A modified contour following algorithm applied to document segmentation

A generalized contour following technique is presented that can constitute the main tool of document analysis software. The progression among the contour is proceed by zone testing instead of using the classical pixel to pixel displacement. This produces the detection of a modified contour which is in fact the envelope of an area containing elements sufficiently close. This characteristic is then applied to the segmentation of document in order to isolate blocks of text or other document components. A discussion about parameters selection is developed