MRZ Recognition on Android Using Dynamsoft MRZ Scanner SDK

Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) recognition is a critical feature in applications that require scanning and processing identity documents, such as passports and visas. On Android devices, implementing accurate MRZ recognition can significantly enhance the efficiency and user experience of such apps. In this article, we will explore how to use the Dynamsoft MRZ Scanner SDK to integrate MRZ recognition into your Android application. The SDK provides powerful OCR capabilities specifically tailored for reading MRZ data, allowing you to capture and decode information quickly and reliably, making your app more robust and user-friendly.

This article is Part 2 in a 4-Part Series.

Demo Video: Android MRZ Scanner

Prerequisites

Sample Passport Image with MRZ

Below is a sample MRZ image for testing:

passport mrz image

Implementing MRZ Recognition on Android

Step 1: Configure Your Android Project with Dynamsoft Label Recognizer SDK

  1. In your project’s root build.gradle file, add the Dynamsoft Maven repository:

     allprojects {
     repositories {
         google()
         mavenCentral()
         maven { url "https://download2.dynamsoft.com/maven/aar" }
     }
 }

  2. In the module’s build.gradle file, include the necessary dependencies:

     implementation 'com.dynamsoft:mrzscannerbundle:3.0.0'

Step 2: Activate Dynamsoft MRZ Scanner SDK

In your MainActivity.java file, set up the license key for the SDK as shown below:

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        if (savedInstanceState == null) {
            LicenseManager.initLicense("LICENSE-KEY", this, (isSuccessful, error) -> {
                if (!isSuccessful) {
                    error.printStackTrace();
                    runOnUiThread(() -> ((TextView) findViewById(R.id.tv_license_error)).setText("License initialization failed: "+error.getMessage()));
                }
            });
        }
        ...
}

This setup initializes the SDK and checks for any licensing errors, ensuring the app is ready for MRZ recognition.

Step 3: Create a Camera Preview for MRZ Recognition

  1. Add a new layout file named activity_scan.xml in the layout folder:

     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 	android:layout_width="match_parent"
 	android:layout_height="match_parent">
    
    
 	<com.dynamsoft.dce.CameraView
 		android:id="@+id/dce_camera_view"
 		android:layout_width="match_parent"
 		android:layout_height="match_parent" />
    
 	<TextView
 		android:layout_above="@+id/tv_result"
 		android:id="@+id/tv_message"
 		android:layout_marginHorizontal="24dp"
 		android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
 		android:layout_marginBottom="80dp"
 		android:textColor="@color/red00"
 		android:textSize="16sp"
 		android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 		android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
    
 	<TextView
 		android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
 		android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
 		android:layout_marginBottom="70dp"
 		android:id="@+id/tv_result"
 		android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 		android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
 </RelativeLayout>

    Explanation

    • CameraView: Displays the camera preview for capturing MRZ data.
    • TextView: Displays messages such as license information and detection errors.

  2. Inflate the layout and configure the camera preview in the MainActivity.java file:

     @Override
 protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
     setContentView(R.layout.activity_scan);
     PermissionUtil.requestCameraPermission(this);
     LicenseManager.initLicense("LICENSE-KEY",
             this,
             (isSuccess, error) -> {
                 if (!isSuccess) {
                     runOnUiThread(() -> {
                         ((TextView)findViewById(R.id.tv_message))
                                 .setText("License initialization failed: "+error.getMessage());
                     });
                     error.printStackTrace();
                 }
             });
     mCameraView = findViewById(R.id.dce_camera_view);
     mTextResult = findViewById(R.id.tv_result);
     mCamera = new CameraEnhancer(mCameraView, this);

     try {
         mCamera.enableEnhancedFeatures(EnumEnhancerFeatures.EF_FRAME_FILTER);
     } catch (CameraEnhancerException e) {
         throw new RuntimeException(e);
     }

     mRouter = new CaptureVisionRouter(this);
     MultiFrameResultCrossFilter filter = new MultiFrameResultCrossFilter();
     filter.enableResultCrossVerification(EnumCapturedResultItemType.CRIT_TEXT_LINE, true);
     mRouter.addResultFilter(filter);
     try {
         mRouter.initSettingsFromFile("MRZScanner.json");
         mRouter.setInput(mCamera);
     } catch (CaptureVisionRouterException e) {
         throw new RuntimeException(e);
     }
 }

 @Override
 protected void onResume() {
     super.onResume();
     try {
         mCamera.open();
     } catch (CameraEnhancerException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
     }
     mRouter.startCapturing("ReadMRZ", new CompletionListener() {
         @Override
         public void onSuccess() {
         }

         @Override
         public void onFailure(int errorCode, String errorString) {
             runOnUiThread(() -> showDialog("Error", String.format(Locale.getDefault(),
                     "ErrorCode: %d %nErrorMessage: %s", errorCode, errorString)));
         }
     });
 }

 @Override
 protected void onPause() {
     super.onPause();
     succeed = false;
     try {
         mCamera.close();

     } catch (CameraEnhancerException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
     }
     mRouter.stopCapturing();
 }

 @Override
 protected void onStop() {
     mCameraView.getDrawingLayer(DrawingLayer.DLR_LAYER_ID).clearDrawingItems();
     super.onStop();
 }

  3. Register the callbacks for handling recognized MRZ data:

     mRouter.addResultReceiver(new CapturedResultReceiver() {
         @Override
         // Implement this method to receive RecognizedTextLinesResult.
         public void onRecognizedTextLinesReceived(@NonNull RecognizedTextLinesResult result) {
             onLabelTextReceived(result);
         }

         @Override
         public void onParsedResultsReceived(@NonNull ParsedResult result) {
             if (!succeed) {
                 onParsedResultReceived(result);
             }
         }
     });

    The ParsedResult object contains the MRZ data extracted from the captured image, formatted as key-value pairs.

    MRZ data

  4. Bind the parsed MRZ data to an Intent and start a new activity to display the results:

     private void onParsedResultReceived(ParsedResult result) {
     if (result.getItems() == null) {
         return;
     }
     if (result.getItems().length == 0) {
         runOnUiThread(() -> {
             if (!mText.isEmpty()) {
                 String errorMsg = "error: Failed to parse the content. The MRZ text is " + mText;
                 mTextResult.setText(errorMsg);
             }
         });
     } else {
         HashMap<String, String> labelMap = assembleMap(result.getItems()[0]);
         if (labelMap != null && !labelMap.isEmpty()) {
             succeed = true;
             Intent intent = new Intent(this, ResultActivity.class);
             intent.putExtra("labelMap", labelMap);
             startActivity(intent);
             runOnUiThread(() -> {
                 mTextResult.setText("");
             });

         } else {
             runOnUiThread(() -> {
                 if (!mText.isEmpty()) {
                     String errorMsg = "error: Failed to parse the content. The MRZ text is " + mText;
                     mTextResult.setText(errorMsg);
                 }
             });
         }

     }
 }

Step 4: Display the MRZ Data

  1. Create a layout file named activity_result.xml in the layout folder:

     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 	xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
 	xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
 	android:layout_width="match_parent"
 	android:layout_height="match_parent"
 	android:background="@color/dy_black_3B"
 	tools:context=".ResultActivity">
    
 	<RelativeLayout
 		android:id="@+id/rl_title"
 		android:layout_width="match_parent"
 		android:layout_height="48dp"
 		android:background="@color/dy_black_2B">
    
 		<ImageView
 			android:id="@+id/iv_back"
 			android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 			android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 			android:layout_centerVertical="true"
 			android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
 			android:background="@color/transparent"
 			android:src="@drawable/ic_arrow_left" />
    
 		<TextView
 			android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 			android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 			android:layout_centerVertical="true"
 			android:layout_toEndOf="@id/iv_back"
 			android:text="Back"
 			android:textColor="@color/white"
 			android:textSize="17sp" />
    
 		<TextView
 			android:layout_width="wrap_content"
 			android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 			android:layout_centerInParent="true"
 			android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
 			android:text="Result"
 			android:textColor="@color/white"
 			android:textSize="20sp"
 			android:textStyle="bold" />
    
 	</RelativeLayout>
    
 	<ScrollView
 		android:layout_below="@id/rl_title"
 		android:layout_width="match_parent"
 		android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    
 		<LinearLayout
 			android:id="@+id/ll_content"
 			android:layout_width="match_parent"
 			android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 			android:orientation="vertical"
 			android:padding="20dp">
 		</LinearLayout>
 	</ScrollView>
 </RelativeLayout>

  2. Inflate the layout and display the MRZ data in the ResultActivity.java file:

     package com.dynamsoft.mrzscanner;

 import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
 import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
 import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat;
    
 import android.graphics.Color;
 import android.os.Bundle;
 import android.view.View;
 import android.view.ViewGroup;
 import android.widget.LinearLayout;
 import android.widget.TextView;
    
 import java.util.HashMap;
    
 public class ResultActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
 	private LinearLayout content;
    
 	@Override
 	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 		setContentView(R.layout.activity_result);
 		findViewById(R.id.iv_back).setOnClickListener((v) -> {
 			finish();
 		});
 		content = findViewById(R.id.ll_content);
 		HashMap<String, String> properties = (HashMap<String, String>) getIntent().
 				getSerializableExtra("labelMap");
 		if (properties != null) {
 			fillViews(properties);
 		}
    
 	}
    
 	@NonNull
 	private View childView(String label, String labelText) {
 		LinearLayout layout = new LinearLayout(this);
 		LinearLayout.LayoutParams params = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
 				ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
 		params.setMargins(0, 30, 0, 0);
 		layout.setLayoutParams(params);
 		layout.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
 		TextView labelView = new TextView(this);
 		labelView.setPadding(0, 30, 0, 0);
 		labelView.setTextColor(ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.dy_grey_AA));
 		labelView.setTextSize(16);
 		labelView.setText(label);
 		TextView textView = new TextView(this);
 		textView.setTextSize(16);
 		textView.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
 		textView.setText(labelText);
 		layout.addView(labelView);
 		layout.addView(textView);
 		return layout;
 	}
    
 	private void fillViews(HashMap<String, String> properties) {
 		content.addView(childView("Document Type:", properties.get("Document Type")));
 		content.addView(childView("Document Number:", properties.get("Document Number")));
 		content.addView(childView("Name:", properties.get("Name")));
 		content.addView(childView("Issuing State:", properties.get("Issuing State")));
 		content.addView(childView("Nationality:", properties.get("Nationality")));
 		content.addView(childView("Date of Birth(YYYY-MM-DD):", properties.get("Date of Birth(YYYY-MM-DD)")));
 		content.addView(childView("Sex:", Character.toUpperCase(properties.get("Sex").charAt(0)) + properties.get("Sex").substring(1)));
 		content.addView(childView("Date of Expiry(YYYY-MM-DD):", properties.get("Date of Expiry(YYYY-MM-DD)")));
 	}
 }

    Android OCR recognition for passport mrz

Source Code

https://github.com/yushulx/android-camera-barcode-mrz-document-scanner/tree/main/examples/10.x/mrz