Global interpolation method II for handwritten numbers overlapping a border by automatic knowledge acquisition of overlapped conditions

Abstract

The global interpolation method we propose can extract a handwritten alpha-numeric character pattern even if it overlaps a border. Our method interpolates blank segments in a character after borders are removed by globally evaluating segment label connectivity and connectedness to produce characters with smooth edges. However, the method cannot interpolate missing superpositioning segments, such as an overlapping horizontal line in the number "2". To solve this problem, we propose a global interpolation method II which adds top-down recognition processing to the bottom-up processing of the existing global interpolation method by automatically acquiring knowledge of the relationship between the overlapped condition and recognition reliability. Experimental results which use generated overlapping characters using the ETL database showed that our global interpolation method II has almost the same accuracy as the original ETL database.