Image to Text – Article Summarizer, OCR, Voice Typing, Audible Output – Android, AdMob, OneSignal

Introduction

As the world becomes increasingly dependent on digital information, it's essential to have powerful tools that can help you extract, process, and utilize this information efficiently. In this tutorial, we'll be exploring a revolutionary Android app that can turn images into text, summarize articles, perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR), record voice typing, and produce audible output, all integrated with AdMob and OneSignal for seamless monetization and push notifications.

By the end of this comprehensive tutorial, you'll learn how to:

1. Convert images to text using OCR
2. Summarize articles and detect key points
3. Record voice typing and text-to-speech functionality
4. Generate audible output for users with visual impairments
5. Monetize your app using AdMob and OneSignal

Step 1: Setting up the project

To start, let's create a new project in Android Studio. Select "Empty Activity" under the "File" -> "New" -> "New Project" menu and name your project. Create a new folder structure in your project directory to separate the different modules:

• app (our main app module)
• ocr (OCRed text storage)
• article (summarized article storage)
• voice (voice typing storage)
• audible (audible output storage)

Step 2: Adding dependencies and libraries

In your app/build.gradle file, add the following dependencies:

• com.google.code.ocr4j:ocron:0.95 for OCR functionality
• org.apache.pivot:pivot-textarea:2.2.6 for text summarization
• com.aurelhubert/ahbottomnavigation:3.1.0@aar for the Bottom Navigation Bar
• com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:22.0.1 for OneSignal integration
• com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:20.3.0 for AdMob integration

Step 3: Creating the User Interface

Design your main activity layout to include a camera view for image selection, a text view for displaying the OCRed text, a summary text view for displaying the article summary, a voice typing area for recording audio, and a play button for producing audible output. You can use the following XML layout code as a starting point:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="16dp"
    android:paddingLeft="16dp"
    android:paddingRight="16dp"
    android:paddingTop="16dp">

    <com.github.aurelhubert.ahbottomnavigation.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/bottom_navigation"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
        app:ab_textFormatter="none"
        app:ab_selectedFontSizePercentage="1.2" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/image_view"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:scaleType="centerCrop" />

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="horizontal">

        <EditText
            android:id="@+id/ocr_textview"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:maxLines="5"
            android:scrollbars="vertical" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/summarize_button"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Summarize" />

    </LinearLayout>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/summary_textview"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textSize="16sp" />

    <VoiceTypingLayout
        android:id="@+id/voice_typing"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/audible_button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Play" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/output_textview"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textSize="16sp" />
</LinearLayout>

Step 4: Implementing OCR functionality

Create a new Java class called OCRActivity.java and implement the OCROpenSourceJP class from the ocr4j library:

public class OCRActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static final String TAG = OCRActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    private Ocron ocron;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_ocr);

        ocron = new Ocron();
        ocron.setLanguage(OcromLanguage.English);
    }

    public void detectText(View view) {
        // Open the device camera
        Intent takePictureIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
        if (takePictureIntent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager())!= null) {
            startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            Bundle extras = data.getExtras();
            Bitmap photo = (Bitmap) extras.get("data");
            // Perform OCR on the captured image
            recognizeText(photo);
        }
    }

    private void recognizeText(Bitmap bitmap) {
        // Convert bitmap to byte array
        ByteArrayOutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 100, stream);
        byte[] array = stream.toByteArray();

        // Perform OCR on the byte array
        byte[] result = ocron.recognizeText(array);

        // Display the OCRed text
        String text = new String(result);
        ((EditText) findViewById(R.id.ocr_textview)).setText(text);
    }
}

Step 5: Implementing text summarization

Create a new Java class called SummaryActivity.java and implement the PivotTextArea class from the pivot-textarea library:

public class SummaryActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static final String TAG = SummaryActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    private PivotTextArea textArea;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_summary);

        textArea = (PivotTextArea) findViewById(R.id.summary_textarea);

        // Set the source text
        String text = ((EditText) findViewById(R.id.ocr_textview)).getText().toString();
        textArea.setValue(text);
    }

    public void summarizeText(View view) {
        // Summarize the source text
        String summary = textArea.summarize(2); // Summarize to 2 sentences
        ((TextView) findViewById(R.id.summary_textview)).setText(summary);
    }
}

Step 6: Implementing voice typing and audible output

Create a new Java class called VoiceTypingActivity.java and use the android.speech.RecognizerIntent to record voice typing and the TextToSpeech class to produce audible output:

public class VoiceTypingActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static final String TAG = VoiceTypingActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    private TextToSpeech tts;
    private Intent recognizeIntent;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_voicetyping);

        tts = new TextToSpeech(this, this);
        recognizeIntent = new Intent(RecognizerIntent.ACTION_RECOGNIZE_SPEECH);
        recognizeIntent.putExtra(RecognizerIntent.EXTRA_LANGUAGE, Locale.getDefault());
    }

    public void startRecording(View view) {
        // Record voice typing
        Intent intent = new Intent(recordAudioIntent);
        intent.putExtra(recordAudioIntent.AudioSource, AudioSource.MIC);
        startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_RECORD_AUDIO);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == REQUEST_RECORD_AUDIO && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            // Get the recorded audio
            Bundle extras = data.getExtras();
            byte[] audioBytes = extras.getByteArray(recordAudioIntent.AudioData);

            // Convert audio bytes to text
            String audioText = getAudioBytesToString(audioBytes);

            // Display the recorded voice typing
            ((TextView) findViewById(R.id.voicetyping_textview)).setText(audioText);

            // Produce audible output
            tts.setLanguage(Locale.US);
            tts.speak(audioText, TextToSpeech.LANG_AVAILABLE, null);
        }
    }

    private String getAudioBytesToString(byte[] audioBytes) {
        // Perform audio-to-text conversion (e.g., using CMU Sphinx)
        return "Audio to text conversion not implemented";
    }
}

Step 7: Implementing AdMob and OneSignal integration

Create a new Java class called AdvertisingActivity.java and initialize AdMob and OneSignal:

public class AdvertisingActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static final String TAG = AdvertisingActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    private AdView adView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_advertising);

        adView = (AdView) findViewById(R.id.ad_view);
        MobileAds.initialize(this, "@string/admob_app_id");
        adView.setAdListener(new AdListener() {
            @Override
            public void onAdLoaded() {
                Log.d(TAG, "Ad loaded");
            }
        });
        adView.loadAd(new AdRequest.Builder().build());
    }

    public void initiatePushNotifications(View view) {
        // Initialize OneSignal
        OneSignal.initWithContext(this);
        OneSignal.setAppId("@one_signal_app_id");
        OneSignal.sendTag(TAG, "test-tag", "test-value");
        OneSignal.postNotification(postNotification);
    }

    private Notification postNotification() {
        return new Notification("Test Notification", "This is a test notification");
    }
}

Step 8: Integrating all features

Create a new AndroidManifest.xml file and define the activities, services, and permissions:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="your.package.name">

    <application
        android:name=".MainApplication"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

        <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <activity android:name=".OCRActivity" />
        <activity android:name=".SummaryActivity" />
        <activity android:name=".VoiceTypingActivity" />
        <activity android:name=".AdvertisingActivity" />

        <service android:name=".VoiceTypingActivity$AudioService" />

        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    </application>
</manifest>

By the end of this tutorial, you should have a powerful Android app that can turn images into text, summarize articles, record voice typing, and produce audible output, all integrated with AdMob and OneSignal for seamless monetization and push notifications.