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Concept
Optical mark recognition
Summary
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. For instance, students may remember completing quizzes or surveys that required them to use a pencil to fill in bubbles on paper (seen to the right). A teacher or teacher's aide would fill out the form, then feed the cards into a system that grades or collects data from them.
Many OMR devices have a that shines a light onto a form. The device then looks at the contrasting reflectivity of the light at certain positions on the form. It will detect the black marks because they reflect less light than the blank areas on the form.
Some OMR devices use forms that are printed on transoptic paper. The device can then measure the amount of light that passes through the paper. It will pick up any black marks on either side of the paper because they reduce the amount of light passing through.
In contrast to the dedicated OMR device, desktop OMR software allows a user to create their own forms in a word processor or computer and print them on a laser laser printer. The OMR software then works with a common desktop image scanner with a document feeder to process the forms once filled out.
OMR is generally distinguished from optical character recognition (OCR) by the fact that a complicated pattern recognition engine is not required. That is, the marks are constructed in such a way that there is little chance that the OMR device will not read them correctly. This does require the image to have high contrast and an easily recognizable or irrelevant shape. A related field to OMR and OCR is the recognition of barcodes, such as the UPC bar code found on product packaging.
One of the most familiar applications of OMR is the use of #2 pencil (HB in Europe) bubble optical answer sheets in multiple choice question examinations. Students mark their answers, or other personal information, by darkening circles on a forms. The sheet is then graded by a scanning machine.
Official source
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