Patent Document ID: 5410611
Application ID: 08169949

Base Claim:
1. A method of extracting at least one string of characters forming a word object within rasterized data defining an image, comprising the steps of: (a) finding the connected components within the image wherein the image comprises at least one text row including a plurality of word objects; (b) identifying rectangular boundaries about each group of connected components within the image; (c) locating text rows using the rectangular boundaries identified in step (b); and (d) combining adjacent groups of connected components within the text rows located in step (c), based upon a relationship between the rectangular boundaries of the adjacent groups, so as to segment the image into strings of characters forming word objects.

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Claim 18:
18. The method of claim 1, further including the step of sorting the word objects based upon the coordinate locations of the boundaries thereof so as to place the word objects in reading order.