Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Scanner Cleaning

Have you heard or said some of the following about your Images?
  • Why is there a streak in my document?
  • Why are there so many spots on my documents?
  • I keep getting double feeds for no apparent reason?
  • I’m missing pages from my scanning?
  • Why does this alarm keep going off on my scanner?
  • Unusual noises from the scanner?
Well, maybe you need to clean your scanner.  All scanners require cleaning whether they be high-speed production scanners or your Multi-Functional device on your desk.  Depending on the scan volume determines how often you should be cleaning it. Paper is atrocity dirty!  From the oils on your fingers to the fluff that comes off the paper to who knows what else gets on the paper.  All this gunk gets transferred to your scanner rollers, glass and guts.

Here are some general guidelines for performing scanner cleaning:
  • High-Volume scanning should be cleaned on a at least a daily basis
  • Medium-Volume scanning should be cleaned on a at least a weekly basis
  • Low-Volume (Desktop) should be cleaned on a at least a monthly basis
Every scanner should have major maintenance performed on a yearly basis.

You can get cleaning sheets (for rollers only), cleaning wipes, or cloth and cleaner fluid.  Either works, but the cleaning sheets are convenient but more expensive.   Before you clean, be sure of the following:
  • Do not clean a scanner that is hot!  Always clean a scanner before you start scanning for a day or after it’s cooled off. 
  • Unplug the scanner from the electrical socket.
The following areas should be cleaned:
  • All Rollers (top and bottom) (feed and exit)
  • All Glass surfaces (be sure to get the top and bottom glass surfaces for two-sided scanners)
  • Sheet Guides
  • Document Sensors
If you use cleaning sheets for the rollers, you will need to use two for cleaning the top and bottom rollers.         

And of course, this shows how not to clean a scanner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4HqI1s8Xgs
Be sure to consult your scanner’s user’s manuals for proper procedure for your scanner.  If you have misplaced your manual, you can get them from the scanner manufacture site on the web.  The following are the URL’s for some of the major scanner manufactures US support sites:

Friday, January 4, 2013

If a Tree Fell in the Woods, Would It Lose Its Metadata?


An under-emphasized feature in Content Server metadata is the use of a path analogy to hold meaningful data. 

Most implementations use Contribution Folders to provide a file system-like path to an item, when a path is needed.  What happens if a document really needs to exist on multiple paths?  Yes, you could create multiple copies of the document, and put a copy in in each folder, but that makes maintaining the content difficult.

To address this shortcoming, many implementations add additional metadata fields to hold data to emulate other paths.  Dependent choice lists (“DCLs”) are a popular way to sort and categorize this extra data, but even DCLs have a problem when a document needs multiple sets of data applied to it.  Eventually, a lot of extra metadata elements get introduced in the metadata model, often nearly identical to existing fields, resulting in confusion (“Which set of DCLs do I need to fill out to get the new HR policy to show up for both Minneapolis and San Francisco?”)
Content Server metadata fields can be configured to use “trees” to store various different path analogies.  This makes storing multiple paths very easy, with fewer overall fields than traditional DCLs
Let’s take a walk through the forest.
In this example, I’m using states and cities, although I can easily use other DCL/relational data.


·         Create a schema table called “tblStates” with two columns, “stateID” and “stateName”.  “stateID” will hold the two character state abbreviation, and “stateName” will hold the full name of the state (shown later).   Create a view in Configuration Manager that exposes all columns in the table as shown.  On the “Options” tab in the view, select the “Is Sorted on Database” option, and sort the view on the stateName column. 









·         Create a schema table called “tblCities” with three columns, “cityID”, “stateID” and “cityName”. “cityID” in this case holds the airport code for the city, “stateID” will hold the two character state abbreviation where the city is located, and “cityName” will hold the full name of the city.  Create a view in Configuration Manager that exposes all columns in the table as shown.  On the “Options” tab in the view, select the “Is Sorted on Database” option, and sort the view on the “cityName” column.







·         Create a relationship in Configuration Manager that ties the states table and the cities table on the “stateID” column in each table.



·         Now create a new “memo” metadata field in Configuration Manager, called “xStateCity”.  Make this field an option list.  When configuring the source of the option list, select “Use Tree”, then select the view of the state table,




then the relationship connecting the state and city views,





and finally, select the view with the city data, if it’s not already filled in by selecting the relationship.


·         
Check the two options at the bottom of the dialog that says “Show complete selection path” and “Store complete selection path”.  Use “/” as the path separator.


·        Now when viewing the checkin page, a “Select” button is displayed instead of a typical input field for the field xCityState.


·         Clicking the select button shows a popup as shown.


·         
Expanding each state shows the cities underneath.  Clicking the city adds the city as the selected option as shown.


·         Clicking OK populates the checkin page with the selected value.


·         If the field is configured as a multi-select option list, multiple cities can be selected as shown below.




·         The actual values are stored in a path analogy, i.e. “San Francisco” is stored as “CA/SFO”, so the entire value is actually stored as “CA/SFO, MN/MSP”, but San Francisco and Minneapolis are displayed. 
·         Any option displayed in the tree is a valid choice.  For example, to add a STATE, simply click on the state name, instead of the city.  This is very powerful in being able create flexible path analogies.
Hopefully, this example will let you see the forest of possibilities BECAUSE of the trees.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

How to Clean up Old RTS Instance and machine Name in OFR Runtime Service


Problem Statement:
OFR Runtime Service always saves the previously configured settings like Machine Name and RTS Instance Name
Sometimes the Batches cannot pick by Runtime Service and if we delete the previously configured Machine Name and RTS instance, though it is deleted, same machine name and RTS Instance appeared.
Solution:
 Use Following steps to delete the previously configured data-
Many times we want to create the RTS Instance and Machine Name but OFR Runtime Services fail to create that-(Example Image-Runtime Services fails to add RTS Instance and Machine Name)
        Go to Oracle Form Recognition (OFR) Installation file
For Windows 7- C:\Program Files (x86)\Oracle\Forms Recognition
For Windows XP- C:\Program Files \Oracle\Forms Recognition





Go to Bin Folder

   Go to Log Folder
     All Configured settings getting save in this folder

      Delete All Files so that previously configured settings are removed
Now we can configure new required RTS Instance and Machine Name






Currently Log Folder is empty as we removed all the configured files
Start Oracle Form Recognition (OFR) Monitor Service before creation of RTS Instance and Machine Name When we create Machine and RTS instance each time this Log file is populated



Log file is populated again
      Now we can capture Batches using Oracle Form Recognition (OFR) Runtime Service without any conflicts
Click Save Settings button when we want to save all the configured settings while closing OFR Runtime Service