Changing characters in an image

Abstract

An existing character, in a text defined in image form by data such as a two-dimensional array, is copied to add a new character to the text. The existing character is found by performing character recognition on a two-dimensional data array defining an image that includes part of the text, such as a page. The array can be obtained from a scanner. A word that is recognized as including characters of the type needed is tested to determine whether it can be divided into the correct number of characters. The word is divided by finding connected components in the part of the array in which the word was found during recognition. The connected components are grouped into sets, each set being likely to be a character. If the word can be correctly divided, character-size arrays for its characters are obtained and saved. One of the arrays for the character type of the new character is selected and used to produce an array for the word in which it is included. The new word's array is then used to produce an array for a line in which the new word replaces an old word. The characters of the new word are spaced according to the spacing of the characters of the old word. The new character is positioned transverse to the line based on the transverse positioning of the existing character. The interword spaces of the line are adjusted. The line's array is then used to produce data defining a modified version of the text in image form.