Readers


 * __Optical mark recognition (OMR), optical character recognition (OCR), magnetic ink character recognition (MICR), radio frequency identification (RFID), radio tag, bar code scanners and magnetic stripe readers.__**

__Optical Mark Recognition/ Optical Mark Readers (OMR):__ Use reflected light to determine the location of pencil marks on standardized test answer sheets and similar forms. A scanner device shines a beam of light onto the form paper. The reflectivity at different positions on a page is then utilized to detect the marked areas because they reflect less light than the blank areas of the paper.

Advantages: Allows businesses to evaluate surveys more easily with more convenience.

Disadvantages: Writing cannot be used, must be circles (hence the name mark). There is also the possibility of missing data in the scanning process, and incorrectly or unnumbered pages can lead to their being scanned in the wrong order. If not shaded in correctly, the scanner can miss the data.

__Optical Character Recognition (OCR):__ Translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text such as word documents or simple text file. It is used to convert books and documents into electronic files, publish the text on a website or computerize a record-keeping system in an office. OCR uses pattern recognition and AI in order to determine fonts. Fonts must be calibrated, sometimes images must be programmed in. The OCR matches images and fonts to its own database. It would use a simple scanner

Advantages: Makes it possibleto edit the text, search for a word or phrase, store it more compactly, display or print a copy free of scanning artifacts, and apply techniques such text-to-speech

Disadvantages: Fonts are not always clearly read. Images and some fonts must be programmed into the software.

__Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR):__ Is a character recognition technology used primarily by the banking industry to read the routing number and account number at the bottom of a check. MICR characters are printed a magnetic ink or toner, usually containing iron oxide. As a machine decodes the MICR text, it first magnetizes the characters in the plane of the paper. Then the characters are passed over a MICR read head, a device similar to the playback head of a tape recorder. As each character passes over the head it produces a unique waveform that can be easily identified by the system.

Advantages: The use of magnetic printing allows the characters to be read reliably even if they have been overprinted or obscured by other marks, such as cancellation stamps and signature. The error rate for the magnetic scanning of a typical check is smaller than with optical character recognition systems. For well printed MICR documents, the "can't read" rate is usually less than 1% Disadvantages: Unlike barcodes or similar technologies, however, MICR codes can be easily read by humans.

__Radio Frequency Identification (RFID):__ Use radiowaves to communicated with RFID tags. An RFID reader transmits an encoded radio signal to the tag. The tag receives the message and responds with its unique identification number, which digitizes the information for input into a computer. Both devices transmit and receive waves. The tags can be as big as a deck of cards or as small as rice. The bigger the tag, the greater the distance it can be read from. Used in library books, clothes and even tolling.

__Bar Code Rea____ders (BCR):__ Use light to read UPC’s (Universal Product codes), it is the bar code symbology. Each item, in a shop for example, has a bar code, a number created through algorithms andspecific to the product. Bar code readers read the UPC and are attached to terminals which send information to a mainframe computer. The computer determines the times price, calculates taxes and totals, and records the transaction for future use in inventory, accounting and other areas. __Magnetic Stripe Readers (MSR):__ These are machines which read magnetic stripe cards. The cards have a stripe that is made of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card. Information is written on the stripe by magnetizing the tiny bars in either a north or south pole direction with a special electromagnetic writer, called an encoder. The magnetic stripe reader reads the information encoded on the strip by detecting the changes in the magnetic field (hence the swiping). The are often used in credit cards.

Last Updated: October 8th, 2011, 7:15 PM