Abstract: A computer system and method for generating probability tables for use in recognizing handwritten characters. The system receives handwritten characters as a sequence of strokes. The system characterizes each stroke by its shape and position. The position is represented as a pair of coordinates specifying the starting and ending points of the stroke. The system represents an input handwritten character by a string representing the shapes of the strokes and by a string of the pairs of coordinates of the strokes. The strings are ordered by the sequence in which the strokes are written. The system compares all possible pairs of a large sample of handwritten characters one to another by comparing the shape and position of each stroke in one character with those of the corresponding stroke of the other character. When comparing the two strokes, the system generates a pair of shapes and the sum of the squared distances between the starting points and the ending points of the two strokes.

Abstract: The system described herein automatically defines a set of radicals to be used in a Kanji character handwriting recognition system and automatically creates a dictionary of the Kanji characters that are recognized by the system. In performing its functionality, the system described herein first obtains representative handwriting samples for each Kanji character that is to be recognized by the system. The system described herein then evaluates the samples to identify a set of subparts ("radicals") that are common to at least two of the Kanji characters. These radicals represent component roots from which the characters are formed. Each Kanji character is formed by one or more of these radicals. The radicals that are identified by the system described herein are not constrained to any preset definition (e.g., the traditional set of radicals used to organize Japanese dictionaries).

Abstract: A method for incremental recognition of ideographic handwriting comprises in order the steps of: (1) entering in a natural stroke order at least one stroke of an ideographic character from a computer entry tablet; (2) providing the at least one stroke to an incremental character recognizer, which produces a hypothesis list of at least one candidate character; (3) displaying a hypothesis list of candidate characters containing the at least one stroke; (4) selecting a correct character from among the candidate characters on the hypothesis list if it a correct character appears thereon; (5) entering in natural stroke order at least one additional stroke of the ideographic character from the computer entry tablet if no candidate character is a correct character; (6) providing the additional stroke(s) to the incremental character recognizer, which produces an updated hypothesis list; (7) displaying the updated hypothesis list of candidate characters containing every stroke; (8) selecting a correct character from a

Abstract: A character strings reading device for reading character strings from input image data comprises cut-out recognition means for cutting out a segment corresponding to one character from the image data to perform individual character recognition every segment, a recognition result buffer for storing a recognition result of the cut-out recognition means, word searching means for searching a word string candidate corresponding to a combination of character candidates in the recognition result buffer, a word string candidate buffer for storing a search result of the word searching means, check portion determining means for determining a check target portion and a presumed character string of the check target portion on the basis of the result in the word string candidate buffer, and check means for judging the possibility of existence of the presumed character string on the check portion.

Abstract: The apparatus and method of the invention relate to data entry and menu selection. Applications include: (a) data entry for ideographic languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean; (b) fast food ordering; (c) correction of documents generated by optical character recognition; and (d) computer access and speech synthesis by persons temporarily or permanently lacking normal motor capabilities. In a preferred embodiment, each option of a menu is associated respectively with a selectable region displayed adjacent an edge of a display, forming a perimeter menu and leaving a region in the center of the perimeter menu for the output of an application program. Selectable regions may be on the display, outside the display, or both.

Abstract: A character extraction apparatus is provided for extracting character data for each character from a text image which is represented by first pixels corresponding to character images and second pixels corresponding to background images. The character extraction apparatus comprises a character row detecting means for detecting character rows from the text image and obtaining position data of each character row; a pixel array extracting means for extracting arrays of continuous first pixels in an area specified by the character row position data and computing position data of each of the arrays of continuous first pixels; a character array linking means for linking the arrays of continuous first pixels in the area based on the position data of the arrays of continuous first pixels; and a character extracting means for recognizing each set of arrays of continuous first pixels linked by the character array linking means as a character and outputting character data.

Abstract: A portable apparatus including a transparent and flexible protective lid which openably and closably covers a touch pad which also serves as a display screen. The lid has a U-shaped slit portion formed therein and has a protrusion on a surface of the U-shaped slit portion facing the touch panel. When the protective lid is closed, the slit portion may be pushed down to actuate the touch panel. When the protective lid is open, the touch panel may be directly actuated.

Abstract: A character reader comprises an input unit for reading characters by a scanner-typed photoelectric transfer unit as an image, creating the image data formed by binary pixel of white and black lying on the plain surface and entering the same, a tangent detecting unit for detecting tangent information on tangents contacting with black pixels forming a character string within the image data, a tilt deciding unit for deciding a representative tangent which is representative for the direction of a row of character string, from the above-mentioned tangents, on the basis of the tangent information detected by the tangent detecting unit.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for compressing an image based upon an attribute of a partial area efficiently includes a classification device for providing attribute classification information in which partial areas of an input image are classified into a variety of attributes and area information, and an image compression device for selecting an image compression method for each partial area in the above-described input image out of plural image compression methods and executing such compression.

Abstract: A hand-written character recognition apparatus can enhance recognition efficiency by decreasing erroneous recognition caused by habit of user's hand-writing stroke. In a hand-written character recognition apparatus in which user's strokes entered by some suitable means, such as light pen or tablet, are detected, then processed by a character recognition preprocessing, then processed by a recognizing processing for selecting nominated characters based on a standard evaluation point and further, processed by a post-recognizing processing and then supplied to an application device (electronic notebook, electronic dictionary, word processor, personal computer or the like).

Abstract: Reference patterns and an input pattern are expressed by the position coordinates of feature points obtained by approximating strokes by a predetermined points in advance. One-to-one stroke correspondences whose stroke-numbers are made equal to each other between reference pattern and the input pattern having different stroke-numbers and different stroke-orders each other are determined, and handwriting distortion is stably absorbed by performing an optimum affine transformation operation for each corresponding stroke pair. The inter-pattern distance between a normalized input pattern obtained by the affine transformation operation and the reference pattern is calculated, and the character categories of the reference patterns are sequentially output as candidate categories in order of increasing distance.

Abstract: A language-independent and segment free OCR system and method comprises a unique feature extraction approach which represents two dimensional data relating to OCR as one independent variable (specifically the position within a line of text in the direction of the line) so that the same CSR technology based on HMMs can be adapted in a straightforward manner to recognize optical characters. After a line finding stage, followed by a simple feature-extraction stage, the system can utilize a commercially available CSR system, with little or no modification, to perform the recognition of text by and training of the system. The whole system, including the feature extraction, training, and recognition components, are designed to be independent of the script or language of the text being recognized. The language-dependent parts of the system are confined to the lexicon and training data.

Abstract: A method for incremental recognition of ideographic handwriting comprises in order the steps of: (1) entering in a natural stroke order at least one stroke of an ideographic character from a coordinate entry tablet; (2) providing the at least one stroke to an incremental character recognizer, which produces a hypothesis list of at least one candidate character; (3) displaying a hypothesis list of candidate characters containing the at least one stroke; (4) selecting a correct character from among the candidate characters on the hypothesis list if it a correct character appears thereon; (5) entering in natural stroke order at least one additional stroke of the ideographic character from the coordinate entry tablet if no candidate character is a correct character; (6) providing the additional stroke(s) to the incremental character recognizer, which produces an updated hypothesis list; (7) displaying the updated hypothesis list of candidate characters containing every stroke; (8) selecting a correct character fr

Abstract: A hierarchical database system for on-line Chinese character recognition is disclosed. The hierarchical database system comprises: (1) the database of character description; (b) the database of stroke correspondence rules of components; (3) the database of character structures; (4) the database of standard component patterns; and (5) the database of spatial relationships between strokes of components. The database of character description stores the rule code(s) of the constituent component(s) and the character structure for all the characters included in the vocabulary. The database of stroke correspondence rules of components stores stroke correspondence rules for all the components denoted by the above mentioned rule codes. The database of character structure stores the synthesis rules of character patterns, the decomposition rules of character structures, and the spatial relationships between components, for all the 208 character structures utilized in a preferred embodiment.

Abstract: An image processing system includes entering a predetermined sample character, comparing characteristic data for the sample character with characteristic data for a predetermined reference character, extracting characteristic data inherent to the entered sample character and relative to the reference character, storing the extracted characteristic data, and correcting a character which is newly entered for recognition and different from the predetermined sample character in accordance with the stored characteristic data.

Abstract: A dynamically stable associative learning neural system includes a plurality of neural network architectural units. A neural network architectural unit has as input both condition stimuli and unconditioned stimulus, an output neuron for accepting the input, and patch elements interposed between each input and the output neuron. The patches in the architectural unit can be modified and added. A neural network can be formed from a single unit, a layer of units, or multiple layers of units.

Abstract: The invention has means for judging the characteristics of a character from a feature amount of one inputted character, thereby allowing a suitable character recognizer to be adapted to the input character in accordance with the feature amount of the input character. According to the invention, since the means for judging the characteristics of a character in accordance with the feature amount of the inputted character, a size of input character is not limited. Each suitable recognizer is naturally selected in accordance with the feature amount of the inputted character. The input character can be more accurately recognized.

Abstract: In an optical character recognition (OCR) system an improved method and apparatus for recognizing the character and producing an indication of the confidence with which the character has been recognized. The system employs a plurality of different OCR devices each of which outputs a indicated (or recognized) character along with the individual devices own determination of how confident it is in the indication. The OCR system uses that data output from each of the different OCR devices along with other attributes of the indicated character such as the relative accuracy of the particular OCR device indicating the character to choose the select character recognized by the system and to produce a combined confidence indication of how confident the system is in its recognition.

Abstract: A method for nonlinear normalization of an image, which performs pre-processing for computing the correlation between an unknown pattern and a reference pattern. A local spatial density function .rho.(X.sub.i, Y.sub.j) (i=1-I, j=1-J) is calculated from a two-dimensional pattern f(X.sub.i, Y.sub.j) which is obtained by sampling the unknown pattern at a sampling interval .gamma.. The spatial density function .rho.(X.sub.i, Y.sub.j) is obtained as the product of reciprocals of line pitches in both the X and Y directions. An x-direction cumulative function hx(X.sub.i) and a y-direction cumulative function hy(Y.sub.j) are computed by successively adding the space density function .rho.(X.sub.i, Y.sub.j). New sampling points (X.sub.i, Y.sub.j) are computed in such a fashion that new sampling intervals (.delta.i, .epsilon.j), defined as intervals between two adjacent points of the new sampling points (X.sub.i, Y.sub.j), satisfy the condition that a product between the cumulative function hx(X.sub.i) and .delta.

Abstract: In the present invention, an input handwritten character pattern is subjected to character recognition processing, and a recognition reliability of the character as a standard characteristic feature pattern is determined from the recognition result. If the recognition reliability is low, a warning is issued. In response to the warning, a user or operator can decide whether the character pattern should be registered in the user dictionary (106). If it is decided that the character pattern should be registered in the user dictionary, the character pattern is stored in the user dictionary with the information representing that the character pattern has low recognition reliability. When character patterns registered in the user dictionary are displayed on a screen, these characters are displayed in such a manner that it is possible to distinguish characters having low recognition reliability from characters having high recognition reliability.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for recognition of handwritten input is disclosed where handwritten input composed of a sequence of (x, y, pen) points, is preprocessed into a sequence of strokes. A short list of candidate characters that are likely matches for the handwritten input is determined by finding a fast matching distance between the input sequence of strokes and a sequence of strokes representing each candidate character of a large character set where the sequence of strokes for each candidate character is derived from statistical analysis of empirical data. A the final sorted list of candidate characters which are likely matches for the handwritten input is determined by finding a detailed matching distance between the input sequence of strokes and the sequence of strokes for each candidate character of the short list. A final selectable list of candidate characters is presented to a user.

Abstract: A hand-written graphic form inputting apparatus by which a plurality of hand-written graphic forms can be inputted efficiently is disclosed. When a hand-written graphic form inputted from a graphic form inputting device is recognized so as to produce graphic form candidates and the graphic form candidates thus produced are stored into a graphic form candidate buffer, a graphic form relation determination device determines the correlation between the inputted graphic form inputted and the graphic form candidates. The graphic form determination device determines a most likely graphic form candidate from among the graphic form candidates in accordance with a result of a determination from the graphic form relation determination device.

Abstract: A character pattern generation apparatus generates a character pattern on the basis of font data in a stroke format. A data generation unit generates character data, character element data, or stroke data on the basis of the font data in the stroke format. A storage unit stores the character data, character element data, or stroke data generated by the data generation unit. A discrimination unit discriminates whether character data, character element data, or stroke data corresponding to a character pattern to be generated is stored in the storage unit. When the discrimination unit determines that character data, character element data, or stroke data corresponding to the character pattern to be generated is stored in the storage unit, a character pattern generation unit generates the character pattern on the basis of the character data, character element data, or stroke data stored in the storage unit.

Abstract: A method and system of recognizing words from handwritten symbols that are recognized by a computer recognizer. The recognizer produces a set of one or more alternatives for each symbol and orders the alternatives within each set in terms of the probability that each alternative matches the handwritten symbol for the set. A sequence of strings, each string having one alternative from each set, is enumerated. The enumerating proceeds in order such that the most probable alternatives from each set are used before the lower probability alternatives. Preferably, each string enumerated is looked up in a computer dictionary before enumerating other strings. If the string is found in the dictionary, the string is displayed, and preferably further enumerating stops. In an alternative embodiment, plural strings are enumerated before looking up a string in the dictionary. In another embodiment, plural strings are displayed before stopping further enumeration.

Abstract: A hand-written character recognition apparatus with a personal dictionary preparation function has a character recognition unit for comparing an input hand-written character data with a registered standard dictionary to recognize a most similar character pattern, and a display unit for selecting and displaying a display font corresponding to the recognized character pattern, so that a personal peculiar character or simplified character inputted can be recognized. When a personal dictionary is to be registered, the character to be registered is inputted by hand-writing, the character recognition unit compares the input hand-written character data with the standard dictionary to recognize a similar character pattern, and the recognized character code of the standard dictionary is selected as the character code to be registered.

Abstract: In a computer based approach to looking up characters in an ideographic alphabet, a user specifies characters by dragging individual character radicals from a radical palette to a canvas. A database is searched for characters that match character radicals dragged to the canvas and a selection window is produced that contain a resulting list of matching characters. The search may be limited by specified qualifying parameters, such as the total number of strokes in the character. When a desired character is chosen from a selection window, a unique character code is generated that may be output for various applications.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the coding of Chinese characters, and more specifically to the holo-information code of Chinese characters. The holo-information code is based on radicals and the order of strokes of Chinese characters, wherein the radicals are classified and grouped together according to the order of their first phonetic letter in the phonetic alphabet or according to their number of strokes. The Chinese characters are encoded according to the representative codes of the broken down radicals of Chinese characters. Without resorting to any formulas, only 100 radicals are used which first grade pupils can learn to read and which are the most common in forming characters, The radicals, which are broken down from Chinese characters according to the order of strokes in calligraphy (handwriting), are arranged according to the order of the first phonetic letter of Chinese characters' phonetic transcriptions in the phonetic alphabet or the number of strokes.