Character reading method and apparatus effective for condition where a plurality of characters have close relationship with one another

A character reading method comprising steps of:

• an inputting step (a-1) for inputting a character line including a plurality of characters which have been written, the inputting of said character line being performed after all of said plurality of characters have been written;
• a dividing step (a-2) for dividing into segments said character line;
• a partial-figure forming step (b) for forming partial figures by combining segments from among said thus obtained segments;
• a character reading step (c) for attempting to read each of said partial figures as a character;
• a network forming step (d) for forming a network wherein partial figures, among the partial figures in said character-reading step (c) are used as nodes and said nodes are connected with one another by links, and wherein said links respectively have appropriate weights;
• and
• an optimum-path selecting step (e) for selecting an optimum path from among paths existing in said network so that said optimum path comprises nodes, from among said nodes, which respectively appropriately correspond to said plurality of characters, wherein the optimum-path selecting step includes using a total length of the line segments existing between two adjacent partial figures among said partial figures.