Character recognition system which cuts between touching characters

An apparatus for cutting individual characters out of character image data which includes at least two touching characters, said apparatus comprising:

• detecting means for detecting a first pair of vertical bars in the character image data;
• checking means for checking for a presence of image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• classifying means for classifying the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain image data;
• measuring means for measuring a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• comparing means for comparing the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• and
• determining means for determining whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars based on at least one of the classification and the comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first pair of vertical bars, when it is determined to cut, the determining means determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars.

An optical character recognition method for recognizing characters in input image data, comprising the steps of:

• inputting image data including character image data which represents images of characters;
• cutting character image data out of the image data;
• performing optical character recognition processing on the cut character image data;
• selecting unrecognized cut character image data;
• detecting a first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data;
• checking for a presence of character image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• classifying the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain character image data;
• measuring a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• comparing the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• determining whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data based on at least one of the classification and the comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first pair of vertical bars, when it is determined to cut, the determining step determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars;
• cutting between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized character image data when it is determined to cut between the vertical bars;
• performing optical character recognition processing on newly-cut character image data;
• and
• outputting recognized characters.

An optical character recognition apparatus for recognizing characters in input image data, comprising:

• inputting means for inputting image data including character image data which represents images of characters;
• cutting means for cutting character image data in the image data;
• optical character recognition processing means for performing optical character recognition processing on the cut character image data;
• selecting means for selecting unrecognized cut character image data;
• detecting means for detecting a first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data;
• checking means for checking for a presence of character image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• classifying means for classifying the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain character image data;
• measuring means for measuring a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• comparing means for comparing the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• determining means for determining whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data based on at least one of the classification and the-comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first pair of vertical bars, when it is determined to cut, the determining means determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars;
• bar cutting means for cutting between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized character image data when it is determined to cut between the first pair of vertical bars;
• optical character recognition processing means for performing optical character recognition processing on newly-cut character image data;
• and
• outputting means for outputting recognized characters.

Computer-executable process steps stored in a computer-readable medium, the computer-executable process steps to cut individual characters out of character image data which includes at least two touching characters, the computer-executable process steps comprising:

• code to detect a first pair of vertical bars in the character image data;
• code to check for a presence of image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• code to classify the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain image data;
• code to measure a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• code to compare the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• and
• code to determine whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars based on at least one of the classification and the comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first Pair of vertical bars, when it is determined to cut, the code to determine determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars.

Computer-executable process steps stored in a computer-readable medium, the computer-executable process steps comprising an optical character recognition method to recognize characters in input image data, the computer-executable process steps comprising:

• code to input image data including character image data which represents images of characters;
• code to cut character image data out of the image data;
• code to perform optical character recognition processing on the cut character image data;
• code to select unrecognized cut character image data;
• code to detect a first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data;
• code to check for a presence of character image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• code to classify the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain character image data;
• code to measure a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• code to compare the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• code to determine whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data based on at least one of the classification and the comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first pair of vertical bars, the code to determine determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars;
• code to cut between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized character image data when it is determined to cut between the vertical bars;
• code to perform optical character recognition processing on newly-cut character image data;
• and
• code to output recognized characters.

A computer-readable memory medium which stores computer-executable process steps to cut individual characters out of character image data which includes at least two touching characters, the computer-executable process steps comprising:

• a detecting step to detect a first pair of vertical bars in the character image data;
• a checking step to check for a presence of image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• a classifying step to classify the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain image data;
• a measuring step to measure a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• a comparing step to compare the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• and
• a determining step to determine whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars based on at least one of the classification and the comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first pair of vertical bars, when it is determined to cut, the determining step determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars.

A computer-readable memory medium which stores computer-executable process steps to execute an optical character recognition method to recognize characters in input image data, the computer-executable process steps comprising:

• an inputting step to input image data including character image data which represents images of characters;
• a first cutting step to cut character image data out of the image data;
• a first optical character recognition processing step to perform optical character recognition processing on the cut character image data;
• a selecting step to select unrecognized cut character image data;
• a detecting step to detect a first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data;
• a checking step to check for a presence of character image data in each of plural discrete horizontal bands located between the first pair of vertical bars;
• a classifying step to classify the first pair of vertical bars into one of plural classes based on which of the plural discrete horizontal bands contain character image data;
• a measuring step to measure a distance between the first pair of vertical bars;
• a comparing step to compare the distance between the first pair of vertical bars to one of plural predetermined distances, the one of the plural predetermined distances corresponding to the class into which the first pair of vertical bars has been classified;
• a determining step to determine whether and where to cut between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized cut character image data based on at least one of the classification and the comparison between the first pair of vertical bars and the one of the plural predetermined distances, wherein, for all classifications of the first pair of vertical bars, when it is determined to cut, the determining step determines to cut at one of only two locations between the first pair of vertical bars;
• a second cutting step to cut between the first pair of vertical bars in the unrecognized character image data when it is determined to cut between the vertical bars;
• a second optical character recognition processing step to perform optical character recognition processing on newly-cut character image data;
• and
• an outputting step to output recognized characters.