Discrimination of characters by a multi-stage recognition process

Abstract This paper proposes a hierarchical character recognition scheme. The recognition process is divided into several stages. An aggressive graph-matching procedure first attempts to recognize various broad character classes. It then triggers a set of highly specific routines suitable for the recognition of particular characters or classes of characters. Two techniques are employed in dealing with the ambiguity of interpretation: one technique is to seek further constraints in the way character images are interpreted; the other is to use additional measurements to curtail the ambiguity of subsequent interpretations.