# Character Verification

To verify a single character key in any character string, an OCVMax tool performs the following steps:

1. The tool generates a matching score comparing the expected character key to the character key being verified. See the section Matching Scores and Accept Thresholds for more information. The matching score must exceed an accept threshold in order to continue verification. If the matching score falls below the accept threshold, the character key fails verification immediately.

2. Using the confusion matrix, the OCVMax tool compares the matching score against the matching scores generated for all potentially confusing character keys. See the topic Confusion Scores And Confusion Thresholds for more information. If there are no confusion scores higher than the confusion threshold, the character key passes verification immediately.

3. The tool subtracts the highest potentially confusing score from the matching score, and compares that resulting value against the confidence threshold. If the value is less than the confidence threshold, the tool reports the character key being identified is currently confused with another character key.

The verification process can be described graphically with the following image: