System and method for text conversion and copying mechanism based on OCR

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods for an OCR-based text conversion and copying mechanism. The present invention relates to a method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session with a remote KVM device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of a client computing device. The method enables a user to use control components of the client computing device to define the text or alphanumeric information displayed in the video frame on the display that the user desires to convert into text. The method uses an optical character recognition (OCR) software application to convert the selected video information into text output. The text output can then be copied and pasted by the user into one or more other applications, documents, or web pages for subsequent use.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 354,850, filed on June 23, 2022. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to KVM systems and methods, and more particularly to KVM systems and methods that enable a user to select text or alphanumeric information appearing in a video frame on a display associated with a KVM device, convert the selected portion of the information appearing in the video frame into text output, and copy the text output into other applications, documents, or web pages. Background Art

[0004] The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

[0005] Traditional hardware-based KVM (keyboard, video, and mouse) redirection methods over IP rely on capturing the video output signal from the target system, typically a target computer or server, repackaging and compressing the video output signal, and sending it back to the client computer over the IP network to display the screen content on the client computer's display screen. The client computer can be a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone, or any other form of personal computing device with a display screen or communication with a display device. This traditional hardware-based KVM system does not use any software, drivers, or agents installed and running on the remote target computer or server. The data sent and displayed on the client computer's display screen is of a graphical nature, meaning that it is a matrix of pixels that construct text and non-text screen content, similar to how pixels are used to construct a photograph.

[0006] Such traditional hardware-based KVM solutions are also referred to as "agentless" KVM solutions and are often preferred by IT management professionals. Thus, an agentless KVM solution is one that has no special software installed on the target computer or server that is remotely accessed by a client computer (i.e., a user using his / her personal computing device).

[0007] Although agentless KVM solutions are currently widely adopted, they have significant limitations. This is that the client computer cannot select and extract text content visible in the video image frame displayed on the user's display screen, and cannot further use and process it as text, such as by copying it into other documents or copying it to the clipboard of the client's personal computing device. A typical example of a desired such function is that the remote computer display screen displays, for example, a text or alphanumeric error number, log number, serial number, software version number or BIOS version number, software license, one or more phone numbers, or possibly hyperlinks, which the operator of the KVM solution wishes to extract and possibly use for further processing with one or more other applications.

[0008] Therefore, the remote computer or server cannot use and process such text in the video image frame for further consumption, or cannot pass the text to other applications. In order to enable a user to use the text displayed in the video image frame on his / her personal computing device, the user usually has to resort to using an agent-based KVM solution such as VNC (Virtual Network Computing), RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) or another remote desktop solution. However, such agent-based solutions usually require software to be installed on the target computer or server, which is generally considered undesirable from the perspective of IT management due to security, complexity and other issues.

[0009] Therefore, there is a need to enable a user to extract and use important and / or helpful text or alphanumeric information presented in a video frame on a display of a user device running an agentless KVM application during a KVM session to improve user productivity when accessing a target computer or server. Summary of the Invention

[0010] This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.

[0011] In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session using a client computing device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of the client computing device. The method may include: accessing a KVM device using a client computing device operated by a user, wherein the client computing device is running a KVM application; and controlling the KVM device to communicate with a target computer using the KVM application. The method may also include supplying, using the KVM device, a video frame received from the target computer to a display operably associated with the client computing device. The video frame includes pixels comprising the video frame, wherein the pixels in the video frame form at least one text or alphanumeric character. The method may also include receiving input from a user-controllable control component of the client computing device. The input defines a portion of the video frame selected by the user, the portion including at least one text or alphanumeric character to be converted into text output. The method may also include converting the at least one text or alphanumeric character into text output using an optical character recognition (OCR) software application, and copying the text output using the client computing device for subsequent use by the user.

[0012] In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session using a client computing device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of the client computing device. The method may include accessing a KVM device using a client computing device operated by a user, wherein the client computing device is running a KVM application. The method may also include using the KVM application to control the KVM device to communicate with a target computer, and using the KVM device to supply a video frame received from the target computer to a display operably associated with the client computing device. The video frame includes pixels that constitute the video frame, wherein the pixels in the video frame form at least one text or alphanumeric character. The method may also include receiving input from a user-controllable control component operably associated with the client computing device. The input defines a portion of the video frame selected by the user, the portion including at least one text or alphanumeric character to be converted into ASCII text output and to be copied. The method may also include: using an optical character recognition (OCR) software application stored in a memory of the client computing device and running on the client computing device to recognize the selected at least one text or alphanumeric character and convert it into text output; receiving a copy (COPY) command created using the client computing device; and in response to receiving the copy command, copying the text output for subsequent use by the user.

[0013] In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session using a client computing device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of the client computing device. The method may include accessing a KVM device using a client computing device operated by a user, wherein the client computing device is running a KVM application. The method may also include using the KVM application to control the KVM device to communicate with a target computer, and using the KVM device to supply a video frame received from the target computer to a display operably associated with the client computing device. The video frame includes pixels that constitute the video frame, wherein the pixels in the video frame form at least one text or alphanumeric character. The method may also include receiving input from a user-controllable control component operably associated with the client computing device. The input highlights a portion of the video frame selected by the user, the portion including at least one text or alphanumeric character to be converted into ASCII text output and to be copied. The method may further include: using an optical character recognition (OCR) software application stored in a memory of the client computing device and running on the client computing device to recognize the selected at least one text or alphanumeric character and convert it into ASCII text output. The method may further include: in response to receiving a copy command input by a user of the client computing device, using a clipboard of the client computing device to receive the ASCII text output; receiving a paste (PASTE) command initiated by the user from a user-controllable mouse-like component; and pasting the ASCII text output into at least one of a selected application, a selected document, or a selected webpage.

[0014] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein.It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations or embodiments, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0016] Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings, in which:

[0017] Figure 1 is a high-level block diagram of one embodiment of an agentless KVM system according to the present disclosure; and

[0018] Figure 2 It can be done by Figure 1A high-level flowchart of the operations performed by a system to enable a user to select and capture one or more portions of a video appearing on a display of the user's personal electronic device, where the video includes text or alphanumeric content, to convert the selected video content using an OCR application to create ASCII text or alphanumeric information, and to copy the ASCII text or alphanumeric information to a clipboard of the user's personal electronic device for further use. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0020] Reference Figure 1 , one embodiment of a KVM system 10 is shown in accordance with the present disclosure. The system 10 in this example includes a KVM device 12 coupled to a KVM display console 14. The KVM device 12 communicates bidirectionally with a target computer or target server 16 (hereinafter referred to as "target computer" 16). The KVM device 12 typically transmits text commands or requests to the target computer 16 via a USB connection (not shown) and receives video from the target computer 16 via a video interface connection (not shown). The KVM device 12 displays information on the KVM display console 14, which information may include text, alphanumeric information, and / or non-text graphical information. Typically, such information includes, but is not limited to, information related to software version numbers, device and / or software serial numbers or product numbers / names, operating system BIOS numbers, log numbers, error log numbers, software license numbers, uniform resource locator strings (URLs), multi-factor authentication strings, intellectual property information such as U.S. trademarks or patent numbers, and the like.

[0021] The KVM device 12 typically communicates with a network 18, which may be a local area network or a wide area network. For simplicity, throughout the following discussion, this connection will be referred to as "network 18." It should be understood that the KVM device 12 may communicate via a separate local area network (not shown) rather than a network such as the one shown in FIG. Figure 1 A direct hardwired connection is shown for communicating with target computer 16, and the present disclosure is not limited to any particular connection configuration between KVM appliance 12 and target computer 16, or any particular type of connection (network or other) between KVM appliance 12 and other remote devices.

[0022] The system 10 may also include an OCR software application 20 and a KVM software application 21 loaded and running within a memory 22 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.) of a client computing device 24. The client computing device 24 may be a user's laptop computer, computing tablet, desktop computer, smartphone, or any other personal electronic device capable of running the KVM software application 21. The client computing device 24 may have a built-in display 26 (e.g., LCD, LED, etc.), or alternatively, an external display (not shown) may be used. The client computing device 24 also typically includes some form of user-controllable control component, such as a graphical user input (GUI) device, for example, a keyboard 28 and / or a touchpad 30 or external mouse 30a that is physically connected to the client computing device 24, such as via a USB connection. Optionally, a touch display feature may be used in place of the touchpad 30 or external mouse 30a to enable a user to select a portion of the information appearing on the display 26 by using a finger moved across the display 26. The keyboard 28 may be a physical keyboard, such as Figure 1 As shown, or alternatively, the keyboard may be a virtual keyboard that can be displayed on the display 26. For convenience, in the following discussion, it will be assumed that the client computing device 24 incorporates a touchpad 30 rather than an external mouse 30a, it being understood that the system 10 is not limited to only one form of GUI input device or only one form of display 26 (i.e., internal or external).

[0023] The client computing device 24 may also include an internal clipboard 32 to which information selected using the touchpad 30 may be copied and pasted into an application, document, or web page that the user is currently accessing (or will access in the future). The client computing device 24 transmits text (e.g., ASCII text) to and receives text (e.g., ASCII text) back from the KVM appliance 12 via the network 18. The client computing device 24 also receives video signals back from the KVM appliance 12 over the network 18, which are displayed as video frames on the display 26.

[0024] Figure 1Also shown is a display 26 showing a video frame with video information 34 received from the KVM device 12. As understood in light of current display systems, the video information 34 is composed of pixels forming text or alphanumeric characters and / or symbols, as well as possibly other graphics. The text or alphanumeric information formed by the video information 34 may be information that a user may wish to use for some other purpose—for example, by copying it to the clipboard 32 of the client computing device 24 for subsequent use in an application or document, or perhaps on a web page being accessed. However, previous agentless KVM systems have not provided this capability electronically. Therefore, until now, users have been limited to physically writing down the text or alphanumeric information on a separate piece of paper, or manually recording it on some other device, and then manually re-entering the copied information via the keyboard 28. As will be appreciated, many types of information, such as serial numbers, BIOS information, and / or web links, can be quite long and may include strings of letters, numbers, and other symbols such as backslashes, forward slashes, asterisks, etc. Thus, when manually copying such information, information that a user wishes to copy for subsequent use may be highly susceptible to manual transcription errors due to the length and / or complexity and / or variety of characters present.

[0025] System 10 provides a highly valuable feature that enables a user to use touchpad 30 to highlight a user-selected portion of a video frame displayed on display 26, convert the text or alphanumeric information within the selected portion of the video frame into usable text information through OCR, and copy the text information to clipboard 32 for subsequent use in an application, document, or web page accessed by the user. This is accomplished by the user accessing touchpad 30 and, using one or more fingers, highlighting only the portion of information 34 within the video frame that the user wishes to convert into ASCII text, in this example, portion 34a represented by the dashed line. Once highlighted, the user can also use touchpad 30 or a separate control on client computing device 24 to choose to "copy" the selected portion of the video to clipboard 32. Execution of the copy command by the user invokes the use of OCR software application 20. OCR software application 20 can be launched when the KVM application detects that the user has selected (i.e., highlighted) a particular portion of the video on display 26, or even upon receipt of a copy command, and any of these implementations can be used with system 10.

[0026] At this point, the user will have the selected information 34a OCR-converted and copied to clipboard 32. The selected information 34a can then be automatically and electronically copied to a selected document, a selected application that the user subsequently opens, or a web page that the user has accessed or is about to access, simply by using the "PASTE" command common to many applications. This completely eliminates the risk of the user making any error in copying the selected information 34a. Importantly, it also provides the user with a means to select information in the video frame appearing on display 26 that the user does not know in advance (e.g., BIOS version number, serial number, etc.). While some pre-existing systems have provided the ability to OCR certain information appearing on the display, such systems have required that the specific information be pre-programmed or otherwise input into the OCR application. The present system 10 and method of operation are not limited to the user knowing in advance the exact information to be OCR-converted; essentially, any text or alphanumeric information appearing on display 26 can be selected by the user for OCR conversion and then copied to a different application or document for subsequent use.

[0027] It is also important to note that the user's experience with system 10 is intuitive and does not require the user to perform any complex procedures when selecting and OCRing selected portions of text or alphanumeric information appearing on display 26 and then copying the OCRed text into a different application. Thus, system 10 enables text and alphanumeric information appearing on display 26 to be OCRed into ASCII text output and used by the user in other applications in a virtually seamless manner. Furthermore, this capability is present at all times while the user is using system 10 and is therefore not limited to capturing text or alphanumeric information only during startup or shutdown operations.

[0028] Now refer to Figure 2, shows a high-level flow chart 100 of various operations that can be performed by system 10 to enable a user to select, OCR, and copy a selected portion of text or alphanumeric information appearing in a video frame on display 26. At operation 102, a user can initiate a KVM session using client computing device 24, which can involve launching KVM application 21 and initiating a connection with KVM appliance 12. At operation 104, which is shown as an optional operation but can certainly be mandatory, the user defines a language to be used with the OCR operation. This operation can also be enabled in the "Preferences" section of the KVM application so that a default language is used if the user is not required to make a specific selection. At operation 106, the user can use touchpad 30 (or an externally connected mouse 30a) to highlight a selected text item, portion, or string displayed in a video frame on display 26 of client computing device 24 for subsequent OCR processing and further use. At operation 108, OCR software 20 generates text (i.e., ASCII text output) based on the user-selected text or alphanumeric information in the video frame displayed on display 26. At operation 110, the user can use the touchpad 30 (or a connected external mouse 30a) to "COPY" the ASCII text just created to the clipboard 32 for subsequent use in a different application, or in a web page, or in any document that the user wishes to insert text into. The "PASTE" command can then be used to paste the copied ASCII text into the application, document, or web page.

[0029] For the purpose of illustration and description, the above description of the embodiments has been provided. The above description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure. The individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are also interchangeable and can be used in the selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The elements or features may also be changed in many ways. Such variations are not considered to be departures from the present disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0030] Example embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be sufficient and will more fully convey the scope to those skilled in the art. Many specific details, such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed and that the example embodiments can be implemented in many different forms and none of them should be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.

[0031] The terms used herein are only used to describe the purpose of specific example embodiments and are not intended to be restrictive. As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms "one", "an" and "the" may also be intended to include plural forms. The terms "comprise", "contain", "include" and "have" are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or parts, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts and / or their groups. The method steps, processes and operations described herein should not be interpreted as necessarily requiring them to be performed in the particular order discussed or shown, unless specifically identified as the order of execution. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps may be adopted.

[0032] When an element or layer is referred to as being "on," "engaged to," "connected to," or "coupled to" another element or layer, the element or layer can be directly on, engaged to, connected to, or coupled to the other element or layer, or there may be intervening elements or layers. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly engaged to," "directly connected to," or "directly coupled to" another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements (e.g., "between" versus "directly between," "adjacent" versus "directly adjacent," etc.) should be interpreted in a similar manner. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0033] Although the terms first, second, third etc. can be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts, these elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts should not be limited by these terms. These terms can only be used to distinguish an element, component, region, layer or part from another region, layer or part. For example, when the terms and other numerical terms of "first", "second" are used in this article, unless clearly indicated by the context, sequence or order is not implied. Therefore, the first element, component, region, layer or part discussed below can be referred to as the second element, component, region, layer or part without departing from the teaching of exemplary embodiments.

[0034] For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "inside," "outside," "under," "below," "lower," "above," "upper," etc. may be used herein to describe the relationship of one element or feature to another (or other) elements or features as shown in the drawings. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation other than the orientation depicted in the drawings. For example, if the device in the drawings is turned over, elements described as "below" or "beneath" other elements or features will be oriented "above" the other elements or features. Thus, the example term "below" may encompass both above and below orientations. The device may be oriented in other ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatially relative descriptors used herein may be interpreted accordingly.

Claims

1. A method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session using a client computing device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of the client computing device, the method comprising: accessing a KVM appliance using a client computing device operated by a user, wherein the client computing device is running a KVM application to perform the KVM session; Using the KVM application to control the KVM device to communicate with the target computer; supplying, using the KVM device, a video frame received from the target computer to a display operatively associated with the client computing device, the video frame including pixels comprising the video frame, the pixels in the video frame forming at least one character; receiving an input from a user-controllable control of the client computing device, the input defining a portion of the video frame selected by the user, the portion including the at least one character to be converted into text output; using an optical character recognition (OCR) software application to convert the at least one character into text output; and The text output is copied using the client computing device for subsequent use by the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The OCR software application runs on the client computing device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein Receiving input from a user-controllable control comprises receiving input from a user-controllable touchpad of the client computing device, wherein the touchpad is configured to enable the user to highlight a portion of the video frame where the at least one character appears.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein Receiving input from a user-controllable control component includes receiving input from an external mouse coupled to the client computing device, wherein the external mouse is configured to enable the user to highlight a portion of the video frame where the at least one character appears.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The text output includes ASCII text output.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein The user-controllable control is configured to enable the user to copy the text output, after conversion by the OCR software application, to a clipboard of an application running on the client computing device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: Using the user-controllable control includes using a touchpad operatively associated with the client computing device.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein: Using the user-controllable control component includes using an external mouse connected to the client computing device.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein Accessing the KVM device using the client computing device includes accessing the KVM device using one of: laptop computers; desktop computers; computing tablet; or Smartphone.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein The at least one character comprises an alphanumeric character.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein The at least one character constitutes at least one text.

12. A method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session using a client computing device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of the client computing device, the method comprising: accessing a KVM apparatus using a client computing device operated by a user, wherein the client computing device is running a KVM application, the KVM application conducting the KVM session; Using the KVM application to control the KVM device to communicate with the target computer; supplying, using the KVM device, a video frame received from the target computer to a display operatively associated with the client computing device, the video frame including pixels comprising the video frame, the pixels in the video frame forming at least one character; receiving input from a user-controllable control operatively associated with the client computing device, the input defining a portion of the video frame selected by the user, the portion including the at least one character to be converted to ASCII text output and copied; recognizing the at least one character contained in the user-selected portion of the video frame using an optical character recognition (OCR) software application stored in memory of the client computing device and running on the client computing device, and converting the at least one character into text output; receiving a copy command created using the client computing device; and In response to receiving the copy command, the text output is copied for subsequent use by the user.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Receiving input from a user-controllable control includes receiving input from a touchpad of the client computing device.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Receiving input from a user-controllable control component includes receiving input from an external mouse coupled to the client computing device.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Accessing the KVM device using the client computing device includes accessing the KVM device using one of: laptop computers; desktop computers; computing tablet; or Smartphone.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Copying the text output for subsequent use by the user includes copying the text output to a clipboard of the client computing device.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: A paste command initiated by the user from the control component is received, and the text output is pasted into at least one of a user-selected application, a user-selected document, or a user-selected webpage.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein The at least one character comprises an alphanumeric character.

19. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein: The at least one character constitutes at least one text.

20. A method for selecting and copying one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric information appearing within a video image frame during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session using a client computing device, wherein the video image frame is being displayed on a display of the client computing device, the method comprising: accessing a KVM apparatus using a client computing device operated by a user, wherein the client computing device is running a KVM application, the KVM application conducting the KVM session; Using the KVM application to control the KVM device to communicate with the target computer; supplying, using the KVM device, a video frame received from the target computer to a display operatively associated with the client computing device, the video frame including pixels comprising the video frame, the pixels in the video frame forming at least one character; receiving input from a user-controllable control operably associated with the client computing device, the input highlighting a portion of the video frame selected by the user, the portion including the at least one character to be converted to ASCII text output and copied; recognizing the at least one character within the user-selected portion of the video frame using an optical character recognition (OCR) software application stored in memory of the client computing device and running on the client computing device, and converting the at least one character into ASCII text output; In response to receiving a copy command input by a user of the client computing device, receiving the ASCII text output using a clipboard of the client computing device; and A paste command initiated by the user from the user-controllable component is received, and the ASCII text output is pasted into at least one of a selected application, a selected document, or a selected web page.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein Receiving input from a user-controllable control includes receiving input from a touchpad of the client computing device.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein Receiving input from a user-controllable control component includes receiving input from an external mouse coupled to the client computing device.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein Accessing the KVM device using the client computing device includes accessing the KVM device using one of: laptop computers; desktop computers; computing tablet; or Smartphone.

24. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein The at least one character comprises an alphanumeric character.

25. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein The at least one character constitutes at least one text.

26. A system for selecting one or more characters of at least one of text or alphanumeric characters appearing in a video frame received during a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) session, the system comprising: a computing device configured to access a remote KVM device and communicate with the KVM device, wherein the KVM device is configured to execute the KVM session; a display operatively associated with the computing device; a memory operatively associated with the computing device, the memory configured to: running a KVM application to facilitate execution of the KVM session, enabling communication with a remote target computer in communication with the KVM device; running an optical character recognition (OCR) program configured to recognize at least one of text or alphanumeric characters in the video frame received from the KVM device; The computing device is configured to receive a video frame generated by the target computer and delivered to the computing device by the KVM apparatus and to display the video frame on the display, the video frame comprising pixels constituting the video frame, and the pixels in the video frame forming at least one character; a user-controllable input operatively associated with the computing device and configured to enable a user to define a selected portion of the video frame, the selected portion including the at least one character; and The computing device is further configured to convert the at least one character into text output using the OCR program for further subsequent use by the user.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein: The at least one character comprises an alphanumeric character.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein: The at least one character constitutes at least one text.

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