1.1. The numbers at the bottom of a cheque are written in a special ink which contains iron particles. This ink is magnetised and commonly called magnetic ink. Its read by a machine called a Magnetic Ink Character Reader.
2. Optical Mark Readers
2.1. An Optical Mark Reader is a scanning device that reads carefully placed pencil marks on a specially designed form or document. They are usually used on marking tests. They scan if the pencil marks are in the correct place and give you a result.
3. Speech Recognition
3.1. The user talks into a microphone. The computer listens to the speaker then translates that information into written words.
4. Barcode Reader
4.1. A Barcode Reader uses visible red light to scan and read the barcode. It then finds out what product it is by going through all the data it has until it finds a match.
5. Optical Character Recognition
5.1. Optical Character Recognition enables the computer to identify written or printed characters. An OCR system consists of a normal scanner and some special software. It then examines the page and extracts the texts from it, storing it in a form thaty can be edited or proccessed by normal word processing software. The writing needs to be clear for it to work properly.
