Training and using a vector encoder to determine vectors for sub-images of text in an image subject to optical character recognition

A system for performing optical character recognition processing of an image, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein that is executable by the at least one processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• providing a vector encoder trained to encode images, comprising digital images representing text, into vectors in a vector space, wherein vectors of images representing similar text have a high degree of cohesion in the vector space, and wherein vectors of images representing dissimilar text have a low degree of cohesion in the vector space;
• processing an input image to determine sub-images, of the input image, wherein the sub-images bound the text represented in the input image;
• inputting the sub-images to the vector encoder to output sub-image vectors, wherein the sub-image vectors represent the sub-images in the vector space;
• using the vector encoder to generate a search vector for search text, wherein the search vector represents the search text in the vector space;
• determining the sub-image vectors that match the search vector;
• and
• applying optical character recognition to at least one region of the input image including the sub-images having the sub-image vectors matching the search vector based on closeness of the sub-image vectors and the search vector in the vector space.

A computer implemented method for performing optical character recognition processing of an image, comprising:

• providing a vector encoder trained to encode images, comprising digital images representing text, into vectors in a vector space, wherein vectors of images representing similar text have a high degree of cohesion in the vector space, and wherein vectors of images representing dissimilar text have a low degree of cohesion in the vector space;
• processing an input image to determine sub-images, of the input image, wherein the sub-images bound the text represented in the input image;
• inputting the sub-images to the vector encoder to output sub-image vectors, wherein the sub-image vectors represent the sub-images in the vector space;
• using the vector encoder to generate a search vector for search text, wherein the search vector represents the search text in the vector space;
• determining the sub-image vectors that match the search vector;
• and
• applying optical character recognition to at least one region of the input image including the sub-images having the sub-image vectors matching the search vector based on closeness of the sub-image vectors and the search vector in the vector space.