Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System

Mehmet Tat; Büşra Takgil

doi:10.54287/gujsa.1964635

Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System

Abstract

Forgetting the expiration dates on official documents can lead to serious problems. These problems can be both legal and financial, and they can also affect daily life. The reminder apps currently in use aim to solve this problem. Margin of error and security vulnerabilities in the management of document validity processes constitute significant risk factors. However, these apps require users to enter information manually. This dependency introduces substantial operational friction, increasing the susceptibility to data entry errors and driving high application abandonment rates. To resolve these issues, the Flutter-based DocGuard mobile application, integrating on-device OCR with a layout-aware heuristic algorithm, was developed to automate and secure data entry, and its performance was evaluated. The developed DocGuard application presents a validated, novel approach that aims to eliminate these risks and prioritizes client-side data privacy. The study’s contribution to the literature consists of three main parts. First, a Layout-Aware Sequence Heuristic (LASH) scoring algorithm capable of reliable date detection across standard structured and semi-structured official documents was designed using the Google ML Kit OCR infrastructure. Second, a privacy architecture prioritizing local processing was established, ensuring closed-loop, strict data confidentiality through standard PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 key derivation and AES-256 Client-Side Encryption (CSE) methods optimized for mobile edge devices. The system’s performance was tested using a 5-fold cross-validation method on a balanced dataset consisting of 500 real and open-source documents. The proposed LASH algorithm outperforms standard OCR methods, achieving an exact match accuracy of 94.0% (± 1.2%) for structured documents and 82.0% (± 2.1%) for unstructured documents. Additionally, a statistically significant (p < 0.001) reduction of 70–75% in manual processing time was recorded for users. Although there are some structural limitations in analyzing complex structures and handwriting that require human verification, the findings demonstrate that DocGuard offers a scalable, privacy-preserving digital document lifecycle infrastructure applicable across a wide range of areas, from corporate compliance processes to fintech KYC verifications.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Ethical Statement

This study used a dataset of 500 publicly available and anonymized documents. No human subjects were directly involved in experimental procedures, and no personally identifiable information was collected or processed. Accordingly, formal ethics committee approval was not required. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Image Processing, Edge Computing

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Mehmet Tat
0009-0001-3494-2798
Türkiye

Büşra Takgil ^*
0000-0002-7927-0083
Türkiye

Early Pub Date

September 25, 2026

Publication Date

September 30, 2026

Submission Date

June 5, 2026

Acceptance Date

August 19, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 13 Number: 3

DOI

https://doi.org/10.54287/gujsa.1964635

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA85NP67FC

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Tat, M., & Takgil, B. (2026). Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System. Gazi University Journal of Science Part A: Engineering and Innovation, 13(3), 1200-1223. https://doi.org/10.54287/gujsa.1964635

AMA

1.Tat M, Takgil B. Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System. GU J Sci, Part A. 2026;13(3):1200-1223. doi:10.54287/gujsa.1964635

Chicago

Tat, Mehmet, and Büşra Takgil. 2026. “Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System”. Gazi University Journal of Science Part A: Engineering and Innovation 13 (3): 1200-1223. https://doi.org/10.54287/gujsa.1964635.

EndNote

Tat M, Takgil B (September 1, 2026) Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System. Gazi University Journal of Science Part A: Engineering and Innovation 13 3 1200–1223.

IEEE

[1]M. Tat and B. Takgil, “Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System”, GU J Sci, Part A, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 1200–1223, Sept. 2026, doi: 10.54287/gujsa.1964635.

ISNAD

Tat, Mehmet - Takgil, Büşra. “Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System”. Gazi University Journal of Science Part A: Engineering and Innovation 13/3 (September 1, 2026): 1200-1223. https://doi.org/10.54287/gujsa.1964635.

JAMA

1.Tat M, Takgil B. Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System. GU J Sci, Part A. 2026;13:1200–1223.

MLA

Tat, Mehmet, and Büşra Takgil. “Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System”. Gazi University Journal of Science Part A: Engineering and Innovation, vol. 13, no. 3, Sept. 2026, pp. 1200-23, doi:10.54287/gujsa.1964635.

Vancouver

1.Mehmet Tat, Büşra Takgil. Automated Expiration Date Extraction from Official Documents: A Real-Time OCR-Based Mobile System. GU J Sci, Part A. 2026 Sep. 1;13(3):1200-23. doi:10.54287/gujsa.1964635