With the invention and implementation of Optical Character Recognition In the beginning of the 2000’s, it was assumed by many check printers that MICR toner would soon be put out to pasture. However, MICR toner has stayed the course and will continue to stay around until the check is out of commission itself. Why? This article explains what OCR and MICR technology is as well as why checks will continue to use MICR toner to provide information for banks to move money from account to account.
What is MICR?
MICR stands for magnetic ink character recognition, a type of technology that is a lot like a tape cassette. The ink on a check is magnetized and then run through a MICR reader. The MICR head reads the magnetized characters, and can tell by the shape of the characters each letter and number. Every check using MICR technology must print the MICR line, which contains sensitive information such as the account number and routing number for the bank, with a specialized font which can be read through the MICR technology and put into the computer.
What is OCR?
OCR stands for optical character recognition, a different type of recognition technology that converts an image of a handwritten or typed set of numbers and letters into data for a computer to use. For example, if you wrote a check and sent it to a bank that uses OCR technology but didn’t use MICR toner to be magnetized, the computer would take a picture of the MICR line with the account and route number, convert it into recognizable numbers and then move the money from account to account. The numbers are recognized through pattern matching or pattern recognition where the image is matched with others the computer has seen or has in its database to find the closest match. OCR can also be done using feature extraction where the computer looks at the characters thgouh lines, loops, directions and so on, which are compared to vectors in a data base to find the correct letter, word, or set of numbers.
Why is MICR going to Stick Around?
With a viable option for number and letter recognition, it seems like MICR would be obsolete, and most banks would use OCR technology. However, to this day banks still use MICR technology and those checks that don’t use MICR toner on their checks are put into a separate pile that must be keyed in manually, which not only takes more time which means check clear slower, but at some times can generate a fee. The technology is so plentiful that it is cost effective to continue using MICR toner rather than switching over to OCR technology.
If you are interested in purchasing MICR toner, PIracle has all of the supplies you may need for printing your own checks. Using check printing software and blank check stock can save you money and keep you in the technological loop as far as MICR toner printing is concerned. Visit Piracle at www.Piracle.com.
