Character recognition method
First Claim
1. A character pattern recognition method comprising the steps of:
- opticallly reading an original image to produce an image signal;
producing an individual input character pattern from said image signal;
extracting a predetermined feature vector from said input character pattern, said extracting step including subdividing said input character pattern into a first plurality of sub-regions in accordance with a first subdivision scheme such that predetermined feature quantities are distributed among the sub-regions substantially equally, and converting said first plurality of sub-regions into a second plurality of mesh regions in accordance with a second subdivision scheme by combining at least some of said first plurality of sub-regions into one or more of said mesh regions; and
comparing said feature vector of said input character pattern with each of the feature vectors of a plurality of known character patterns stored in a library, thereby selecting one of said plurality of known character patterns, which is closer to said input character pattern, thereby determining identification of said input character pattern.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A character recognition method includes a step of assigning one of a plurality of predetermined directionality codes to each of the pixels defining the contour of a character pattern. Then, the character pattern, to which the directionality codes have been assigned, is subdivided into a plurality of mesh regions. In this case, in accordance with the present invention, the character pattern is not directly subdivided into mesh regions, and, instead, the character pattern is first subdivided into a first plurality of sub-regions and then the first plurality of sub-regions are converted into a second plurality, which is smaller in number than the first plurality, of mesh regions by combining at least some of said first plurality of sub-regions. Such a two-step subdivision process of a character pattern is advantageous in absorbing fluctuations caused by modifications of the character pattern, such as hand-written characters.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A character pattern recognition method comprising the steps of:
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opticallly reading an original image to produce an image signal; producing an individual input character pattern from said image signal; extracting a predetermined feature vector from said input character pattern, said extracting step including subdividing said input character pattern into a first plurality of sub-regions in accordance with a first subdivision scheme such that predetermined feature quantities are distributed among the sub-regions substantially equally, and converting said first plurality of sub-regions into a second plurality of mesh regions in accordance with a second subdivision scheme by combining at least some of said first plurality of sub-regions into one or more of said mesh regions; and comparing said feature vector of said input character pattern with each of the feature vectors of a plurality of known character patterns stored in a library, thereby selecting one of said plurality of known character patterns, which is closer to said input character pattern, thereby determining identification of said input character pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. The method of claim 10, wherein at least two adjacent ones of said second plurality of mesh regions have a common overlapping region which is defined by a selected one or more of said first plurality of sub-regions.
Specification