Multi-oriented Text Line Extraction from Handwritten Arabic Documents

In this paper, we present a novel approach for the multi-oriented text line extraction from handwritten Arabic documents. After image pre-processing, the local orientations are determined in small windows obtained by image paving. The orientation of the text within each window is estimated using the projection profile technique considering several projection angles. Then, the windows which close angles are gathered into largest zones. We use the Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD) to estimate the global orientation of each zone. The WVD is more precise than the classical projection profile technique. Afterwards, the text lines are extracted in each zone basing on the follow-up of the baselines and the proximity of connected components. The experimental results prove the efficiency of the proposed scheme. It has been evaluated on 50 documents reaching an accuracy of about 97.6%.