Method of and device for identifying direction of characters in image block

A device for identifying the direction of characters in an image block, comprising:

• an optical character recognition processing unit configured for performing optical character recognition processing on the image block by assuming various directions as assumed character directions, respectively, to obtain sub image blocks, recognized characters corresponding to the sub image blocks and correctness measures thereof in each of the assumed character directions;
• a minimum matching pair searching unit configured for, in sub image blocks in the assumed character directions with a 180° mutual relation therebetween, searching for a minimum matching pair of the sub image blocks, wherein the minimum matching pair is two sets of sub image blocks in the assumed character directions with a 180° mutual relation therebetween, which have corresponding positions, identical sizes and a minimum number of sub image blocks;
• a sub image block adjusting unit configured for adjusting the sub image blocks in the searched minimum matching pair, to eliminate the effect, on an identification result, of different numbers of sub image blocks in the various assumed character directions;
• an accumulative correctness measure calculating unit configured for calculating an accumulative correctness measure in each of the assumed character directions based on the adjusted sub image blocks;
• and
• a character direction identifying unit configured for identifying a direction of the characters in the image block according to the accumulative correctness measures.