RX Transcription Tool for Eyeglass Dispensing

Client

The client, a well-known eyewear brand, operates a wide network of retail stores and offers high-quality, stylish optical products, including prescription glasses and sunglasses.

Business Challenge

The client faced inefficiencies in their in-store glasses ordering process, relying on opticians to manually transcribe each glasses order using customer-provided RX into the client’s proprietary point of sale tool. For complex orders, this could mean the focus was on the RX, not the customer, for up to 2-3 minutes. The primary project goal was to develop a custom Optical Character Recognition (OCR) solution to automatically and securely transcribe customer-supplied RXs, in a wide variety of forms, minimizing human errors and enhancing the overall customer experience. If successful in stores, the solution aimed to improve e-commerce efficiency by automating the transcription of RXs received from online customers.

Solution

Coherent Solutions collaborated closely with the client to develop a groundbreaking RX transcription tool that automatically extracts all required data from RX prescription images. The tool was designed with adaptability in mind, ensuring effective operation under different lighting conditions, diverse RX types and formats, and other adversarial conditions. It also features correction logic to address any misdetections, promptly alerting opticians and retail advisors in the event of incorrect data, transcription errors, or other issues that may prevent order fulfillment (e.g., an expired RX).

To achieve this, Coherent Solutions and the client established a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and selected tools and storage solutions that comply with US HIPAA and PHI laws. Following that, the team undertook the following key steps:

• Data Set Creation: Created a comprehensive dataset comprising approximately 10,000 annotated images to train and refine the model.
• Training Pipelines: Implemented robust training pipelines, ensuring the development of precise and efficient models for prescription information detection and extraction.
• Model Deployment: Deployed trained computer vision models with the capability to detect and extract essential prescription information, providing a seamless integration into the client’s operational workflow.
• Correction Logic Implementation: Integrated correction logic to enhance accuracy, ensuring the solution’s effectiveness even in the presence of potential transcription errors (and messy handwriting).
• Serverless Solution Design: Designed a serverless solution to optimize operational costs, streamlining the implementation and maintenance of the RX transcription tool.
• iPad Application Development: Developed an intuitive iPad-based application tailored for in-store use, providing an efficient interface for shop assistants to seamlessly leverage the RX transcription tool during the glasses dispensing process.

Results

The RX transcription solution stands as a testament to successful collaboration and is now used across more than 200 physical stores owned by the client. It not only boosts the overall customer experience but also significantly streamlines operational efficiency by reducing the time and effort required for interpreting optical prescriptions and selecting the right glasses. As a result, the client is actively expanding the service to online customers and exploring its use for additional categories of RX products.