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Magnetic ink character recognition

 
Sci-Tech Dictionary: magnetic ink
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(mag′ned·ik ′iŋk)

(materials) Ink containing magnetic particles to permit reading of printed characters by a magnetic character reader as well as by humans.

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Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: magnetic ink
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A magnetically detectable ink used to print the MICR characters that encode account numbers on bank checks.

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Banking Dictionary: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
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Digital characters on the bottom edge of a paper check containing the issuing bank's Aba Transit Number (bank identifier) and Check Routing Symbol (denoting funds availability). When checks are cleared through the banking system, the dollar amount of the check is added to the machine readable MICR line. Development of MICR in the 1950s greatly facilitated check clearing, enabling banks to virtually automate the handling of billions of checks every year. See also Encoding.

Wikipedia: Magnetic ink character recognition
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Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, or MICR, is a character recognition technology used primarily by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of cheques. The technology allows computers to read information (such as account numbers) off of printed documents. Unlike barcodes or similar technologies, however, MICR codes can be easily read by humans.

MICR characters are printed in special typefaces with a magnetic ink or toner, usually containing iron oxide. As a machine decodes the MICR text, it first magnetizes the characters in the plane of the paper. Then the characters are then passed over a MICR read head, a device similar to the playback head of a tape recorder. As each character passes over the head it produces a unique waveform that can be easily identified by the system.

The use of magnetic printing allows the characters to be read reliably even if they have been overprinted or obscured by other marks, such as cancellation stamps. The error rate for the magnetic scanning of a typical check is smaller than with optical character recognition systems. For well printed MICR documents, the "can't read" rate is usually less than 1% while the substitution rate (misread rate) is in the order of 1 per 100,000 characters.

MICR is standardized by ISO 1004:1995.[1]

Contents

History

MICR technology was first demonstrated to the American Bankers Association in July 1956, and by 1963 it was almost universally employed in the U.S.[2] On September 12, 1961 U.S. Patent Number 3,000,000 was awarded for the invention of MICR[3]

Fonts

The 14 characters of the E-13B font. The control characters bracketing each numeral block are (from left to right) transit, on-us, amount, and dash.
An example of the CMC-7 MICR font. Shown are the 15 characters of the CMC-7 font. The control characters after the numerals are (from left to right) internal, terminator, amount, routing, and an unused character.

The major MICR fonts used around the world are E-13B and CMC-7. Almost all Indian, US, Canadian and UK checks use the E-13B font. (The "13" in the font's name refers to the 0.013 inch grid used to design it.)[4]) Some countries, including France, use the CMC-7 font developed by Bull.

In 1960s, the MICR fonts became a symbol of modernity or futurism, leading to the creation of lookalike "computer" typefaces that imitated the appearance of the MICR fonts, which unlike real MICR fonts, had a full character repertoire.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Information processing -- Magnetic ink character recognition -- Print specifications". International Organization for Standardization. 1995. http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=5457. Retrieved September 28, 2009. 
  2. ^ Mandell, Lewis (May 1977). "Diffusion of EFTS among National Banks: Note". Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 9 (2). ISSN 0022-2879. 
  3. ^ Eldredge, K. R., "Automatic reading system", US 3000000, issued September 12, 1961
  4. ^ "The History of the Check and Standardization Efforts"

External links

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Magnetic storage media

Wire (1898) • Tape (1928) • Drum (1932) • Ferrite core (1949) • Hard disk (1956) • Stripe card (1956) • MICR (1956) • Thin film (1962) • CRAM (1962) • Twistor (~1968) • Floppy disk (1969) • Bubble (~1970) • MRAM (1995) • Racetrack (2008)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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