An optical reader is a device that observes visual information and translates it into digital information,
as found within most
image
An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...
and
barcode and matrix-code scanners.
An example of optical readers are
marksense systems for
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
s where voters mark their choice by filling a rectangle, circle, or oval, or by completing an arrow. After the voting a tabulating device reads the votes using "dark mark logic", whereby the computer selects the darkest mark within a given set as the intended choice or vote.
See also
*
Digital paper
Digital paper, also known as interactive paper, is patterned paper used in conjunction with a digital pen to create handwritten digital documents. The printed dot pattern identifies the position coordinates on the paper. The digital pen uses thi ...
*
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronics, electronic or machine, mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo ...
*
Optical scan voting system
An optical scan voting system is an Electronic voting, electronic voting system and uses an Optical reader, optical scanner to read marked paper ballots and Vote counting system, tally the results.
History Marksense systems
While mark sense tech ...
*
Optical mark recognition
Optical mark recognition (OMR) collects data from people by identifying markings on a paper.
OMR enables the hourly processing of hundreds or even thousands of documents. A common application of this technology is used in exams, where students m ...
References
{{Optics-stub
Optical devices