Robust feature extraction based on run-length compensation for degraded handwritten character recognition

Conventional features are robust for recognizing either deformed or degraded characters. This paper proposes a feature extraction method that is robust for both of them. Run-length compensation is introduced for extracting approximate directional run-lengths of strokes from degraded handwritten characters. This technique is applied to the conventional feature vector based on directional run-lengths. Experiments for handwritten characters with additive or subtractive noise show that the proposed feature is superior to conventional ones over a wide range of the degree of noise.