{{short description |Device that turns visual into digital data}} {{Use British English |date=February 2024}} {{Use dmy dates |date=February 2024}} {{More citations needed |date=February 2024}} An '''optical reader''' is a device that observes visual information and translates it into digital information,<ref name="wei01" /> as found within most image and barcode and matrix-code scanners.

An example of optical readers are marksense systems for elections where voters mark their choice by filling a rectangle, circle, or oval, or by completing an arrow. After the voting a tabulating device reads the votes using "dark mark logic", whereby the computer selects the darkest mark within a given set as the intended choice or vote.

==See also== *Digital paper *Optical character recognition *Optical scan voting system *Optical mark recognition

==References== <references>

<ref name="wei01">{{cite book |chapter=Optical Reader |title=Computer Science and Communications Dictionary |last=Weik |first=Martin H. |pages=1183 |year=2000 |publisher=Springer |location=Boston |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-0613-6_13126 |isbn=978-1-4020-0613-5 |doi=10.1007/1-4020-0613-6_13126 |access-date=2023-02-10 }}</ref>

</references>

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Category:Optical devices