Method and apparatus for style and specimen identification

Claim 2

A machine method of identifying different specimens from a sequence of specimens in a number of different styles comprising the steps of; a. obtaining a representation of each of a plurality of unknown specimens in the sequence of specimens to be identified; b. comparing each unknown specimen representation with a plurality of representations of known specimens in each of a number of different styles; c. determining from comparisons for each unknown specimen an identification of the style of the unknown specimen without at that time identifying the specimen; d. deriving from a series of the style determinations frequency functions for each of said styles corresponding to the number of times that each of said styles occur within a selected interval of said sequence around each of the unknown specimens; and then e. identifying each unknown specimen from a comparison of a representation of that specimen with representations of known specimens to produce comparison indications for each style of the known specimens, with said comparison indications for each style being varied in accordance with the magnitude of the corresponding frequency function derived for that style.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein said specimens are different characters and said styles are different fonts.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein each unknown specimen is identified using frequency functions derived from the style determinations of that specimen and style determinations over said selected interval of said sequence around that specimen including a number of specimens preceding that specimen and a number of characters succeeding that specimen in the sequence of specimens to be identified.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3 wherein said frequency functions used in each unknown specimen identification are derived from the style determinations of a number of specimens preceding and succeeding the particular unknown specimen in the sequence with more weight being given to the style determination for specimens near the particular unknown specimen in the sequence than for specimens further removed from the particular unknown specimen in the sequence.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 wherein each said unknown specimen is identified by a comparison of the representation of that specimen with the representations of the known specimens in a particular one only of one of the styles using the frequency function corresponding to the particular one only of the styles.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 wherein in step b the representation of each unknown specimen in individually compared with representations of each known specimen in each style, and the results of all the comparisons are comBined for each style to make the style determination of step c.

Claim 8

The method of claim 6 wherein the results of each individual comparison in step b of the unknown specimen with each specimen in each style is stored in a buffer, and it is these results which are the comparison indications varied in step e in accordance with the magnitude of the frequency functions corresponding thereto.

Claim 9

The method of claim 7 wherein during said specimen identification step the comparison indications of the individual comparisons between the unknown specimen and the same specimen in each of the different styles are combined after being varied in accordance with the magnitude of the respective frequency functions to identify the particular unknown specimen.

Claim 10

A machine method of identifying characters in a sequence of characters which may be recorded in a number of different fonts; a. scanning each unknown character in the sequence to obtain representations of each unknown character to be identified; b. individually comparing the representations of each unknown character with stored representations of all the known characters in each of a plurality of different fonts to obtain a respective plurality of character comparison functions, one for each stored known character in each font, said functions being indicative of the extent to which the respective representations of the known characters compare with the representations of the unknown characters; c. for each unknown character combining the respective character comparison functions for each font to obtain a plurality of font indications, one for each font, said indications being indicative of the combined relative extent to which representations of each unknown character compare with the respective representations of each known character in each font; d. for each unknown character determining from the font indications the font for the unknown character; e. deriving from a series of font determinations made for a series of unknown characters in sequence font frequency functions for each font, said font frequency functions being indicative of the number of times each of the respective fonts occur over a given number of characters in said sequence; f. using the font frequency functions for each font to vary in accordance therewith the corresponding character comparison functions obtained for the unknown characters by comparison with known characters in that font so as to vary the extent of the likelihood that each of the unknown characters belong to the respective fonts; g. and identifying unknown characters by determining which of the character comparison functions, as varied, indicates that the known character corresponding thereto is most representative of the corresponding unknown character.

Claim 11

A machine method of identifying characters in a sequence of characters which may be recorded in a number of different fonts; a. scanning each unknown character in the sequence to obtain representations of each unknown character to be identified; b. individually comparing the representations of each unknown character with stored representations of all the known characters in each of a plurality of different fonts to obtain a respective plurality of character comparison functions, one for each stored known character in each font, said functions being indicative of the extent to which the respective representations of the known characters compare with the representations of the unknown characters; c. for each unknown character combining the respective character comparison functions for each font to obtain a plurality of font indications, one for each font, said indications being indicative of the combined relative extent to which representations of each unknown character compare with the respective representations of each known character in each font; d. for each unknown character determining from the font indications the font for the unknown character; e. deriving from a series of font determinations made for a series of unknown characters in sequence font frequency functions for each font, said font frequency functions being indicative of the number of times each of the respective fonts occur over a given number of characters in said sequence; f. using the font frequency functions for each font to vary in accordance therewith the corresponding character comparison functions obtained for the unknown characters by comparison with known characters in that font so as to vary the extent of the likelihood that each of the unknown characters belong to the respective fonts; g. and identifying unknown characters by determining which of the character comparison functions, as varied, indicates that the known character corresponding thereto is most representative of the corresponding unknown character.

Claim 12

A machine method of identifying characters; a. scanning a plurality of characters in a sequence of characters to be identified to obtain representations of each of said characters; b. comparing each said representation of an unknown character with stored representations of a plurality of known characters in a number of different fonts to determine the font for the unknown character without at that time identifying the character; c. deriving from a plurality of the font determinations font frequency functions for each of said different fonts indicative of the relative number of times each font occurs within said plurality of characters; d. and identifying each character from indications for each font obtained by comparing a represention of the unknown character with stored representations of known characters with said indications for each font being respectively varied in accordance with the number of times the corresponding font occurs according to the respective said font frequency functions for each of said different fonts, said font frequency functions being derived from the font determinations for the unknown character and and a number of other characters immediAtely preceding and succeeding the unknown character forming said plurality of characters in said sequence of characters to be identified.

Claim 13

A machine method of identifying characters; a. scanning a plurality of characters in a sequence of characters to be identified to obtain representations of each of said characters; b. comparing each said representation of an unknown character with stored representations of a plurality of known characters in a number of different fonts to determine the font for the unknown character without at that time identifying the character; c. deriving from a plurality of the font determinations font frequency functions for each of said different fonts indicative of the relative number of times each font occurs within said plurality of characters; d. and identifying each character from indications for each font obtained by comparing a represention of the unknown character with stored representations of known characters with said indications for each font being respectively varied in accordance with the number of times the corresponding font occurs according to the respective said font frequency functions for each of said different fonts, said font frequency functions being derived from the font determinations for the unknown character and and a number of other characters immediAtely preceding and succeeding the unknown character forming said plurality of characters in said sequence of characters to be identified.

Claim 14

A multifont character recognition system comprising; a. means for scanning a plurality of unknown characters to be identified to obtain a multiorder binary word for each character; b. means storing representations of all the known characters in each of a number of different fonts; c. means for comparing said stored representations with said binary word to obtain a plurality of character comparison functions, one for each character in each font, said functions being indicative of the extent to which the respective representations of the known characters compare with said unknown characters, as represented by said binary word; d. buffer storage means for separately storing said character comparison functions by font; e. means for summing the character comparison functions for each unknown character in each font; f. means for comparing said summed character comparison functions for each font to determine from the relative values thereof the font for the character; g. register means for storing by font the result of the font determinations; h. and means coupled to said buffer storage means and to said register means to cause the respective character comparison functions stored by font in said storage means to be varied in accordance with the number of the respective font determinations stored by font in said register means.

Claim 15

A multifont character recognition system comprising; a. means for scanning a plurality of unknown characters to be identified to obtain a multiorder binary word for each character; b. means storing representations of all the known characters in each of a number of different fonts; c. means for comparing said stored representations with said binary word to obtain a plurality of character comparison functions, one for each character in each font, said functions being indicative of the extent to which the respective representations of the known characters compare with said unknown characters, as represented by said binary word; d. buffer storage means for separately storing said character comparison functions by font; e. means for summing the character comparison functions for each unknown character in each font; f. means for comparing said summed character comparison functions for each font to determine from the relative values thereof the font for the character; g. register means for storing by font the result of the font determinations; h. and means coupled to said buffer storage means and to said register means to cause the respective character comparison functions stored by font in said storage means to be varied in accordance with the number of the respective font determinations stored by font in said register means.