Manchester, CT –February 1, 2006 – Scan-Optics, LLC, an internationally acknowledged innovator and provider of information capture and recognition solutions, today announced that its application for a patent for the AccuScore software technology was granted on November 29, 2005. The patent number is 6,970,267. The company originally announced the new technology in February, 2002. AccuScore is a software program that reads “bubble” forms using electronic imaging technology. It was developed by Edward Scanlon, Principal Software Engineer for Scan-Optics. AccuScore uses a technology called Gray Scale Optical Mark Read to electronically score (i.e. read) forms such as standardized tests, questionnaires, voting ballots, or any types of forms that are completed by filling in small preprinted circles or ellipses with a pencil. The scoring of “bubble” forms using automated equipment is not new: bubble forms were invented precisely for the purpose of automated processing using specialized scanning equipment. What differentiates this program is that it uses electronic imaging technology along with specialized image processing software for performing the scoring. AccuScore works in conjunction with an image capture scanner that produces an electronic reproduction of each form. The electronic images are processed by this new program to produce scoring results that achieve an accuracy rate equal to or better than those achieved by the LED (light emitting diode) scanners. This product may be used with various makes and models of scanners, but the most accurate results are achieved when using scanners that produce grayscale or color image output. With this new technology it is not necessary to require the same expensive paper and precision printing process as is required by the LED scanners. Thus, paper and printing costs can be greatly reduced without sacrificing accuracy. In addition to extremely high accuracy rates and reduced paper and print costs, this process offers greater flexibility in forms design and a flexible, easy to use forms definition tool. The AccuScore program has two components. The first is the form definition tool called OmrGen. This component is used to precisely define the locations and interpretations of each bubble target on each form type to be processed. The other component, called GSOMR, is the run-time scoring engine that processes the scanned images from the scanner using the forms definition information from the OmrGen program, and produces the score results.