System and method for automated reading of handwriting

A computer system for automatically recognizing a handwriting image and converting such image to text data including a sequence of validated words, comprising:

• an image input device for inputting as a data file the handwriting image that is to be converted to text data, and
• a computer, implementing under software control,
• a first handwriting recognition engine, responsive to said image input device, for analyzing said data file and providing one or more possible text words for each successive word in said data file, said first handwriting recognition engine further providing a resemblance indication for each possible text word indicating a level of resemblance between it and the handwritten word in the data file,
• a second handwriting recognition engine for analyzing words in said data file for which there is not a high level of confidence regarding the analysis performed by the first handwriting recognition engine, said second handwriting recognition engine providing one or more possible text words and a resemblance indication for each possible text word, and
• a control unit for selecting as a validated word the text word having the highest resemblance indication provided by the first handwriting recognition engine in the event that that text word has a high level of resemblance and a high level of confidence, and for selecting as a validated word the text word having the highest resemblance indication provided by the second handwriting recognition engine in the event that several text words have a high level of resemblance indication provided by the first handwriting recognition engine, and the text word having the highest resemblance indication provided by the second handwriting recognition engine is one of the several text words having a high level of resemblance indication provided by the first handwriting recognition engine.