A Survey on Arabic Character Recognition

Off-line recognition of text play a significant role in several application such as the automatic sorting of postal mail or editing old documents. It is the ability of the computer to distinguish characters and words. Automatic off-line recognition of text can be divided into the recognition of printed and handwritten characters. Off-line Arabic handwriting recognition still faces great challenges. This paper provides a survey of Arabic character recognition systems which are classified into the character recognition categories: printed and handwritten. Also, it examines the literature on the most significant work in handwritten text recognition without segmentation and discusses algorithms which split the words into characters.

[1]  Berrin A. Yanikoglu,et al.  Recognizing off-line cursive handwriting , 1994, 1994 Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[2]  Jonathan J. Hull,et al.  A Database for Handwritten Text Recognition Research , 1994, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[3]  Horst Bunke,et al.  The IAM-database: an English sentence database for offline handwriting recognition , 2002, International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[4]  Somaya Al-Máadeed.  Recognition of Off-Line Handwritten Arabic Words Using Neural Network , 2006, Geometric Modeling and Imaging--New Trends (GMAI'06).

[5]  Jinchang Ren,et al.  Word-based handwritten Arabic scripts recognition using DCT features and neural network classifier , 2008, 2008 5th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals and Devices.

[6]  Robert Sabourin,et al.  Segmentation of Arabic cursive script , 1997, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[7]  Jianchang Mao,et al.  A comparative study of different classifiers for handprinted character recognition , 1994 .

[8]  Karim Faez,et al.  Handwritten Farsi (Arabic) word recognition: a holistic approach using discrete HMM , 2001, Pattern Recognit..

[9]  M. Tellache,et al.  Thinning algorithms for Arabic OCR , 1993, Proceedings of IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications Computers and Signal Processing.

[10]  V. K. Govindan,et al.  Character recognition - A review , 1990, Pattern Recognit..

[11]  Pervez Ahmed,et al.  Arabic Character Recognition: Progress and Challenges , 2000, J. King Saud Univ. Comput. Inf. Sci..

[12]  Jawad Hasan Yasin AlKhateeb,et al.  Word based off-line handwritten Arabic classification and recognition : design of automatic recognition system for large vocabulary offline handwritten Arabic words using machine learning approaches , 2010 .

[13]  M. Pechwitz,et al.  IFN/ENIT: database of handwritten arabic words , 2002 .

[14]  Volker Märgner,et al.  Comparison of Different Preprocessing and Feature Extraction Methods for Offline Recognition of Handwritten ArabicWords , 2007, ICDAR.

[15]  Neil W. Bergmann,et al.  A recognition-based Arabic optical character recognition system , 1998, SMC'98 Conference Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (Cat. No.98CH36218).

[16]  Mokhtar Sellami,et al.  A HYBRID APPROACH FOR ARABIC LITERAL AMOUNTS RECOGNITION , 2004 .

[17]  Ahmed Bouridane,et al.  HACDB: Handwritten Arabic characters database for automatic character recognition , 2013, European Workshop on Visual Information Processing (EUVIP).

[18]  Nicole Vincent,et al.  Shape-Based Alphabet for Off-line Arabic Handwriting Recognition , 2007, Ninth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR 2007).

[19]  Mohammad S. Khorsheed,et al.  Off-Line Arabic Character Recognition – A Review , 2002, Pattern Analysis & Applications.

[20]  Kasmiran Jumari,et al.  A Survey and Comparative Evaluation of Selected off-line Arabic handwritten Character Recognition Systems , 2002 .

[21]  Adnan Amin,et al.  Recognition of printed Arabic text using neural networks , 1997, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[22]  Jianmin Jiang,et al.  Component-based Segmentation of words from handwritten Arabic text , 2009 .

[23]  Mokhtar Sellami,et al.  Off-line handwritten Arabic character segmentation algorithm: ACSA , 2002, Proceedings Eighth International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition.

[24]  Adnan Amin,et al.  Machine recognition and correction of printed Arabic text , 1989, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[25]  Ibrahiem M. M. El Emary,et al.  Probabilistic Artificial Neural Network For Recognizing the Arabic Hand Written Characters , 2006 .

[26]  Sherif Abdelazeem,et al.  A Two-Stage System for Arabic Handwritten Digit Recognition Tested on a New Large Database , 2007, Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition.

[27]  Zaher Al Aghbari,et al.  Holistic approach for classifying and retrieving personal Arabic handwritten documents , 2008 .

[28]  E. Lecolinet,et al.  Strategies in character segmentation: a survey , 1995, Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[29]  Xianqiao Chen,et al.  Offline Arabic handwriting recognition system based on HMM , 2010, 2010 3rd International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology.

[30]  Yasser M. Alginahi,et al.  A survey on Arabic character segmentation , 2012, International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR).

[31]  R. Gray,et al.  Vector quantization , 1984, IEEE ASSP Magazine.

[32]  Raed Abu Zitar,et al.  Development of an efficient neural-based segmentation technique for Arabic handwriting recognition , 2010, Pattern Recognit..

[33]  Mohammad S. Khorsheed,et al.  Automatic Processing of Handwritten Arabic Forms using Neural Networks , 2005, IEC.

[34]  Irccyn,et al.  Tenth international workshop on frontiers in handwriting recognition , 2006 .

[35]  Yves Lecourtier,et al.  Segmentation and coding of Arabic handwritten words , 1996, Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Pattern Recognition.

[36]  Ramzi A. Haraty,et al.  A neuro-heuristic approach for segmenting handwritten Arabic text , 2001, Proceedings ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications.

[37]  Nafiz Arica,et al.  An overview of character recognition focused on off-line handwriting , 2001, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Syst..

[38]  Najoua Essoukri Ben Amara,et al.  Multifont Arabic Characters Recognition Using HoughTransform and HMM/ANN Classification , 2006, J. Multim..

[39]  A. Dehghani,et al.  Off-line recognition of isolated Persian handwritten characters using multiple hidden Markov models , 2001, Proceedings International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing.

[40]  Venu Govindaraju,et al.  Segmentation and pre-recognition of Arabic handwriting , 2005, Eighth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR'05).

[41]  Fouad Khelifi,et al.  A new approach for off-line handwritten Arabic word recognition using KNN classifier , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Signal and Image Processing Applications.

[42]  C. Y. Suen,et al.  Optimal local weighted averaging methods in contour smoothing , 1997, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[43]  Jianmin Jiang,et al.  Offline handwritten Arabic cursive text recognition using Hidden Markov Models and re-ranking , 2011, Pattern Recognit. Lett..

[44]  G. N. Srinivasan,et al.  Statistical Texture Analysis , 2008 .

[45]  Chafic Mokbel,et al.  Combining Slanted-Frame Classifiers for Improved HMM-Based Arabic Handwriting Recognition , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[46]  Ashraf S. Mahmoud,et al.  Arabic Character Recognition using Modified Fourier Spectrum (MFS) , 2006, Geometric Modeling and Imaging--New Trends (GMAI'06).

[47]  Sabri A. Mahmoud,et al.  Recognition of writer-independent off-line handwritten Arabic (Indian) numerals using hidden Markov models , 2008, Signal Process..

[48]  Mohamad Shanudin Zakaria,et al.  Challenges in Recognizing Arabic Characters , 2004 .

[49]  Somaya Al-Máadeed,et al.  A data base for Arabic handwritten text recognition research , 2002, Proceedings Eighth International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition.

[50]  Fatos T. Yarman-Vural,et al.  Heuristic algorithm for optical character recognition of Arabic script , 1996, Other Conferences.

[51]  Adnan Amin,et al.  A New Structural Technique for Recognizing Printed Arabic Text , 1995, Int. J. Pattern Recognit. Artif. Intell..

[52]  Ahmed Bouridane,et al.  A Framework for Arabic Handwritten Recognition Based on Segmentation , 2014 .

[53]  Chafic Mokbel,et al.  Combination of HMM-Based Classifiers for the Recognition of Arabic Handwritten Words , 2007, Ninth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR 2007).

[54]  R.M. McElhaney,et al.  Algorithms for graphics and image processing , 1983, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[55]  Ismael Ahmad Jannoud.  Automatic Arabic Hand Written Text Recognition System , 2007 .

[56]  Alireza Alaei,et al.  Fine Classification of Unconstrained Handwritten Persian/Arabic Numerals by Removing Confusion amongst Similar Classes , 2009, 2009 10th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[57]  Ching Y. Suen,et al.  Databases for recognition of handwritten Arabic cheques , 2003, Pattern Recognit..

[58]  Nasser Mozayani,et al.  A Persian OCR System Using Morphological Operators , 2007, WEC.

[59]  Sameh M. Awaidah,et al.  A multiple feature/resolution scheme to Arabic (Indian) numerals recognition using hidden Markov models , 2009, Signal Process..

[60]  Jinchang Ren,et al.  Knowledge-Based Baseline Detection and Optimal Thresholding for Words Segmentation in Efficient Pre-Processing of Handwritten Arabic Text , 2008, Fifth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (itng 2008).

[61]  Mohammad S. Khorsheed,et al.  Offline recognition of omnifont Arabic text using the HMM ToolKit (HTK) , 2007, Pattern Recognit. Lett..

[62]  Behrooz Parhami,et al.  Automatic recognition of printed Farsi texts , 1981, Pattern Recognit..

[63]  Amar Mitiche,et al.  On-line recognition of handwritten Arabic characters using a Kohonen neural network , 2002, Proceedings Eighth International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition.

[64]  Dave Elliman,et al.  Off-line recognition of handwritten Arabic words using multiple hidden Markov models , 2004, Knowl. Based Syst..

[65]  Mokhtar Sellami,et al.  HMMs with Explicit State Duration Applied to Handwritten Arabic Word Recognition , 2006, 18th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR'06).

[66]  M. Bedda,et al.  Handwritten Arabic character recognition based on SVM Classifier , 2008, 2008 3rd International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies: From Theory to Applications.

[67]  W. F. Clocksin,et al.  Multi-font Arabic word recognition using spectral features , 2000, Proceedings 15th International Conference on Pattern Recognition. ICPR-2000.

[68]  W. F. Clocksin,et al.  Structural Features of Cursive Arabic Script , 1999, BMVC.

[69]  Michael Spann,et al.  Segmentation and recognition of Arabic characters by structural classification , 1997, Image Vis. Comput..

[70]  Xiaobo Li,et al.  Boundary detection using mathematical morphology , 1995, Pattern Recognit. Lett..

[71]  Somaya Al-Máadeed,et al.  Recognition of Off-Line Handwritten Arabic Words Using Hidden Markov Model Approach , 2002, ICPR.

[72]  Magdy A. Bayoumi,et al.  Arabic text recognition using neural networks , 1994, Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems - ISCAS '94.

[73]  Fiaz Hussain,et al.  Thinning Arabic characters for feature extraction , 2001, Proceedings Fifth International Conference on Information Visualisation.

[74]  Venu Govindaraju,et al.  Segmentation of Arabic Handwriting Based on both Contour and Skeleton Segmentation , 2009, 2009 10th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[75]  Venu Govindaraju,et al.  Pre-processing methods for handwritten Arabic documents , 2005, Eighth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR'05).

[76]  Chafic Mokbel,et al.  Arabic handwriting recognition using baseline dependant features and hidden Markov modeling , 2005, Eighth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR'05).

[77]  Gyeonghwan Kim,et al.  An architecture for handwritten text recognition systems , 1999, International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[78]  Volker Märgner,et al.  HMM based approach for handwritten arabic word recognition using the IFN/ENIT - database , 2003, Seventh International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition, 2003. Proceedings..

[79]  Jian-xiong Dong,et al.  Cursive word skew/slant corrections based on Radon transform , 2005, Eighth International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR'05).

[80]  Karim Faez,et al.  Feature extraction with wavelet transform for recognition of isolated handwritten Farsi/Arabic characters and numerals , 2002, 2002 14th International Conference on Digital Signal Processing Proceedings. DSP 2002 (Cat. No.02TH8628).

[81]  Farhad Faradji,et al.  A Comprehensive Isolated Farsi/Arabic Character Database for Handwritten OCR Research , 2006 .

[82]  Paul Douglas,et al.  International Conference on Information Technology : Coding and Computing , 2003 .

[83]  Venu Govindaraju,et al.  Offline Arabic handwriting recognition: a survey , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[84]  Ezzat El-Sherif,et al.  Arabic handwritten digit recognition , 2008, International Journal of Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR).

[85]  Abdel Belaïd,et al.  Combination of local and global vision modelling for Arabic handwritten words recognition , 2002, Proceedings Eighth International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition.

[86]  Volker Märgner,et al.  Baseline estimation for Arabic handwritten words , 2002, Proceedings Eighth International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition.

[87]  Mansour Jamzad,et al.  A Novel Approach to Persian Online Hand Writing Recognition , 2005 .

[88]  Robert M. Haralick,et al.  Segmentation-free word recognition with application to Arabic , 1995, Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.

[89]  L. Deng,et al.  The MNIST Database of Handwritten Digit Images for Machine Learning Research [Best of the Web] , 2012, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.

[90]  GovindarajuVenu,et al.  Offline Arabic Handwriting Recognition , 2006 .

[91]  Zaher Al Aghbari,et al.  HAH manuscripts: A holistic paradigm for classifying and retrieving historical Arabic handwritten documents , 2009, Expert Syst. Appl..

[92]  Hanan Aljuaid,et al.  A Tool to Develop Arabic Handwriting Recognition System Using Genetic Approach , 2010 .

[93]  Akram M. Zeki,et al.  The Segmentation Problem in Arabic Character Recognition The State Of The Art , 2005 .

[94]  Sargur N. Srihari,et al.  On-Line and Off-Line Handwriting Recognition: A Comprehensive Survey , 2000, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[95]  Jinhai Cai,et al.  Handwriting Recognition - Soft Computing and Probabilistic Approaches , 2003, Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing.

[96]  Jinchang Ren,et al.  Performance of hidden Markov model and dynamic Bayesian network classifiers on handwritten Arabic word recognition , 2011, Knowl. Based Syst..

[97]  Shubair Abdulla,et al.  Off-Line Arabic Handwritten Word Segmentation Using Rotational Invariant Segments Features , 2008, Int. Arab J. Inf. Technol..

[98]  Adnan Amin,et al.  Recognition of printed arabic text based on global features and decision tree learning techniques , 2000, Pattern Recognit..

[99]  Fatos T. Yarman-Vural,et al.  A heuristic algorithm for optical character recognition of Arabic script , 1997, Signal Process..

[100]  Jean Paul Frédéric Serra.  Morphological filtering: An overview , 1994, Signal Process..

[101]  S.N. Nawaz,et al.  An approach to offline Arabic character recognition using neural networks , 2003, 10th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, 2003. ICECS 2003. Proceedings of the 2003.

[102]  Peter Burrow,et al.  Arabic Handwriting Recognition , 2004 .

[103]  Roland T. Chin,et al.  One-Pass Parallel Thinning: Analysis, Properties, and Quantitative Evaluation , 1992, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[104]  Khairuddin Omar,et al.  A comparative study between methods of Arabic baseline detection , 2009, 2009 International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics.

[105]  Magdy A. Bayoumi,et al.  A new thinning algorithm for Arabic characters using self-organizing neural network , 1995, Proceedings of ISCAS'95 - International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[106]  Xianglong Tang,et al.  A new algorithm for machine printed Arabic character segmentation , 2004, Pattern Recognit. Lett..