Automatic Acquisition Of Values From Measurement Devices Without Communication Interface

Abstract

This paper deals with optical character recognition (OCR) of measured values from displaysof measuring instruments without communication interface. Proposed algorithm functions asa bridging between a screen of the instrument and a measuring software. It enables the acquisitionof the displayed value from a snapped picture from the input camera stream, so that it is comprehensiblefor computers. The execution is, after necessary initialization done by the user, fully automated.Supported camera connection interfaces are USB and WiFi, meaning that either standardoffice webcam, or smartphone with third party app running is usable. The final algorithm recognizedboth 99 % valid values and its speed was exceeding the refresh rate of most common instruments(as fast as 34 ms per iteration). This means that it is not bottlenecking the measurement itself.