Method and apparatus for processing an image comprising characters

An apparatus for processing an image including a character, comprising:

• an initial selection device, configured to search in a set of characters one or more characters having highest similarities of shape to a character in the set of characters, hereinafter the character being referred to as a first character, the one or more searched characters forming a similar character list of the first character, and further configured to search in the set of characters one or more characters having highest similarities of shape to each character in the similar character list of the first character, to form a similar character list of each character in the similar character list of the first character;
• and
• a cluster forming device, configured to select in the similar character lists one or more characters having a high mutual similarity between each other, as a character cluster.