First American Receives Patent That Enhances Optical Character Recognition
April 27, 2021
First American Financial Corp. received a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an innovative improvement to optical character recognition (OCR) technology that leverages artificial intelligence.
The patented enhancement applies artificial intelligence to validate and correct text obtained from a document image via OCR, fueling more accurate automated title underwriting and production on key text-based components of the title policy.
“The new patent for OCR Error Correction is the eighth patent we have been awarded in the last 12 months and further demonstrates First American’s continuing leadership in driving innovation within the title and settlement services industry,” said Dennis Gilmore, CEO of First American Financial. “First American has been at the forefront of title and settlement innovation for decades, leading the industry shift to computer-based title plants in the late 20th century, and continues to drive innovation today, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to accelerate the digital transformation of the real estate settlement process.”
The U.S. Patent No. 10,896,292 titled “OCR Error Correction” is the 30th active patent First American has received.
The company also has an additional 12 patent applications pending that include technologies that will further advance First American’s efforts to transform the title and settlement services industry.
The latest patent reflects First American’s commitment to invest in technologies that support automated title production and to the application of new technologies to title and settlement processes.
“Automated title production and accelerating the digital transformation of real estate transactions depend upon obtaining accurate, structured data from document images,” said Mark Fleming, senior vice president of Decision Sciences at First American. “This patented method allows us to transform unstructured data pulled from public records and other sources into structured data more rapidly and with greater accuracy than conventional OCR validation and error correction techniques. This patent builds on our rich history of innovation, including pioneering a variety of OCR technology advancements and other data extraction techniques that help move our automated title underwriting and production efforts forward."
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