Patent ID: 6125208
Filing Date: 2000-09-26
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
An apparatus for recognizing written characters, comprising:at least two writing recognition units, each of said writing recognition units generating recognition results corresponding to each recognized character, wherein each of the recognition results from each unit comprises at least one recognized symbol and a corresponding reliability value;means for designating a recognition output parameter to each recognized character based on the corresponding recognition results, wherein the recognition output parameter for a given recognized character is designated as either a first value, if the corresponding recognition results of the at least two writing recognition units are in agreement, or a second value, if the corresponding recognition results of the at least two recognition units are not in agreement;means for allocating at least one confidence level from a set of confidence levels to each recognized character based on the corresponding reliability values, wherein each of the confidence levels is defined by a predetermined range of reliability values;means for allocating at least one match value for each confidence level allocated to each recognized character, wherein the match value represents the degree to which the confidence level matches the corresponding reliability value of a given recognized character;means for generating a sample vector that represents a reliability value and confidence level variable for each of the corresponding recognition results for a given recognized character, wherein the sample vector comprises a plurality of elements each corresponding to one reliability value at one of the defined confidence levels, and wherein the at least one match value is stored in the element of the sample vector that corresponds to that confidence level; andevaluating means for evaluating the confidence levels and recognition output parameter associated with each recognized character using a plurality of rules to generate an overall recognition result for each recognized character based on output results of the rules.