An Algorithm of Line-segment Extraction and Thinning for Character Images

This paper presents an algorithm for extracting line segments from character images and thinning character images simultaneously. At first, the line segment region, the sub segment region and the junction region of an image are defined, and an image to be thinned is considered as a set of line segment regions. Secondly, the method of extracting all junction regions and sub segment regions is described based on connected pixel segments in rows and columns of an image, and the method of merging all sub segment regions and junction regions that belong to the same line segment region is presented. The Bernstein Bezier polynomial method to fit every line segment region’s skeleton is also discussed. Finally stability analysis and experimental results of the proposed algorithm are reported.