Image analysis – Pattern recognition – Unconstrained handwriting
Patent
1995-12-19
1999-08-17
Chang, Jon
Image analysis
Pattern recognition
Unconstrained handwriting
382187, 382229, 706 13, G06K 972
Patent
active
059405333
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for analyzing cursive writing, in which elementary forms are recognized in a word written with cursive writing letters or groups of letters are reconstructed from the elementary forms. A dictionary of groups of possible letters is searched for groups identical to resembling the groups constructed from the forms extracted from the writing. A plurality of strings of characters capable of corresponding to the word to be recognized are delivered.
The automatic recognition of manuscript characters allows more natural communication between a user and a computer, without using a keyboard. The function transforms cursive or "script" strokes into a string of characters. In this context, the present invention recognizes writing by recording the motion of the pen and by recognizing words with the aid of a lexicon.
A process for analyzing cursive writing is described in the document EP-A-0 564 827 (International Business Machines). In this process, the written words are compared with those from a dictionary and those which resemble one another sufficiently are regarded as possible, this delivering a list of words. Each word of the list is assigned a score. The word having the best score is chosen.
Current strategies in the field of the recognition of writing focus on the direction of writing (from right to left in western writing). However, the complexity of the problem does not allow the definition of an obvious strategy of analysis. In fact, there is a substantial lack of a priori information.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the invention is to improve the speed of calculation and the recognition performance of such a method.
According to the invention, a reproduction procedure is carried out on the basis of a population of "candidate" strings, that is to say descendants in the genetic sense of the term, are constructed, a descendant string being obtained by crossing, that is to say combining elements picked from two of the said strings of the population, and at least some of the descendant strings are appended to the starting population.
Advantageously, the starting population consists of a selection of only the most appropriate strings, and only the most appropriate are in turn chosen among the descendants to be appended to the starting selection.
The population obtained following a first reproduction procedure may again be subjected to a reproduction procedure.
According to an advantageous embodiment, each of the "parent" strings is picked at random from the starting population, and in each of the "parent" strings, that one of the elements which is picked therefrom in order to construct a descendant is picked therefrom also at random.
With the purpose of enlarging the space of solutions which is explored, mutations are advantageously produced during some of the crossings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
These aspects of the invention as well as other more detailed aspects will emerge more clearly by virtue of the following description of a non-limiting embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the whole of a system for implementing the process according to the invention.
FIG. 2 represents pieces of letters used in determining the elements of words.
FIG. 3 illustrates the coding of the basic graphical elements of the word "this".
FIG. 4 represents diagrammatically the way to generate a descendant from two individuals.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In respect of the recognition of a sequence of written words, it is assumed a priori that a specified language is involved (French, English, etc).
A diagrammatic view of the whole of a system is depicted in FIG. 1. Information is extracted from a handwritten text by means of a graphics tablet 1. Such a tablet records the speed and direction of movement of a pen on a tablet, whilst a person is writing. In order that the characteristics of the writing can be represented by codes, a preprocessing phase is carried out in a processing unit 2. Smoothing of the recorded signal
REFERENCES:
patent: 4754489 (1988-06-01), Bokser
patent: 5029223 (1991-07-01), Fujisaki
patent: 5136686 (1992-08-01), Koza
patent: 5649027 (1997-07-01), Mahajan et al.
Andre, David, "Learning and Upgrading Rules for an OCR System Using Genetic Programming", Proceedings of the first IEEE Conference on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 462-467, Jun. 27, 1994.
Hsu, L. Soo and Wu, Z. Biao, "Input Pattern Encoding Through Generalized Adaptive Search", International Workshop on Combinations of Genetic Algorithms and Neural Networks, pp. 235-247, Jun. 6, 1992.
Chang Jon
Franzblau Bernard
U.S. Philips Corporation
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