MICR-based optical character recognition system and method

1. A character recognition system, comprising:

an optical character reader system for collecting character data by electro-optically scanning printed characters;

a conversion system for converting the character data to a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) format from a non-MICR format; and

a recognition engine for interpreting the converted character data using a MICR algorithm;

wherein the conversion system scales the character data to a pel density associated with digitalized data obtained by a character recognition device using a multigap MICR read head.

2. The character recognition system of claim 1 , wherein the optical character reader system scans at a pel density in a range of approximately 200 to 600 dpi.

3. The character recognition system of claim 1 , wherein the character data is stored in a grey scale image format.

4. The character recognition system of claim 3 , wherein the conversion system converts the grey scale image format to a black and white image format.

5. The character recognition system of claim 1 , wherein the conversion system scales the character data to approximately 0.33 millimeters/pixel in a horizontal dimension and 0.43 millimeters/pixel in a vertical dimension.

6. The character recognition system of claim 1 , wherein the printed characters are printed in an E13B font.

7. A method for performing character recognition, comprising:

collecting character data by electro-optically scanning printed characters;

converting the character data to a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) format from a non-MICR format; and

interpreting the converted character data using a MICR algorithm;

wherein the converting step scales the character data to a pel density associated with digitalized data obtained by a character recognition device using a multigap MICR read head.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the character data is scanned at a pel density in a range of approximately 200 to 600 dpi.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the collection step stores the character data in a grey scale image format.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the converting step converts the grey scale image format to a black and white image format.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the converting step scales the character data to approximately 0.33 millimeters/pixel in a horizontal dimension and 0.43 millimeters/pixel in a vertical dimension.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the printed characters are printed in an E13B font.

13. A program product stored on a computer readable medium for performing character recognition, comprising:

means for accessing character data collected by an electro-optical scanning system;

means for converting the character data to a spatial resolution and density as if captured by a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) read head; and

means for interpreting the converted character data using a MICR algorithm;

wherein the converting means scales the character data to a pel density associated with digitalized data obtained by a character recognition device using a multigap MICR read head.

14. The program product of claim 13 , wherein the character data comprises a pel density in a range of approximately 200 to 600 dpi.

15. The program product of claim 13 , wherein the converting means scales the character data to approximately 0.33 millimeters/pixel in a horizontal dimension and 0.43 millimeters/pixel in a vertical dimension.

16. The program product of claim 13 , wherein the converting means converts a grey scale image format to a black and white image format.

17. The program product of claim 13 , wherein the character data collected by the electro-optical scanning system comprises characters printed in an E13B font.

18. A multi-voting character recognition engine for analyzing an inputted set of printed characters, comprising:

a plurality of character recognition systems, wherein each character recognition system independently analyzes the inputted set of printed characters, and wherein one of the character recognition systems includes:

an optical character reader system for collecting character data by electro-optically scanning printed characters;

a conversion system for converting the character data to a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) format;

a recognition engine for interpreting the converted character data using a MICR algorithm; and

a voting system for combining results from each of the plurality of character recognition systems and determining a recognized set of characters;

wherein the conversion system scales the character data to a pel density associated with digitalized data obtained by a character recognition device using a multigap MICR read head.

19. The multi-voting character recognition engine of claim 18 , wherein the inputted set of printed characters are printed in an E13B font.