Graphical segmentation of Arabic word: Typographic point of view

In the Arabic calligraphy, the graphic segmentation of word is far from being an evident task. The problem consists in finding for every letter constituting the word, a point of cutting which separates its grapheme from other constituents of word´s shape. The obtained segment must be a complete drawing of the letter which represent. This segmentation accords to contextual graphic and to qualitative criteria connecting the attached allograph. It will have to satisfy typographic constraints varying according to the possibilities offered by the wanted technology. In paper, we present our segmentation procedure from which the purpose is to extract graphemes respecting the design of the Arabic letters such as it is in the calligraphic literature. The procedure bases itself on the principle that the Arabic connected letters have a common part included in the cursive area, which must not be lost during the cutting.