Orthogonal technology for character recognition

A method for defining an iterative character recognition routine for use in a self-orthogonal character recognition engine, the method comprising the steps of:

• designating a recognition subroutine for inclusion in the recognition routine;
• selecting a first parameter setting and a second parameter setting for the recognition subroutine;
• securing access to a database of acceptable result strings;
• and
• implementing control logic whereby the first parameter setting is used to generate a first proposed result string, the first proposed result string is matched against the acceptable result strings in the database, and, if the first proposed result string does not match the acceptable result strings in the database, the second parameter setting is used to generate a second proposed result string.

A self-orthogonal character recognition engine embodied in a computer-readable medium, comprising:

• a character recognition routine for selecting a result string, the character recognition routine being operable to invoke:
• a recognition subroutine having a plurality of parameter settings for processing an input string, the recognition subroutine being operable to employ the plurality of parameter settings, one at a time according to a designated order of use, to generate a corresponding plurality of proposed result strings;
• a configuration file designating the order of use for the plurality of parameter settings;
• and
• an interface for validating each of the corresponding plurality of proposed result strings against a database of acceptable result strings to thereby generate a validated proposed result string. the character recognition routine being operable to select as the result string the validated proposed result string.

An iterative mail piece address string recognition method employing a database of predetermined valid address strings, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) scanning a mail piece to form an image of the mail piece;
• (b) locating an address block portion of the image;
• (c) generating a proposed address string based on the located address block, by applying a predetermined recognition routine including a recognition subroutine having an initial parameter setting;
• (d) determining whether the proposed address string matches any of the predetermined valid address strings in the database;
• (e) if the proposed address string does not match any of the predetermined valid address strings, adjusting the initial parameter setting of the recognition subroutine;
• and then
• (f) repeating steps (c) and (d) to generate a next proposed address string and to determine whether the next proposed address string matches any of the predetermined valid address strings in the database.