A segmentation algorithm for handwritten Chinese character strings

A new algorithm for segmenting handwritten Chinese character strings is presented. This approach is based on a split-and-merge strategy by locating possible ligatures between Chinese characters and merging the over-split components. The strategy is proposed by considering the structural properties of Chinese character strings. To guarantee the accuracy of the above segmentation algorithm, a recognizer is involved in order to aid the segmentation process. A maximum a posteriori probability index is derived for joint optimization of the segmentation and recognition results, and a dynamic programming algorithm-a modified level-building algorithm-is used to optimize this index. The whole algorithm is applied to a Chinese bank check amount recognition task, and some promising experimental results are obtained