Epson Brings Paper to the Cloud on Windows Azure

The team at Epson Imaging Technology Center (EITC) has created an application called Marksheets that converts marks on paper forms into user data on Windows Azure Platform. Mark sheets are forms that can now be printed on standard printers and marked similar to the optically scanned standardized tests that we've all used.

Epson software developer Kent Sisco talks with me about how he created this sample application in the video on Channel 9 titled From Paper to the Cloud -- Epson's Cloud App for Printer, Scanner and Windows Azure.

The demo shows an admin configuring a Marksheet form. The form could be part of an application at a kiosk at a golf course. Next, the video shows a golfer printing out a score sheet and then marks the scorecard for each hole of golf. Once the golf day is completed, the user scans the sheet even if the score sheet is crumpled or torn.

The golfer's marks are then sent to a Windows Azure worker role where the image is translated to data and stored in SQL Azure. Users can then access their golf scores from a Windows Azure ASP.NET application.

The demo is a prototype for printing, scanning, and data storage applications for education, medicine, government, and line-of-business. You can apply this technology to create your own data input form or mark sheet. Users can print the form on demand then mark, scan, access their data in the cloud.

If you are interested in working with Epson on making paper forms for inputs to your software, send me a message to the USISVDE Contact Page. It won’t be recorded as a comment to this post. Be sure to include your email address and I’ll put you in touch with the key people at Epson so you can be nominated into their early adopter program to try out Marksheets and help form future product plans.

Bruce D. KyleISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation

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