Recognition-based Segmentation of On-Line Hand-printed Words

The input strings consist of a timeordered sequenceof XY coordinates, punctuated by pen-lifts. The methods were designed to work in "run-on mode" where there is no constraint on the spacing between characters. While both methods use a neural network recognition engine and a graph-algorithmic post-processor, their approaches to segmentation are quite different. Thefirst method, which we call IN SEC (for input segmentation), usesa combination of heuristics to identify particular penlifts as tentative segmentation points. The second method, which we call OUTSEC (for output segmentation), relies on the empirically trainedrecognition engine for both recognizing characters and identifying relevant segmentation points. 1 INTRODUCTION We address the problem of writer independent recognition of hand-printed words from an 80,OOO-word English dictionary. Several levels of difficulty in the recognition of hand-printed words are illustrated in figure 1. The examples were extracted from our databases (table 1). Except in the cases of boxed or clearly spaced characters, segmenting characters independently of the recognition process yields poor recognition performance.This has motivated us to explore recognition-based segmentation techniques.