§ 34. Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Minister of Technology whether he will make a statement on the progress of work on optical character recognition for computer input directed or sponsored by his Department.
§ Dr. BrayWork at two firms is being supported by the Ministry under the Advanced Computer Technology Project. At Plessey a single font reader, based on research done at the National Physical Laboratory has been successfully demonstrated and will be in production by the end of this year. A multi-font reader is being developed in collaboration with the N.P.L. Mullard Limited hope to demonstrate the feasibility of reading hand-printed characters within twelve months.