Method of estimating at least one run-based font attribute of a group of characters

• US 6,178,263 B1
• Filed: 10/12/1999
• Issued: 01/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Rainero, Emil, Hadden, Lucy, Roberts, Frederick Jr., Cooperman, Robert, Shuchatowitz, Robert, Fan, Zhigang
• Primary Examiner(s): MEHTA, BHAVESH M
• Application Number:
  US09/417,023
• Time in Patent Office: 469 Days
• Field of Search: 382/168, 382/171, 382/173, 382/176, 382/178, 382/177, 382/202, 382/203, 382/305, 382/325, 382/198
• US Class Current: 382/198
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/242 Division of the character sequences into groups prior to recognition; Selection of dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/245 Font recognition

Abstract

Font attributes of characters or letters are estimated by an optical character recognition system using character, run or stroke-based techniques with or without character identification information.

Claims

1. A method for estimating at least one run-based font attribute of a group of characters of an input image independently of any character identification information of the group of characters, comprising:

forming a plurality of single-connected and well-aligned-connected runs from bit maps of the characters of the group of characters; and

estimating at least one slant attribute of a font of the group of characters based on at least two runs of a plurality of runs,

wherein the estimated at least one run-based font attribute comprises the estimated at least one slant attribute.