Patent ID: 6940617

Claim:
A system for printing documents, comprising: means for generating digital documents having handwritten text and machine printed text and for generating a request to print at least one of said digital documents; an intelligent printing control interface coupled to receive and selectively process said request to remove said handwritten text, said intelligent printing control interface comprising a virtual printer driver for receiving said request, a printing control panel for determining whether to process said request, and a handwriting separation module for selectively processing said request, under control of said printing control panel, to remove said handwritten text; and means coupled to said intelligent printing control interface for printing said selectively processed request; wherein said handwriting separation module processes said request by segmenting the digital image into a plurality of text blocks, computing an observation sequence for each of said text blocks, computing a first probability for each of said text blocks that said observation sequence would appear in a predetermined Hidden Markov Model for machine printed text, computing a second probability for each of said text blocks that said observation sequence would appear in a predetermined Hidden Markov Model for handwritten text, comparing said first probability and said second probability for each of said text blocks, marking said text block as machine printed text if said first probability is greater than said second probability, marking said text block as handwritten text if said second probability is greater than said first probability, and removing said marked handwritten text.