Segmentation of Handprinted Letter Strings Using a Dynamic Programming Algorithm

Segmentation of handwritten input into individual characters is a crucial step in many connected handwriting recognition systems. This paper describes a segmentation algorithm for letters in Roman alphabets, curved pre-stroke cut (CPSC) segmentation. The CPSC algorithm evaluates large set of curved cuts through the image of the input string using dynamic programming and selects a small “optimal” subset of cuts for segmentation. It usually generates pixel accurate segmentations, indistinguishable from characters written in isolation. At four times oversegmentation, segmentation points are missed with an undetectable frequency on real-world databases. The CPSC algorithm has been used as part of a high-performance handwriting recognition system.