OCR-B

OCR-B
CategorySans-serif
ClassificationNeo-grotesque
Designer(s)Adrian Frutiger
Date created1968
Sample

OCR-B is a monospace font developed in 1968 by Adrian Frutiger for Monotype by following the European Computer Manufacturer's Association standard. Its function was to facilitate the optical character recognition operations by specific electronic devices, originally for financial and bank-oriented uses. It was accepted as the world standard in 1973.[1] It follows the ISO 1073-2:1976 (E) standard, refined in 1979 ("letterpress" design, size I). It includes all ASCII symbols, and other symbols needed in the bank environment. It is widely used for the human readable digits in UPC/EAN barcodes.[2][citation needed] It is also used for machine-readable passports.[3] It shares that purpose with OCR-A, but it is easier for the human eye and brain to read and it has a less technical look than OCR-A.

  1. ^ Frutiger, Adrian. Type. Sign. Symbol. ABC Verlag, Zurich, 1980. p. 50
  2. ^ "GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline" (PDF). GS1 AISBL. 2018. p. 13. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
  3. ^ Doc 9303: Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part 3: Specifications Common to all MRTDs (PDF) (Eighth ed.). International Civil Aviation Organization. 2015. p. 25. ISBN 978-92-9249-792-7. Retrieved 2016-03-03.