evaluation of CamWorks, a system that employs a video camera as a means of supporting capture from paper sources during reading and writing. The user can view a live video image of the source document alongside the electronic document in preparation. We describe a novel user interface developed to support selection of text in the video window, and several new techniques for segmentation, restoration and resolution enhancement of camera images. An evaluation shows substantially faster text capture than with flatbed scanning.