Segmentation process for machine reading of handwritten information

Claim 1

In the machine-reading of original handwritten word or number script, a method for normalizing the characteristic slant angle in the script, comprising the steps of: generating a pixel map of said original script, with said script image aligned on said map in a direction substantially parallel to the horizontal axis of said pixel map; said map comprising vertical columns and horizontal rows of dark and white pixels, said dark pixels displaying the script of said word or number, and said display exhibiting said characteristic script slant angle relative to said vertical columns; moving said rows of pixels thereby to generate a first altered script image having a first slant angle; calculating the total number of dark pixels in said first altered image; calculating the number of dark pixels in each said vertical column of said first altered image; calculating the proportion of dark pixels in each column relative to said total dark pixels in said first altered image; using said proportionality value, computing the entropy value of said first altered image for said first slant angle; storing said computed entropy value and its associated first slant angle; successively repositioning said rows of pixels thereby to generate a succession of further altered script images, each of said last-named images having a different slant angle; computing and storing the entropy values and the respective associated slant angle values for each said further altered image; determining the angular difference between that slant angle associated with the minimum entropy value and the characteristic slant angle; and with the pixel rows in their original image position, shifting said pixel rows by the amount of said angular difference, thereby to create an image of said handwritten script that has its characteristic slant angle removed.