Bitread

Embedded OCR · patent pending

Read the code on the chip, not in the cloud.

Bitread reads serial numbers, dates, codes and segment displays on small processors. A portable C library, a model under 1 MB, a code line in under a millisecond. No GPU, no network, no smart camera.

Test it on your codes See the measured results
Nameplate · dot-matrixFrame 3
PASS SN G104-2610 0.25 ms per line · one desktop core

Measured on printed codes

Serial, date and part codes in four fonts: a 14-segment display, a dot-matrix font and two label fonts, each under five conditions: clean, scanned, low contrast, uneven light and display.

99.92%

characters read correctly: 16,922 of 16,935

20–54×

faster than Tesseract on the same lines and processor core

<1MB

read-only model, small enough for on-chip flash

74KB

library code compiled for a Cortex-M7, size-optimized

Results from our own tests. On the same lines, Tesseract made 8.0% errors on the dot-matrix code and 24.9% on the 14-segment display. Pilot partners get the test protocol and run it on their own images.

What it reads

Built for the text machines print and show.

Dot-matrix print

Codes printed in dots, including faint, broken and touching ones, checked against the format you expect before the reading is used.

Meters and displays

Seven- and fourteen-segment readouts on meters, scales and instruments, read on a battery-powered device instead of a photo sent to a server.

Labels and serials

Fixed label fonts and part numbers. Teach a new font on the device from one printed sample line in milliseconds, with no training computer.

How it ships

A library you link, not a service you call.

Bitread is written in portable C and runs on the processor that already sits beside the image sensor. It reads each code line where it is printed, so images never leave the device and a reading does not wait on a network.

Every reading carries a confidence. When a code is uncertain, Bitread says so, so your device can read it again or reject it instead of passing a wrong code.

  • Platforms
    x86, 64-bit ARM and Cortex-M7, with identical output on each
  • Footprint
    74–146 KB of code, under 1 MB of model
  • Speed
    0.17–0.64 ms per code line on one desktop core
  • Conditions
    Clean, scanned, low contrast, uneven light and display images
  • Output
    Text, per-character confidence and format checks for your application
  • Status
    Patent pending; pilots open

Pilot program

Run Bitread on your own codes.

Send us images of the codes you read today. We report accuracy and speed side by side with your current reader, on your images and your target processor.

[email protected]

  1. Send 200 to 2,000 imagesFrom the camera you use now, under NDA.
  2. Get a side-by-side reportCharacters right, wrong reads, rejects and time per line.
  3. Pilot on your deviceOn your processor, running beside your current reader.