Segmentation of a word bitmap into individual characters or glyphs during an OCR process

A method for segmenting words in a bitmap of an image into characters or glyphs, comprising:

• receiving a bitmap of an image comprising at least one textual line that is identified by a base-line and a mean-line;
• generating a plurality of chop lines that each separate a pair of adjacent characters or glyphs in the textual line by producing a candidate chop line through each pixel in at least one row extending along and within the textual line;
• and
• selecting a subset of the candidate chop lines that correspond to the plurality of chop lines that each separate a pair of adjacent characters or glyphs in the textual line;
• wherein generating the plurality of chop lines includes generating the candidate chop lines so that they each maximize a fitness function that increases as a total path lightness of the respective candidate chop lines increases and decreases as an intersection number increases, wherein the intersection number denotes a number of white-to-black and black to white transitions that the respective candidate chop line crosses.

A method for segmenting words in a bitmap of an image into characters or glyphs, comprising:

• receiving a bitmap of an image comprising at least one textual line that is identified by a base-line and a mean-line;
• generating a plurality of candidate chop lines that each maximize a fitness function that increases as a total path lightness of the respective candidate chop lines increase and decreases as an intersection number increases, wherein the intersection number denotes a number of white-to-black and black to white transitions that the respective candidate chop line crosses;
• selecting at least one chop line from among the candidate chop lines, wherein the chop line separates a pair of adjacent characters or glyphs in the textual line;
• applying the chop line to the textual line to produce the characters or glyphs from the received bitmap of the image.