Platform-independent optical character and curve recognition system

Robert R. Goldberg; Jonathan Robinson

doi:10.1117/12.326977

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6 October 1998 Platform-independent optical character and curve recognition system

Robert R. Goldberg; Jonathan Robinson

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Proceedings Volume 3521, Machine Vision Systems for Inspection and Metrology VII; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.326977
Event: Photonics East (ISAM, VVDC, IEMB), 1998, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

Alphanumerics and other characters can be decomposed into a minimal number of components, namely, line segments and, circular and elliptical arcs. The combination and relative location of these components (i.e. the character signature) uniquely determine the character identity. We are developing a pattern recognition engine, Software Engineering Engine (SEE), which computes the set of all line segments, circular and elliptical arcs that a given digital curve represents. From this obtained set, the original line segment or geometric arc that best fits the digital curve is extracted. Thus, the underlying shape of the digital curve can be determined with subpixel accuracy. SEE computes all this in linear time in the number of pixels in the digital curve. To further recognize characters, SEE will determine the linear, circular and elliptical components that comprise each character. SEE will then compare this character signature from the image with signatures in a character-signature database to secure the best fit. This approach has applications to the interpretation of engineering symbols and will be extended to interpret dimensionality associated with geometric objects indicated in an engineering sketch.

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Robert R. Goldberg and Jonathan Robinson "Platform-independent optical character and curve recognition system", Proc. SPIE 3521, Machine Vision Systems for Inspection and Metrology VII, (6 October 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.326977