Ricoh Aficio MP 1350 User Manual - Page 46

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Scan

What Is Color Dropout?

Color dropout is a scanning feature that, as

the name suggests, removes a specific color

from a scanned image. Color dropout can

be carried out either at the hardware before

data transmission or on the desktop using software after

data transmission. The benefit of performing color drop-

out at the device stage is that the bandwidth associated

with the file now decreases dramatically due to the re-

moval of much of the image data. This bandwidth reduc-

tion puts less strain on the network and can have a

marked effect on the data transmission speed and time-

to-file availability.

Who Uses Color Dropout?

In short, anyone who processes forms will probably bene-

fit from color dropout technology: financial institutions

processing loan applications, insurance companies proc-

essing insurance claims, law firms removing highlighting

from discovery documents, government departments

processing tax rebates, immigration requests, grant sub-

missions, schools processing bubblesheet test sheets,

and others.

Forms often incorporate a background color within their

design to allow for easier navigation and improved com-

pletion accuracy. While the use of color makes

forms easier to read and complete, it adds an additional

burden when scanning the results into the business proc-

ess automation system used to analyze the completed

forms. The data found within the forms only needs to be

collected in black and white through processing by OCR

(optical character recognition) or ICR (intelligent charac-

ter recognition) software.

From that point on, the form is converted into binary data

and routed to a database or document management sys-

tem where it becomes part of the electronic workflow.

Rival MFPs can offer 2-bit or 8-bit monochrome scan-

ning, which reduces the bandwidth associated with color

scanning. But, the color data is still present in the docu-

ment, it is just in monochrome format. This means that, at

the least, the file size is going to be greater, increasing

transmission time and storage space. It can also mean

that documents are more difficult to process, especially if

the colored area is actually written over.

document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly

prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document.

Left: Original form with color background for easier navigation.

Middle: Form scanned in Monochrome mode without color dropout is hard to

read and prone to image capture errors.

Right: Form scanned using Color Dropout mode is now easy to read and

delivers high image capture accuracy.

Left: This is an original document with highlighting.

Middle: Original scanned in Monochrome mode results in highlighted areas

being unreadable.

Right: Original scanned with color dropout renders the document instantly

usable with no human intervention required

Color Dropout Productivity

In theory, color dropout could have an impact in two areas

of scanning: the scanning speed and the overall time to get

the color removed before data transmission can begin.

BERTL looked into this. We scanned 50 pages of a com-

pleted, standard government tax forms, running the same

job in both Monochrome Text mode and Color Dropout

mode.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that there was no slow

down in the scanning speed when color dropout was ap-

plied. This means that the process will not be adding to the

cost burden of the company in terms of human intervention

time. We were even more pleasantly surprised to see that

the data transmission time dropped 30 percent when we

applied color dropout and resulted in a bandwidth reduction

of 42 percent.

While these figures will obviously change from form to form,

depending upon the level of color dropout out, these figures

are a guide to the potential time and bandwidth savings that

a company could possibly achieve.

Ricoh Aficio MP1350

13 November 2006

Page 46