optical mark recognition (OMR)
Mark Recognition, Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), is a recognition and reading technique for forms, lottery tickets or questionnaires with marked answers.
A mark recognition system consists of a scanner or mark reader and a computer running OMR software. The captured data is stored and transferred from the computer for evaluation. The OMR software evaluates the marked forms, distinguishing between marked and unmarked fields. The processed data is used for further processing of data prints by mailing systems or counting systems.
The markings printed on single and continuous prints can be used, for example, for function control in inserting and mailing systems.
There are small- document and page-document mark readers. In multi-function readers, mark reading is combined with other recognition techniques, such as optical character recognition( OCR).