PPT Vision announces the machine vision industry's most intuitive OCR (optical character recognition) technology is now available with its 8.3 release of Impact software.

PPT Impact smart cameras reliably read difficult dot-matrix printing, a challenge often encountered with label inspection, bottle inspection and package inspection. Impact's sophisticated image processing can even reliably read characters of different sizes. The complex pattern recognition algorithms in the OCR tool are now simple to manage in many print inspection and identification system applications. In addition to being so reliably robust, the OCR tool is also deterministically fast - reading text strings at 1.0 milliseconds per character and .01 seconds for a 10-character word or part number - making it an ideal solution for many high-speed inspection applications.

The software runs on all PPT Vision Impact Intelligent Camera platforms and is an add-on license to the Impact 8.3 software. It is available on the value-priced CMOS imager A-Series, the powerful self-contained T-Series and the versatile, 18 I/O (inputs and outputs) C-Series.

The just-released 8.3 software also includes Microsoft ActiveX control software that allows Impact OCR data to be seamlessly imbedded in machine control software and full-factory SCADA systems. Additionally in 8.3, Impact delivers many simple tool set-up features reducing inspection configuration time.

"PPT Vision offers an incredibly robust character reading and verification tool," said Sean O'Driscoll, Executive Vice President. "The tool enables the company and its partners to successfully implement challenging OCR applications that less capable systems or vision sensors do not have the capability to support." O'Driscoll adds, "With its new user-friendly, orderly set-up, the OCR function is now even more accessible to the end user. While the tool is applicable across a broad range of application environments and market segments, it is particularly relevant in demanding pharmaceutical and food and beverage packaging markets."