Cognex Expands Vision Sensor Capabilities With New Optical Character Verification and Character Recognition Tools.

Business/Technology Editors

NATICK, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2001

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ - CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision systems, today announced that it has added high-performance optical character verification (OCV) and optical character recognition (OCR) software tools to its award-winning In-Sight(TM) vision sensor products. The new tools, which join a full library of proven tools for inspecting, identifying and measuring parts, provide unmatched character verification and reading reliability in a low-cost, compact package.

The In-Sight OCV tool will be used to verify the correctness and legibility of printed characters in a number of industries. For example, it will be used in the pharmaceutical industry to verify date and lot codes on package labels, and in the food and beverage industries to verify printed expiration dates on packages and containers. The OCR tool will enable companies to improve product traceability by automatically reading alphanumeric codes on a wide range of items, from automotive airbag components to financial documents.

"In many industries, it is essential that the correct characters are legibly printed on products to ensure product safety and traceability," said Justin Testa, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Cognex Corp. "With the new In-Sight OCV and OCR tools, users now have a cost-effective and reliable way to not only verify character integrity, but to also read the characters for identification purposes."

The new tools utilize advanced recognition algorithms to verify and read printed character strings despite a number of challenging conditions. For example, the tools can process strings containing unevenly spaced characters, confusing characters such as "B" and "8", and touching characters. Additionally, the tools are able to tolerate wide changes in label orientation, as well as changes in string appearance caused by low-contrast printing and print degradation.

To simplify the process of setting up applications, the new OCV and OCR tools provide a graphical font training utility that enables users to quickly teach the system character typefaces. Once fonts have been trained, they are automatically stored in the vision sensor's memory. This enables on-the-fly character string changes in OCV applications without operator intervention. Ethernet communications, which are built into In-Sight vision sensors, enable trained font files to be easily downloaded to other In-Sight sensors deployed throughout the plant. Additionally, In-Sight sensors offer a number of security features designed to control access to application files, and are compliant with the Food & Drug Administration's 21 CFR Part 11 regulations.

The new OCV and OCR tools will be available on In-Sight vision sensors in November 2001.

Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision systems, or computers that can "see." Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped to date more than 150,000 machine vision systems, representing over $1 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. Cognex's Modular Vision Systems Division, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for automating the manufacture of a wide range of discrete items and for assuring their quality. Cognex's Surface Inspection Systems Division, headquartered in Alameda, California, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for inspecting the surfaces of products that are manufactured in a continuous fashion, such as metals, paper, and plastics. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Visit Cognex on-line at http://www.cognex.com.

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