Sukalpa Chanda

Two-stage Approach for Word-wise Script Identification

A two-stage approach for word-wise identification of English (Roman), Devnagari and Bengali (Bangla) scripts is proposed. This approach balances the tradeoff between recognition accuracy and processing speed. The 1st stage allows identifying scripts with high speed, yet less accuracy when dealing with noisy data. The advanced 2nd stage processes only those samples that yield low recognition confidence in the first stage. For both stages a rough character segmentation is performed and features are computed on segmented character components. Features used in the 1st stage are a 64-dimensional chain-code-histogram feature, while 400-dimensional gradient features are used in the 2nd stage. Final classification of a word to a particular script is done via majority voting of each recognized character component of the word. Extensive experiments with various confidence scores were conducted and reported here. The overall recognition accuracy and speed is remarkable. Correct classification of 98.51% on 11,123 test words is achieved, even when the recognition-confidence is as high as 95% at both stages.

Text Independent Writer Identification for Oriya Script

Automatic identification of an individual based on his/her handwriting characteristics is an important forensic tool. In a computational forensic scenario, presence of huge amount of text/information in a questioned document cannot be ensured. Lack of data threatens system reliability in such cases. We here propose a writer identification system for Oriya script which is capable of performing reasonably well even with small amount of text. Experiments with curvature feature are reported here, using Support Vector Machine (SVM) as classifier. We got promising results of 94.00% writer identification accuracy at first top choice and 99% when considering first three top choices.

SVM Based Scheme for Thai and English Script Identification

In some Thai documents, a single text line of a document page may contain both Thai and English scripts. For the optical character recognition (OCR) of such a document page it is better to identify, at first, Thai and English script portions and then to use individual OCR system of the respective scripts on these identified portions. In this paper, a SVM based method is proposed for identification of word-wise printed English and Thai scripts from a single line of a document page. Here, at first, the document is segmented into lines and then lines are segmented into character groups (words). In the proposed scheme, we identify the script of the individual character group combining different character features obtained from structural shape, profile, component overlapping information, topological properties, water reservoir concept etc. Based on the experiment on 6110 data we obtained 99.36% script identification accuracy from the proposed scheme.

Text Independent Writer Identification for Bengali Script

Automatic identification of an individual based on his/her handwriting characteristics is an important forensic tool. In a computational forensic scenario, presence of huge amount of text/information in a questioned document cannot be always ensured. Also, compromising in terms of systems reliability under such situation is not desirable. We here propose a system to encounter such adverse situation in the context of Bengali script. Experiments with discrete directional feature and gradient feature are reported here, along with Support Vector Machine (SVM) as classifier. We got promising results of 95.19% writer identification accuracy at first top choice and 99.03% when considering first three top choices.

Word-Wise Script Identification from Video Frames

Script identification is an essential step for the efficient use of the appropriate OCR in multilingual document images. There are various techniques available for script identification from printed and handwritten document images, but script identification from video frames has not been explored much. This paper presents a study of some pre-processing techniques and features for word-wise script identification from video frames. Traditional features, namely Zernike moments, Gabor and gradient, have performed well for handwritten and printed documents having simple backgrounds and adequate resolution for OCR. Video frames are mostly coloured and suffer from low resolution, blur, background noise, to mention a few. In this paper, an attempt has been made to explore whether the traditional script identification techniques can be useful in video frames. Three feature extraction techniques, namely Zernike moments, Gabor and gradient features, and SVM classifiers were considered for analyzing three popular scripts, namely English, Bengali and Hindi. Some pre-processing techniques such as super resolution and skeletonization of the original word images were used in order to overcome the inherent problems with video. Experiments show that the super resolution technique with gradient features has performed well, and an accuracy of 87.5% was achieved when testing on 896 words from three different scripts. The study also reveals that the use of proper pre-processing approaches can be helpful in applying traditional script identification techniques to video frames.

Structural handwritten and machine print classification for sparse content and arbitrary oriented document fragments

Discriminating handwritten and printed text is a challenging task in an arbitrary orientation scenario. The task gets even tougher when the text content is by nature sparse in the document, e.g. in torn document pieces. We here propose a system for discriminating handwritten and printed text in the context of sparse data and arbitrary orientation. A chain-code feature is used with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier for the purpose. Prior to feature extraction and classification some preprocessing steps (like region growing and angle estimation using Principle Component Analysis) are performed in order to resolve the arbitrary orientation issue. We got promising results of 96.90% accuracy, even when the document consists of sparse data with arbitrary orientation.

Word-wise Sinhala Tamil and English script identification using Gaussian kernel SVM

There are many documents in Srilanka where a single document page may contain Sinhala, Tamil and English texts. For OCR development of such a document page, it is better to identify different scripts present in the page and then feed the identified portion to the respective OCR module. In this paper, a SVM based technique is proposed for word-wise identification of Sinhala, Tamil and English scripts from a single document page. Structural features, topological features and water reservoir principle based features are mainly used here for the purpose. From the experiment we obtained encouraging results.

Off-line signature verification using G-SURF

In the field of biometric authentication, automatic signature identification and verification has been a strong research area because of the social and legal acceptance and extensive use of the written signature as an easy method for authentication. Signature verification is a process in which the questioned signature is examined in detail in order to determine whether it belongs to the claimed person or not. Signatures provide a secure means for confirmation and authorization in legal documents. So nowadays, signature identification and verification becomes an essential component in automating the rapid processing of documents containing embedded signatures. Sometimes, part-based signature verification can be useful when a questioned signature has lost its original shape due to inferior scanning quality. In order to address the above-mentioned adverse scenario, we propose a new feature encoding technique. This feature encoding is based on the amalgamation of Gabor filter-based features with SURF features (G-SURF). Features generated from a signature are applied to a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. For experimentation, 1500 (50×30) forgeries and 1200 (50×24) genuine signatures from the GPDS signature database were used. A verification accuracy of 97.05% was obtained from the experiments.

Script Identification A Han and Roman Script Perspective

All Han-based scripts (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) possess similar visual characteristics. Hence system development for identification of Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts from a single document page is quite challenging. It is noted that a Han-based document page might also have Roman script in them. A multi-script OCR system dealing with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Roman scripts, demands identification of scripts before execution of respective OCR modules. We propose a system to address this problem using directional features along with a Gaussian Kernel-based Support Vector Machine. We got promising results of 98.39% script identification accuracy at character level and 99.85% at block level, when no rejection was considered.

Word-Wise Thai and Roman Script Identification

In some Thai documents, a single text line of a printed document page may contain words of both Thai and Roman scripts. For the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of such a document page it is better to identify, at first, Thai and Roman script portions and then to use individual OCR systems of the respective scripts on these identified portions. In this article, an SVM-based method is proposed for identification of word-wise printed Roman and Thai scripts from a single line of a document page. Here, at first, the document is segmented into lines and then lines are segmented into character groups (words). In the proposed scheme, we identify the script of a character group combining different character features obtained from structural shape, profile behavior, component overlapping information, topological properties, and water reservoir concept, etc. Based on the experiment on 10,000 data (words) we obtained 99.62% script identification accuracy from the proposed scheme.