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 recognition Abbreviation (for both reader and recognition)OCR

Example Sentences

State comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, left, and James W. Funk assistant chief for the Bureau of management information systems for the City of Baltimore, look over the optical character reader used to feed tax information into a computer in Baltimore, Maryland, Feb. 6, 1975, bypassing the need for keypunch operators.

From Forbes

With the optical character reader, tax forms are fed into the machine at the rate of up to 200 per hour and “read”, then automatically placed on the magnetic tape.

From Forbes

Dr. Wolfram has also scanned 230,000 pages of paper documents and, when possible, fed them through an optical character reader.

From New York Times

The nightmare of the new automation is the optical character reader, which shoots out 30,000 pieces of mail an hour and shows no mercy.

From Time Magazine Archive