International Business Machines Corporation

Charles C Tappert

Thomas E Chefalas

Joonki Kim

Tetsunosuke Fujisaki

George J Leibman

Evon C Greanias

Hamed A Ellozy

Henry H Jeanty

Abijah S Fox

A method for using information provided during error correction for modifying character prototypes in an on-line handwriting recognition system is disclosed. The method allows a user to correct misrecognized handwritten characters by overwriting directly on the displayed ASCII representation of the recognition result for a given character. The rewritten character is then used to silently retrain the system so as to adapt it to the user's particular handwriting style.

Silent training by error correction for on-line handwritting recognition

A method for use in a handwriting recognition system, and apparatus for accomplishing the method, that generates a User set of prototype symbols. The method includes the steps of (a) inputting one or more strokes for representing a predetermined symbol; and (b) comparing characteristics of the inputted strokes to stroke characteristics associated with one or more predetermined Starter prototype symbols. If the stroke characteristics match to within a predetermined threshold, the method further includes a step of (c) averaging the characteristics of the inputted stroke or strokes with the characteristics of a corresponding one or ones of the strokes of the matching one of the Starter prototype symbols to form a User prototype symbol. Further steps include (d) storing the User prototype symbol for subsequent use; and (e) deleting one or more Starter prototype symbols of the same label as the input symbol. If the stroke characteristics do not match, the method further includes the steps of (f) storing the characteristics of the one or more inputted strokes as the User prototype symbol for subsequent use; and (g) deleting the one or more Starter prototype symbols. A counter is maintained and deletes the Starter set only after a predetermined number of instances of the symbol have been entered by the user.

Methods and apparatus for evolving a starter set of handwriting

A handwriting recognition system in which a user, on-line can reduce similarity between different prototypes. The user interactively can delete a prototype or add a new prototype, while at the same time is not allowed to delete a prototype when it is the only prototype for a given character.

On-line handwriting recognition using a prototype confusability dialog

An elastic-matching alignment technique for providing an averaged prototype in a handwriting recognition system that improves the alignment of parametric representations of recognized characters to be averaged. The point-to-point correspondence resulting from an elastic match of two characters is obtained by using backpointers during the calculation of the match. A character is added to a prototype set if it is new or is not correctly recognized within a fixed threshold. Otherwise, the character is averaged into the closest prototype of its class to provide a new average prototype.

Elastic prototype averaging in online handwriting recognition

A method, and apparatus for accomplishing same, of providing character prototypes for use by a handwriting character recognition system 10. A first method includes a first step of providing a first handwritten character; a second step of copying the first character to provide a second character; and a third step of modifying the second character to (a) emphasize dissimilarities between the second character and the first character and to (b) de-emphasize similarities between the second character and the first character. A second method includes a first .step of providing a first handwritten character and a second handwritten character, the first and the second handwritten characters each being comprised of a plurality of points. A second step of the method matches corresponding points between the first character and the second character. A third step of the method processes pairs of matching points to separate one from another each point of the matching pair by an amount proportional to an initial separation between each matched corresponding point, so as to emphasize dissimilarities between the first character and the second character.

Method and apparatus for improving prototypes of similar characters in

For use in a handwriting recognition system a method, and apparatus for accomplishing same, that includes the steps of (a) inputting a plurality of strokes each of which is a constituent stroke of a symbol or symbols to be recognized by the system; (b) forming from the inputted strokes a first set (CHR) comprised of one or more symbols; and (c) averaging at least one characteristic of similarly formed symbols that are members of the first set to form a second set (AVG) comprised of prototype symbols to which, during the use of the system, assemblages of input strokes are compared. The method further includes the steps of (d) identifying a symbol or symbols of the second set that corresponds to only a single symbol of the first set; and (e) deleting the identified symbol or symbols from the second set. The method further includes the steps of (f) decomposing into constituent strokes the prototype symbols of the second set; and (g) forming a third set (STK) comprised of the constituent strokes of the second set to which, during the use of the system, input strokes are compared.

Robust prototype establishment in an on-line handwriting recognition

In a handwriting recognition system a method for differentiating a first character from a second character having similar characteristics. The method includes the steps of determining during a training session at least one pairwise discriminant measure associated with the first character and with the second character. The step of determining includes a step of evaluating with a potential discriminant measure a plurality of prototype first characters and a plurality of prototype second characters. Subsequently, during a handwriting recognition session, the method evaluates with at least one of the previously determined discriminant measures selected from a set of same an input character identified as being either the first prototype character or the second prototype character. The step of evaluating includes a step of analyzing a stroke or strokes associated with the input character in accordance with one or more of the pairwise discriminant measures selected from the set, summing the results of each discriminant measure analysis to obtain a result for each of the pair of characters associated with the pairwise discriminate measure, and selecting a character from the pair that has a maximum value result.

Handwriting recognition employing pairwise discriminant measures

A method of processing a word with the segmentation and recognition steps combined into an overall scheme. This is accomplished by a three step procedure. First, potential or trail segmentation points are derived. This is done in a manner so as to ensure that essentially all true segmentation points are present but also includes extra or not true segmentation points. Second, all combinations of the segments that could reasonably be a character are sent to a character recognizer to obtain ranked choices and corresponding scores. Finally, the recognition results are sorted and combined so that the character sequences having the best cummulative scores are obtained as the best word choices. For a particular word choice there is a corresponding character segmentation, simply the segment combinations that resulted in the chosen characters. With this recognition scheme the initial character segmentation is not final and need not be highly accurate, but is subject to a lesser constraint of containing the true segmentation points.

Recognition system for run-on handwritten characters

A system of information formatting and editing using handwritten input data on an all points addressable tablet. Input words are segmented then reformatted in a consistent manner of spacing and horizontal alignments to provide a legible output while still maintaining the handwritten format. Editing functions such as delete, add and move are provided in an interactive manner.

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Ossining, NY, United States of America

Charles C Tappert