Optical character recognition method and apparatus
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A method for optically recognizing characters on a medium and storing a template of said recognized characters in a template cache, said template cache for recognition of subsequent characters on said medium, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) analyzing a first shape characteristic of a first character with a first shape characteristic analyzing process;
(b) analyzing a second shape characteristic of said first character with a second shape characteristic analyzing process;
(c) identifying said first character based upon the first and second shape characteristics;
(d) generating a template of said identified first character, and(e) storing said template in said template cache.
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Abstract
A system for recognition of characters on a medium. The system includes a scanner for scanning a medium such as a page of printed text and graphics and producing a bit-mapped representation of the page. The bit-mapped representation of the page is then stored in a memory means such as the memory of a computer system. A processor processes the bit-mapped image to produce an output comprising coded character representations of the text on the page. The present invention discloses parsing a page to allow for production of the output characters in a logical sequence, a combination of feature detection methods and template matching methods for recognition of characters and a number of methods for feature detection such as use of statistical data and polygon fitting.
112 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for optically recognizing characters on a medium and storing a template of said recognized characters in a template cache, said template cache for recognition of subsequent characters on said medium, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) analyzing a first shape characteristic of a first character with a first shape characteristic analyzing process; (b) analyzing a second shape characteristic of said first character with a second shape characteristic analyzing process; (c) identifying said first character based upon the first and second shape characteristics; (d) generating a template of said identified first character, and (e) storing said template in said template cache. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. In an optical character recognition system having a feature analysis process for identifying an unknown character, said optical character recognition system for identifying characters in a medium, a method for constructing a template library for use while processing said medium, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) identifying said unknown character with said feature analysis process; (b) building a template for said unknown character subsequent to having identified said unknown character; and (c) storing said template in said template library. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. In a character recognition system having template matching as a first character recognition process, a method for generating a template cache for recognizing characters on a medium being processed, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing a first pixel pattern of an unrecognized character on said medium being processed; b) determining said unrecognized character on said medium being processed does not match a template in said template cache; c) recognizing said unrecognized character utilizing a second character recognition process to create a recognized character; d) building a template of said recognized character; and e) adding said template of said recognized character to said template cache. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A system for optically scanning a medium to recognize characters thereon, said system comprising:
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scanning means for providing as output a bit-mapped image of said medium; a memory means coupled with said scanning means, said memory means for storing said bit-mapped image; a parsing means coupled to said memory means, said parsing means for extracting unknown characters from said bit-mapped image; a template cache memory for storing templates of recognized characters; a template character recognition means coupled to said template cache and said parsing means, said template character recognition means for recognizing characters by comparing unknown characters to templates in said template cache; a feature analysis recognition means coupled to said template cache and said memory means said feature analysis recognition means for recognizing characters not recognized by said template character recognition means; and template generation means coupled to said feature analysis recognition means and said template cache memory, said template generation means for generating a template of recognized character and storing in said template cache. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method of creating a character template using an image, said image including a representation of a character, said method including the steps of:
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a) accessing said representation; b) analyzing said representation using a first recognition process; c) analyzing said scanned representation using a second recognition process, if said character is not recognized using said first recognition process; d) generating a character template, if said character is recognized using said second recognition process, and e) storing said character template, if a character template has been generated. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method of recognizing a first character in a character recognition system, said character recognition system including an image, said image including a first image representation corresponding to said first character, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) accessing said first image representation; b) applying a template matching process to said first image representation; c) applying a feature analysis process to said first image representation, if said template matching process does not successfully identify said first image represenation as corresponding to said first character, d) identifying said first image representation as corresponding to said first character, and e) including a first character template corresponding to said first image representation for use in subsequent template matching processing. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A system for recognizing a character represented on an image, said system comprising:
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a) a memory for storing said image and a set of character templates, and b) a processor being coupled to said memory, said processor for accessing said image and generating a first representation of a portion of said image, said portion including a representation of said character, said processor further for applying a templating matching process to said portion, said processor further for applying a feature analysis process to said portion if said template matching process does not identify said portion as corresponding to said character, said processor further for generating a character template from said portion if said feature analysis identifies said portion as corresponding to said character.
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Specification