IP Profile (Node Type)
An IP Profile is a sequence of instructions for image processing. They are composed of IP Steps and IP Groups. Each step or group of steps contain IP Commands, which define image processing operations.
These operations generally fall into two categories
- Image cleanup to improve OCR results
- Image-based data collection, including layout data (such as table line locations, barcode information, OMR checkbox states, and more) as well as image features used for Visual classification
Permanent vs. Temporary Image Processing
The Image Processing activity permanently alters a document's image by applying an IP Profile. However, it is possible to temporarily clean up document images and revert back to the original document image. This is done during the Recognize activity.
For example, you may have a document where table lines are getting in the way of accurate OCR. However, if you remove these lines during the Image Processing activity, they will be permanently removed, making it difficult to review the documents in Data Review and changing the archival image stored later to something that no longer looks like the original document.
Instead, you can use an OCR Profile referencing an IP Profile containing a Remove Lines command during Recognize. The image will be temporarily changed according to the IP Profile. Then, OCR will run on the altered image. Last, the image will revert back to its original form.
- Furthermore, any image based data targeted by the IP Profile (such as the table line locations for this example) will still be saved to the Batch Page for later use.
For more information on both permanent and temporary image processing as a concept, visit the Image Processing (Concept) article.
Anatomy of the IP Profile Tab
Upon selecting an IP Profile in the Node Tree, you will edit it using the IP Profile tab. This is what the screen will look like. As you can see, there are several windows that make up this screen.
Here IP Steps in the profile are listed, selected, and added. IP Profiles are a sequential list of IP Steps, each one performing a image processing operation called an IP Command. This IP Profile is very simple. It only has one IP Step, using the Auto Deskew IP Command.
IP Steps are added to the list using the "Add" button, deleted using the "Delete" button, and you can change the order in which they process using the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons.
Here, you can select a Test Batch to help you configure your IP Profile. All alterations to the documents in the Test Batch are done in memory when configuring an IP Profile. They will retain their original form unless the IP Profile is applied using the Image Processing activity.
Here, you will see a list of processing results for each step in the IP Profile. Each step will be listed, with the time it took that step to run, whether or not the image was modified, and if the image was flagged by the step. It also contains an "End Result" containing the sum total run time for the whole IP Profile, it the profile modified the image, and if it has a flag by the end of it.
Each IP Command has its own set of configurable properties. Here, you can adjust them as needed to fit the demands of your document set.
Furthermore, using the "Selected Step" tab, you can create some conditional logic around if and when to apply certain IP Steps, using a snippet of Microsoft.Net code. This is done using the "Should Submit Expression" and "Next Step Expression" properties.
Lastly, you can use the "IP Profile" tab to add a description for the profile for other users to get more information as to what the profile does and is used for.
The Diagnostics Panel is extremely helpful when configuring IP Command Properties and verifying steps are processing a document as intended. It contains a number of images for each IP Step related to how its IP Command is altering the image, including a before "Input Image" and after "Output Image"
Last but not least is the Document Viewer. This allows you to view the document selected in the Batch Selector. This window will also show you the selected image in the Diagnostics Panel.
How To
Create a new IP Profile
Before you create an IP Profile, you will likely want a Test Batch to verify its results. Be sure to create a Test Batch before creating an IP Profile
Add a New IP Profile
IP Profiles may be created and stored in a Content Model's local resources folder or in the "IP Profiles" folder in the "Global Resources" folder. However, by far the most common place to create an IP Profile is in the "IP Profiles" folder.
1) Navigate to the "IP Profiles" folder via this path in the Node Tree: Root Node > Global Resources > IP Profiles
2) Right click the "IP Profiles folder and mouse over "Add" and select "IP Profile..."
Name the IP Profile whatever you like and select "OK" to create it.
This will create a blank IP Profile in the IP Profiles folder.
Before going any further, the first thing you will want to do is select a Test Batch. Using the Batch selector, select a Test Batch from the dropdown window. This will give you something to work with when testing out your IP Profile.
Add IP Steps