Professor Mohamed Cheriet is currently Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering at the University of Concordia. He has published extensively on the subjects of pattern and character recognition, and machine intelligence.Professor Nawwaf Kharma has been an assistant professor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Concordia University since 2000.Dr. Cheng-Lin Liu worked for Hitachi until the beginning of 2005, and then joined the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He is also a member of the IEEE.Professor Ching Suen is Director for the Center for Pattern Recognition, working under the fields of artificial intelligence, human-computer communications, and pattern recognition.

"In the words of Horst Bunke (also from the back cover), 'it is a volume the community has been awaiting for a long time, and I can enthusiastically recommend it to everybody working in the area.' I concur and recommend the book to readers interested either in the general field of OCR, or in a more in-depth treatment of the constituent techniques." (Computing Reviews, March 12, 2008) "Researchers and graduate students…[and] practitioners might find it a valuable resource for the latest advances and modern technologies…" (IEEE Computer Magazine, December 2007)

• Figures. List of Tables.Preface.Acknowledgments.Acronyms.1. Introduction: Character Recognition, Evolution and Development.1.1 Generation and Recognition of Characters.1.2 History of OCR.1.3 Development of New Techniques.1.4 Recent Trends and Movements.1.5 Organization of the Remaining Chapters.References.2. Tools for Image Pre-Processing.2.1 Generic Form Processing System.2.2 A Stroke Model for Complex Background Elimination.2.2.1 Global Gray Level Thresholding.2.2.2 Local Gray Level Thresholding.2.2.3 Local Feature Thresholding-Stroke Based Model.2.2.4 Choosing the Most Efficient Character Extraction Method.2.2.5 Cleaning up Form Items Using Stroke Based Model.2.3 A Scale-Space Approach for Visual Data Extraction.2.3.1 Image Regularization.2.3.2 Data Extraction.2.3.3 Concluding Remarks.2.4 Data Pre-Processing.2.4.1 Smoothing and Noise Removal.2.4.2 Skew Detection and Correction.2.4.3 Slant Correction.2.4.4 Character Normalization.2.4.5 Contour Tracing/Analysis.2.4.6 Thinning.2.5 Chapter Summary.References 72.3. Feature Extraction, Selection and Creation.3.1 Feature Extraction.3.1.1 Moments.3.1.2 Histogram.3.1.3 Direction Features.3.1.4 Image Registration.3.1.5 Hough Transform.3.1.6 Line-Based Representation.3.1.7 Fourier Descriptors.3.1.8 Shape Approximation.3.1.9 Topological Features.3.1.10 Linear Transforms.3.1.11 Kernels.3.2 Feature Selection for Pattern Classification.3.2.1 Review of Feature Selection Methods.3.3 Feature Creation for Pattern Classification.3.3.1 Categories of Feature Creation.3.3.2 Review of Feature Creation Methods.3.3.3 Future Trends.3.4 Chapter Summary.References.4. Pattern Classification Methods.4.1 Overview of Classification Methods.4.2 Statistical Methods.4.2.1 Bayes Decision Theory.4.2.2 Parametric Methods.4.2.3 Non-ParametricMethods.4.3 Artificial Neural Networks.4.3.1 Single-Layer Neural Network.4.3.2 Multilayer Perceptron.4.3.3 Radial Basis Function Network.4.3.4 Polynomial Network.4.3.5 Unsupervised Learning.4.3.6 Learning Vector Quantization.4.4 Support Vector Machines.4.4.1 Maximal Margin Classifier.4.4.2 Soft Margin and Kernels.4.4.3 Implementation Issues.4.5 Structural Pattern Recognition.4.5.1 Attributed String Matching.4.5.2 Attributed Graph Matching.4.6 Combining Multiple Classifiers.4.6.1 Problem Formulation.4.6.2 Combining Discrete Outputs.4.6.3 Combining Continuous Outputs.4.6.4 Dynamic Classifier Selection.4.6.5 Ensemble Generation.4.7 A Concrete Example.4.8 Chapter Summary.References.5. Word and String Recognition.5.1 Introduction.5.2 Character Segmentation.5.2.1 Overview of Dissection Techniques.5.2.2 Segmentation of Handwritten Digits.5.3 Classification-Based String Recognition.5.3.1 String Classification Model.5.3.2 Classifier Design for String Recognition.5.3.3 Search Strategies.5.3.4 Strategies for Large Vocabulary.5.4 HMM-Based Recognition.5.4.1 Introduction to HMMs.5.4.2 Theory and Implementation.5.4.3 Application of HMMs to Text Recognition.5.4.4 Implementation Issues.5.4.5 Techniques for Improving HMMs’ Performance.5.4.6 Summary to HMM-Based Recognition.5.5 Holistic Methods For Handwritten Word Recognition.5.5.1 Introduction to Holistic Methods.5.5.2 Overview of Holistic Methods.5.5.3 Summary to Holistic Methods.5.6 Chapter Summary.References.6. Case Studies.6.1 Automatically Generating Pattern Recognizers with Evolutionary Computation.6.1.1 Motivation.6.1.2 Introduction.6.1.3 Hunters and Prey.6.1.4 Genetic Algorithm.6.1.5 Experiments.6.1.6 Analysis.6.1.7 Future Directions.6.2 Offline Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition.6.2.1 Related Works.6.2.2 System Overview.6.2.3 Character Normalization.6.2.4 Direction Feature Extraction.6.2.5 Classification Methods.6.2.6 Experiments.6.2.7 Concluding Remarks.6.3 Segmentation and Recognition of Handwritten Dates on Canadian Bank Cheques.6.3.1 Introduction.6.3.2 System Architecture.6.3.3 Date Image Segmentation.6.3.4 Date Image Recognition.6.3.5 Experimental Results.6.3.6 Concluding Remarks.References.

Professor Mohamed Cheriet is currently Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering at the University of Concordia. He has published extensively on the subjects of pattern and character recognition, and machine intelligence.Professor Nawwaf Kharma has been an assistant professor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Concordia University since 2000.Dr. Cheng-Lin Liu worked for Hitachi until the beginning of 2005, and then joined the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He is also a member of the IEEE.Professor Ching Suen is Director for the Center for Pattern Recognition, working under the fields of artificial intelligence, human-computer communications, and pattern recognition.

"In the words of Horst Bunke (also from the back cover), 'it is a volume the community has been awaiting for a long time, and I can enthusiastically recommend it to everybody working in the area.' I concur and recommend the book to readers interested either in the general field of OCR, or in a more in-depth treatment of the constituent techniques." (Computing Reviews, March 12, 2008) "Researchers and graduate students…[and] practitioners might find it a valuable resource for the latest advances and modern technologies…" (IEEE Computer Magazine, December 2007)

• Figures. List of Tables.Preface.Acknowledgments.Acronyms.1. Introduction: Character Recognition, Evolution and Development.1.1 Generation and Recognition of Characters.1.2 History of OCR.1.3 Development of New Techniques.1.4 Recent Trends and Movements.1.5 Organization of the Remaining Chapters.References.2. Tools for Image Pre-Processing.2.1 Generic Form Processing System.2.2 A Stroke Model for Complex Background Elimination.2.2.1 Global Gray Level Thresholding.2.2.2 Local Gray Level Thresholding.2.2.3 Local Feature Thresholding-Stroke Based Model.2.2.4 Choosing the Most Efficient Character Extraction Method.2.2.5 Cleaning up Form Items Using Stroke Based Model.2.3 A Scale-Space Approach for Visual Data Extraction.2.3.1 Image Regularization.2.3.2 Data Extraction.2.3.3 Concluding Remarks.2.4 Data Pre-Processing.2.4.1 Smoothing and Noise Removal.2.4.2 Skew Detection and Correction.2.4.3 Slant Correction.2.4.4 Character Normalization.2.4.5 Contour Tracing/Analysis.2.4.6 Thinning.2.5 Chapter Summary.References 72.3. Feature Extraction, Selection and Creation.3.1 Feature Extraction.3.1.1 Moments.3.1.2 Histogram.3.1.3 Direction Features.3.1.4 Image Registration.3.1.5 Hough Transform.3.1.6 Line-Based Representation.3.1.7 Fourier Descriptors.3.1.8 Shape Approximation.3.1.9 Topological Features.3.1.10 Linear Transforms.3.1.11 Kernels.3.2 Feature Selection for Pattern Classification.3.2.1 Review of Feature Selection Methods.3.3 Feature Creation for Pattern Classification.3.3.1 Categories of Feature Creation.3.3.2 Review of Feature Creation Methods.3.3.3 Future Trends.3.4 Chapter Summary.References.4. Pattern Classification Methods.4.1 Overview of Classification Methods.4.2 Statistical Methods.4.2.1 Bayes Decision Theory.4.2.2 Parametric Methods.4.2.3 Non-ParametricMethods.4.3 Artificial Neural Networks.4.3.1 Single-Layer Neural Network.4.3.2 Multilayer Perceptron.4.3.3 Radial Basis Function Network.4.3.4 Polynomial Network.4.3.5 Unsupervised Learning.4.3.6 Learning Vector Quantization.4.4 Support Vector Machines.4.4.1 Maximal Margin Classifier.4.4.2 Soft Margin and Kernels.4.4.3 Implementation Issues.4.5 Structural Pattern Recognition.4.5.1 Attributed String Matching.4.5.2 Attributed Graph Matching.4.6 Combining Multiple Classifiers.4.6.1 Problem Formulation.4.6.2 Combining Discrete Outputs.4.6.3 Combining Continuous Outputs.4.6.4 Dynamic Classifier Selection.4.6.5 Ensemble Generation.4.7 A Concrete Example.4.8 Chapter Summary.References.5. Word and String Recognition.5.1 Introduction.5.2 Character Segmentation.5.2.1 Overview of Dissection Techniques.5.2.2 Segmentation of Handwritten Digits.5.3 Classification-Based String Recognition.5.3.1 String Classification Model.5.3.2 Classifier Design for String Recognition.5.3.3 Search Strategies.5.3.4 Strategies for Large Vocabulary.5.4 HMM-Based Recognition.5.4.1 Introduction to HMMs.5.4.2 Theory and Implementation.5.4.3 Application of HMMs to Text Recognition.5.4.4 Implementation Issues.5.4.5 Techniques for Improving HMMs’ Performance.5.4.6 Summary to HMM-Based Recognition.5.5 Holistic Methods For Handwritten Word Recognition.5.5.1 Introduction to Holistic Methods.5.5.2 Overview of Holistic Methods.5.5.3 Summary to Holistic Methods.5.6 Chapter Summary.References.6. Case Studies.6.1 Automatically Generating Pattern Recognizers with Evolutionary Computation.6.1.1 Motivation.6.1.2 Introduction.6.1.3 Hunters and Prey.6.1.4 Genetic Algorithm.6.1.5 Experiments.6.1.6 Analysis.6.1.7 Future Directions.6.2 Offline Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition.6.2.1 Related Works.6.2.2 System Overview.6.2.3 Character Normalization.6.2.4 Direction Feature Extraction.6.2.5 Classification Methods.6.2.6 Experiments.6.2.7 Concluding Remarks.6.3 Segmentation and Recognition of Handwritten Dates on Canadian Bank Cheques.6.3.1 Introduction.6.3.2 System Architecture.6.3.3 Date Image Segmentation.6.3.4 Date Image Recognition.6.3.5 Experimental Results.6.3.6 Concluding Remarks.References.

Professor Mohamed Cheriet is currently Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering at the University of Concordia. He has published extensively on the subjects of pattern and character recognition, and machine intelligence.Professor Nawwaf Kharma has been an assistant professor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Concordia University since 2000.Dr. Cheng-Lin Liu worked for Hitachi until the beginning of 2005, and then joined the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He is also a member of the IEEE.Professor Ching Suen is Director for the Center for Pattern Recognition, working under the fields of artificial intelligence, human-computer communications, and pattern recognition.

"In the words of Horst Bunke (also from the back cover), 'it is a volume the community has been awaiting for a long time, and I can enthusiastically recommend it to everybody working in the area.' I concur and recommend the book to readers interested either in the general field of OCR, or in a more in-depth treatment of the constituent techniques." (Computing Reviews, March 12, 2008) "Researchers and graduate students…[and] practitioners might find it a valuable resource for the latest advances and modern technologies…" (IEEE Computer Magazine, December 2007)

• Figures. List of Tables.Preface.Acknowledgments.Acronyms.1. Introduction: Character Recognition, Evolution and Development.1.1 Generation and Recognition of Characters.1.2 History of OCR.1.3 Development of New Techniques.1.4 Recent Trends and Movements.1.5 Organization of the Remaining Chapters.References.2. Tools for Image Pre-Processing.2.1 Generic Form Processing System.2.2 A Stroke Model for Complex Background Elimination.2.2.1 Global Gray Level Thresholding.2.2.2 Local Gray Level Thresholding.2.2.3 Local Feature Thresholding-Stroke Based Model.2.2.4 Choosing the Most Efficient Character Extraction Method.2.2.5 Cleaning up Form Items Using Stroke Based Model.2.3 A Scale-Space Approach for Visual Data Extraction.2.3.1 Image Regularization.2.3.2 Data Extraction.2.3.3 Concluding Remarks.2.4 Data Pre-Processing.2.4.1 Smoothing and Noise Removal.2.4.2 Skew Detection and Correction.2.4.3 Slant Correction.2.4.4 Character Normalization.2.4.5 Contour Tracing/Analysis.2.4.6 Thinning.2.5 Chapter Summary.References 72.3. Feature Extraction, Selection and Creation.3.1 Feature Extraction.3.1.1 Moments.3.1.2 Histogram.3.1.3 Direction Features.3.1.4 Image Registration.3.1.5 Hough Transform.3.1.6 Line-Based Representation.3.1.7 Fourier Descriptors.3.1.8 Shape Approximation.3.1.9 Topological Features.3.1.10 Linear Transforms.3.1.11 Kernels.3.2 Feature Selection for Pattern Classification.3.2.1 Review of Feature Selection Methods.3.3 Feature Creation for Pattern Classification.3.3.1 Categories of Feature Creation.3.3.2 Review of Feature Creation Methods.3.3.3 Future Trends.3.4 Chapter Summary.References.4. Pattern Classification Methods.4.1 Overview of Classification Methods.4.2 Statistical Methods.4.2.1 Bayes Decision Theory.4.2.2 Parametric Methods.4.2.3 Non-ParametricMethods.4.3 Artificial Neural Networks.4.3.1 Single-Layer Neural Network.4.3.2 Multilayer Perceptron.4.3.3 Radial Basis Function Network.4.3.4 Polynomial Network.4.3.5 Unsupervised Learning.4.3.6 Learning Vector Quantization.4.4 Support Vector Machines.4.4.1 Maximal Margin Classifier.4.4.2 Soft Margin and Kernels.4.4.3 Implementation Issues.4.5 Structural Pattern Recognition.4.5.1 Attributed String Matching.4.5.2 Attributed Graph Matching.4.6 Combining Multiple Classifiers.4.6.1 Problem Formulation.4.6.2 Combining Discrete Outputs.4.6.3 Combining Continuous Outputs.4.6.4 Dynamic Classifier Selection.4.6.5 Ensemble Generation.4.7 A Concrete Example.4.8 Chapter Summary.References.5. Word and String Recognition.5.1 Introduction.5.2 Character Segmentation.5.2.1 Overview of Dissection Techniques.5.2.2 Segmentation of Handwritten Digits.5.3 Classification-Based String Recognition.5.3.1 String Classification Model.5.3.2 Classifier Design for String Recognition.5.3.3 Search Strategies.5.3.4 Strategies for Large Vocabulary.5.4 HMM-Based Recognition.5.4.1 Introduction to HMMs.5.4.2 Theory and Implementation.5.4.3 Application of HMMs to Text Recognition.5.4.4 Implementation Issues.5.4.5 Techniques for Improving HMMs’ Performance.5.4.6 Summary to HMM-Based Recognition.5.5 Holistic Methods For Handwritten Word Recognition.5.5.1 Introduction to Holistic Methods.5.5.2 Overview of Holistic Methods.5.5.3 Summary to Holistic Methods.5.6 Chapter Summary.References.6. Case Studies.6.1 Automatically Generating Pattern Recognizers with Evolutionary Computation.6.1.1 Motivation.6.1.2 Introduction.6.1.3 Hunters and Prey.6.1.4 Genetic Algorithm.6.1.5 Experiments.6.1.6 Analysis.6.1.7 Future Directions.6.2 Offline Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition.6.2.1 Related Works.6.2.2 System Overview.6.2.3 Character Normalization.6.2.4 Direction Feature Extraction.6.2.5 Classification Methods.6.2.6 Experiments.6.2.7 Concluding Remarks.6.3 Segmentation and Recognition of Handwritten Dates on Canadian Bank Cheques.6.3.1 Introduction.6.3.2 System Architecture.6.3.3 Date Image Segmentation.6.3.4 Date Image Recognition.6.3.5 Experimental Results.6.3.6 Concluding Remarks.References.