OMR means Optical Mark Recognition. Optical mark recognition is a procedure of reading Information marked by people. OMR is used for some surveys, sometimes for any test or exam. MICR refers to magnetic ink character recognition. This is a technology for scanning the characters. There is magnetic ink and special characters for scanning the characters. That shaded area is the Information that is to be recognized. Then optical marks are recognized or read by the OMR scanner devices. There will be some absorption of light on that dark area, so the reflected light intensity would be comparatively less.
How does it work ?Â
Usually, Optical Mark Recognition is used for exams with multiple-choice questions in the paper. Now students or candidates shade the answer on the OMR sheet with any dark ink. That shades area is the Information that is to be recognized. Then that optical marks are recognized or read by the OMR scanner devices. This process is called optical mark recognition. Â
What are the devices used in OMR scanning?Â
Various types of devices are used for scanning the OMR sheet. Some OMR devices throw light on the OMR sheet, and then the intensity of reflected light is observed. If there is any dark ink or shade, there will be some absorption of light on that dark area, so the reflected light intensity would be comparatively less. While if there is no dark ink or shade, then there will be a bright colour, and the bright colour will not absorb that much light, so the intensity of reflected light would be higher than the dark area. This is how this type of OMR device will recognize the black marks.Â
What is the difference between OMR and OCR?Â
As we know that OMR is optical mark recognition. OCR is optical character recognition. OMR is designed to be feasible for reading or recognizing the marks, while OCR is designed with different purposes. OCR is designed for reading or recognizing the characters. OCR recognizes signs and characters. OCR can create an editable word document after scanning the primary document. This is the basic difference between OMR and OCR. Both are used for recognition, but the purposes of both are a little different.Â
Uses of OMRÂ Â
If we talk about the uses of OMR, then basically, they are used in offices frequently. Except for offices, OMR has a great role in the examination based on multiple-choice questions. Apart from the above two, there is the use of OMR for conducting any survey. Questionnaires are also an important application of OMR. OMR is used in elections. OMR is used for evaluation and feedback also. People use OMR for reply cards also. Last but not least, OMR is used for ballots also. These all are the common uses of OMR, and nowadays, there is quite frequent use of OMR.Â
What are the Advantages of OMR?Â
- First of all, the accuracy rate of OMR is 99%, so it is quite worth the process of recognizing the Information.Â
- OMR can handle thousands of documents per hour except for the accuracy rate. OMR is the best example of saving time in today’s hectic lifestyle.Â
What is the OMR Software?Â
OMR Optical Mark Recognition software is an application installed on the desktop for scanning OMR sheets. It takes the help of an image scanner and then works on surveys etc. OMR software is used for capturing the Information from the OMR sheets.Â
Additional Information about OMRÂ
Nowadays, as there are many entrance exams held annually at a national or state level, these exams are mostly based on multiple-choice questions. So the OMR is used very frequently for this kind of entrance exam.Â
What is a MICR?Â
MICR refers to magnetic ink character recognition. This is a technology for scanning the characters. There is magnetic ink and special characters for scanning the characters. MICR can scan any text which is printed on the paper. Even it can scan cheques. Yes, there is some special information on the cheque, and it can be scanned by using MICR. This is all about MICR. Â
Optical mark recognition is known as optical mark reader also. The processing of OMR is quite rapid and fast, and that’s why the education Industry adopted OMR. OMR has a great role in saving the time of millions of people. It is also said that OMR is used for tabulating. Except tabulating, OMR is used for grading also. There is a need for a complex recognition engine for the OCR because it recognizes characters and signs, which is quite a complex process.
On the other hand, OMR doesn’t need this kind of engine; it just recognizes marks on the OMR sheet, which is possible with the help of an OMR reader and scanner. OMR doesn’t create any editable word document, while OCR can create editable documents. OCR recognizes patterns also. That’s why OCR is most specialized and complex in comparison to OMR. This is all about Optical Mark Recognition software and Optical character recognition.Â
ConclusionÂ
OMR means Optical Mark Recognition. It’s a procedure of recognizing or reading the Information marked on the OMR sheet by the humans. MICR refers to magnetic ink character recognition. This is a technology for scanning the characters. There are various devices available in the market for scanning the OMR sheets. These devices are known as OMR scanners also. There are various applications of OMR in today’s life. OMR has a great role in the education industry. Except for the education industry, OMR has a great role in surveys, elections, banks, and all.Â