the process or technology of reading data in printed form by a device (optical character reader) that scans and identifies characters.
Abbreviation: OCR.
Origin
1960-65
British Dictionary definitions for optical character reader
optical character reader
noun
1.
a computer peripheral device enabling letters, numbers, or other characters usually printed on paper to be optically scanned and input to a storage device, such as magnetic tape. The device uses the process of optical character recognitionAbbreviation (for both reader and recognition) OCR
optical character reader in Science
optical character recognition The electronic identification and digital encoding of printed or handwritten characters by means of an optical scanner and specialized software.