Abstract: A minimum edit cost is representative of a cost of edit operations performed on a candidate string detected in an image to satisfy characteristics of a model string. An attempt to perform a minimum edit cost between the candidate string and the model string is performed. Upon determining that the candidate string includes a blank character at a first character position between two consecutive non-blank candidate characters, and in response to determining that there is a non-blank model character at a second character position of the model string and that the second character position is associated with the first character position of the blank character in the candidate string, an indication that the minimum edit cost between the candidate string and the model string cannot be computed and that the candidate string is not a match to the model string is output.

Abstract: A method and system of recognizing a string of characters in a target image. An acquired target image is analyzed using an optical character recognition process to identify a candidate string, the candidate string having an associated plurality of character positions, each character position being associated with a set of one or more candidate characters located at related positions in the target image. A minimum edit cost is determined between the candidate string and a template for an output string. Determining the minimum edit cost includes, for a given character position in the candidate string and a given output character position in the template, identifying, among the respective set of candidate characters of the candidate string, a subset of candidate characters that satisfy the respective character set of the template; and determining an edit cost based on the recognition score of one of the candidate characters belonging to the identified subset of candidate characters.

Abstract: A minimum edit cost is determined between the candidate string and a model string, where the model string includes at least one blank model character located at a first character position between two consecutive non-blank model characters. The minimum edit cost is representative of a cost of edit operations performed on the candidate string to satisfy characteristics of the model string, and includes: responsive to determining that there is a non-blank candidate character at a second character position of the candidate string and that the second character position is associated with the first character position of the blank model character in the model string, a cost of performing a delete operation of the non-blank candidate character from the candidate string, and a cost of performing an insert operation of a blank character in the candidate string at the second character position are computed, and added to the minimum edit cost.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining orientation and dot pitch of characters in an image. A statistical neighborhood of a set of dots of an image is determined. The statistical neighborhood includes a set of points and each point is associated with a position and a statistical measure indicative of a likelihood that one or more dots that satisfy a shape and a size criteria are located at that position. A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is computed across the set of points of the statistical neighborhood; and based on the FFT of the set of points, a first orientation and a first distance between adjacent dots of characters along the first orientation, and a second orientation and a second distance between adjacent dots of the characters along the second orientation are determined.

Abstract: A method and system of identifying a plurality of strings in an image are described. A set of ranks and an image are received. Optical character recognition is performed on the image to identify candidate strings. The candidate strings are ordered according to their location in the image with respect to a reading direction. Minimum assignation costs between the plurality of candidate strings and the set of ranks are determined. Each of the minimum assignation costs is representative of a cost of one or more edit operations performed on the plurality of candidate strings to obtain a subset of candidate strings ordered according to the set of ranks. A subset of candidate strings that is associated with the lowest minimum assignation cost when compared with other minimum assignation costs of other subsets of candidate strings from the plurality of candidate strings is selected and outputting.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for extraction of dots in an image are described. An image is binarized according to an initial intensity threshold to obtain an initial binary image including foreground and background pixels. Each foreground pixel has a foreground intensity value and each background pixel has a background intensity value. A set of blobs including foreground pixels is selected from the initial binary image to be part of a selected set of dots, where each blob from the set of blobs has characteristics of a dot. Responsive to determining that a successive binarization is to be performed, the following operations are repeated: (1) binarization of the image according to a successive intensity threshold (2) selection of a successive set of blobs, where each blob has characteristics of a dot. Responsive to determining that a successive binarization is not to be performed, the selected set of dots is output.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for locating dot text in an image are described. A set of dots is extracted. A determination of whether a first region of interest (ROI) including the set of dots satisfies selection criteria is performed, where the first region of interest is oriented based on results from a principal component analysis of the set of dots. Responsive to determining that the first ROI does not satisfy the selection criteria, performing the following: removing an outlier dot from the first set of dots to obtain a second set of dots; when the second ROI satisfies the selection criteria, outputting the second ROI as a location of the dot text in the image, and when the second region of interest does not satisfy the selection criteria, repeating the operations until a resulting ROI is determined to satisfy the selection criteria.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for optical character recognition of dot text in an image are described. A plurality of dots that satisfy dot selection criteria are extracted from an image. A transformation is performed on the plurality of dots based on a first candidate distance between adjacent dots along a first orientation and on a second candidate distance between adjacent dots along a second orientation to obtain a transformed image including stroked characters. Model based character matching is performed on the transformed image to output a candidate string of characters.

Abstract: A method and system for identifying an edge in a portion of an image, the portion having an associated intensity variation. An edge candidate is detected at a local extremum of the intensity variation (i.e. at a position along the x-axis that corresponds to a peak or valley of the intensity variation). A local threshold associated with the edge candidate is computed on the basis of a slope tolerance and the slope value of the edge candidate, where this local threshold defines a boundary region for the edge candidate. If the edge candidate is determined to be a global extremum (i.e. the highest peak or lowest valley) within its respective boundary region, the edge candidate is verified as being an actual edge of the image portion. Identification of this verified edge may include determination of one or more of a plurality of characteristics of the edge.