Method and system for form processing

A method of processing a change of address form which includes data maintained in a master database of valid postal addresses including a name of a person that wishes mail to be redirected, an old address to which mail for that person was previously sent, and a new address to which mail for that person should be sent, comprising:

• (a) scanning a sheet having written change of address information thereon to obtain an image;
• (b) processing the image with first character recognition logic to obtain text data of the written change of address information;
• (c) analyzing the text data with a computer to detect scanning errors therein,
• (d) if a scanning error is detected, attempting to correct such error by a human operator viewing the text data on a display and editing the text data;
• (e) checking the new address and the old address against a verification database of valid postal addresses derived from the master data base of valid postal addresses to verify that the information form comprises an update to an identified set of data elements in the verification database,
• (f) if the new address and the old address are each found in the verification database of valid postal addresses, updating a change of address database to include the text data;
• (g) rejecting the text data and aborting updating the change of address database for such text data that cannot be corrected in step (d) or wherein either the new address or the old address cannot be found in the database of valid postal addresses in step (e).

A system for processing a series of information forms having a set of data elements completed by a submitter of the information form, which set of data elements is maintained in a master database, comprising:

• a first scanner capable of successively scanning a series of forms having a set of data elements in the form of written information thereon to obtain an image from each form;
• first character recognition logic operable on a computer, which character recognition logic generates text data corresponding to the data elements from each image from the first scanner;
• error probability logic operable on a computer that analyzes the text data to determine a scanning error probability for the text data;
• a verification database containing information derived from the master database to verify that the information form comprises an update to an identified set of data elements in the verification database;
• validation logic operable on a computer for checking one or more designated elements of the text data against the verification database, a video coding station usable by a human operator to view and edit the text data, and
• handling logic operable on a computer which includes modules for
• (i) if the designated data element is found in the verification database, updating a master database to include new or revised text data;
• (ii) if the scanning error probability exceeds a certain predetermined limit or the validation logic is unable to find the designated element in the first database, referring the text data to the human operator for review and editing, and
• (iii) rejecting the text data and aborting updating the second database for such text data that cannot be corrected by the human operator.

A system for processing a series of information forms, comprising:

• at least one scanner capable of successively scanning a series of sheets comprising the information forms having written information thereon to obtain an image from each sheet;
• first character recognition logic operable on a computer, which first character recognition logic generates text data corresponding to the written information from a scanner image;
• second character recognition logic operable on a computer, which second character recognition logic generates text data corresponding to the written information from a scanner image;
• error probability logic operable on a computer that analyzes the text data to determine a scanning error probability for the text data, which error probability logic compares output of each character recognition logic character by character to determine at least two corresponding versions of the text data and determines the text data by implementing arbitration rules on the versions of the text data;
• a first database of valid data elements;
• validation logic operable on a computer for checking one or more designated elements of the text data against the first database;
• automatic error detection and correction logic operable on a computer for making corrections to text data that is not validated by the validation logic by comparison of the text data to records of the first database;
• a video coding station usable by a human operator to view and edit the text data in the event that the automatic error detection and correction logic fails to successfully correct the text data;
• and
• a second database containing results generated from the automatic error detection and correction logic and the video coding station.