International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering

Abstract—The recent advancements in deep learning have opened avenues for substantial improvements in text extracting accuracy. These technological innovations have significantly enhanced the capabilities of existing tools, particularly in the realm of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The OCR plays a pivotal role in digitizing image-based texts. To enhance its efficacy, and advanced preprocessing model aimed at improving text clarity and readability should be implemented prior to the text extraction process. Our works explore the application of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for super resolution tasks, aiming to enhance image quality by increasing resolution. Various GAN architectures and training techniques are being experimented including the usage of state-of-the-art model, Super Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (SRGAN). While the results showed some improvements quantitatively, it also highlighted areas for further optimizations. The findings suggest that GAN-based approach holds promise for super resolution tasks in enhancing text extraction result for document image. Significantly, the experiment showed that OCR successfully improved even when dealing with photos that had experienced 75% damage, which in this stage, an image had experienced substantial information loss. Future work will focus on addressing the identified challenges and enhancing model performance.

Keywords—image enhancement, super resolution, generative adversarial network

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Cite: Yosua Kristianto and Benfano Soewito, "Beyond OCR: GAN-Driven Restoration of Severely Degrading Document," International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 189-201, 2025.

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