Pattern recognition method and system
First Claim
1. A method for pattern recognition of shapes representative of characters defining alphabetic characters, numbers and other symbols, the method comprising the steps of:
- identifying, for each of the shapes, at least one candidate character that may be represented by the shape;
forming paths by connecting each candidate character to a previous candidate character or previous candidate characters appearing in a sequence of candidate characters immediately preceding the candidate character;
calculating, for each of the candidate characters, a character probability value representative of a relative confidence in the recognition of an associated shape as that candidate character;
forming said character probability values for each candidate character by blending the character probability values associated with the candidate character and the probability values of language structure associated with the candidate character;
determining best path pointers for identifying a path from each candidate character to a candidate character of an immediate previous stage having a highest character probability value;
selecting, based on analysis of at least one candidate character, which type of probability values of language structure to apply to the candidate characters;
applying, in response to the determining step, the candidate characters to a linguistic recognizer to assign probability values of language structure to the candidate characters; and
identifying a path having a highest path probability value wherein a path probability value is based on at least one of the group consisting of character probability values associated with a path and probability values of language structure associated with a path.
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Abstract
A method for pattern recognition of indicia composed of alphabetical characters of a language in the form of at least a part of a word. The shape of each character in a word is established by means of a pattern shape recognizer. A probability value designating the relative confidence in the recognition of the character as one of the language characters is assigned to each character. The established shapes of the characters are then sequentially applied to a linguistic recognizer for further processing and the probability values of language structure to each of the language characters is assigned. Then the probability values assigned to the characters in the shape recognizer is combined with the corresponding probability values assigned to the characters in the linguistic recognizer and the path between characters possessing the highest probability values is determined.
115 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for pattern recognition of shapes representative of characters defining alphabetic characters, numbers and other symbols, the method comprising the steps of:
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identifying, for each of the shapes, at least one candidate character that may be represented by the shape; forming paths by connecting each candidate character to a previous candidate character or previous candidate characters appearing in a sequence of candidate characters immediately preceding the candidate character; calculating, for each of the candidate characters, a character probability value representative of a relative confidence in the recognition of an associated shape as that candidate character; forming said character probability values for each candidate character by blending the character probability values associated with the candidate character and the probability values of language structure associated with the candidate character; determining best path pointers for identifying a path from each candidate character to a candidate character of an immediate previous stage having a highest character probability value; selecting, based on analysis of at least one candidate character, which type of probability values of language structure to apply to the candidate characters; applying, in response to the determining step, the candidate characters to a linguistic recognizer to assign probability values of language structure to the candidate characters; and identifying a path having a highest path probability value wherein a path probability value is based on at least one of the group consisting of character probability values associated with a path and probability values of language structure associated with a path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A pattern recognition system for recognizing shapes representative of characters defining alphabetic characters, numbers and other symbols, the system comprising:
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a pattern shape recognizer, including an input device;
a digitizer;
a segmentation unit;
feature extraction unit; and
a classification unit for classifying extracted features of the shapes into vectors of candidate characters, each vector constituted by at least one candidate character and at least one path indicator defining possible character sequences between candidate characters corresponding to the shapes, said classification unit assigning to each candidate character a character probability value designating the relative confidence in the recognition of an associated shape as that candidate character;a linguistic recognizer, adapted to receive the vectors of candidate characters having assigned character probability values, for analyzing at least one candidate character to select which type of probability values of language structure to apply to the candidate characters and for assigning probability values of language structure to the candidate characters to form edge probability values; a vector selector for identifying a vector having a highest path probability value wherein a path probability value is based on at least one of the group consisting of character probability values associated with a path and probability values of language structure associated with a path; wherein said linguistic recognizer further comprises; means for forming paths by connecting each candidate character to a previous candidate character or previous candidate characters appearing in a sequence of candidate characters immediately preceding the candidate character; means for forming character probability values for each candidate character by blending the character probability values associated with the candidate character and the probability values of language structure associated with the candidate character; and means for determining best path pointers for identifying a path from each candidate character to a candidate character of an immediate previous stage having a highest character probability value. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification