STROKE EXTRACTION FROM HANDWRITTEN KANJI CHARACTERS BY CONNECTING SEGMENTS

In this paper we propose a method of stroke extraction from handwritten Kanji characters directly without thinning. The method extracts strokes by decomposing a character into region segments, classifying them into simple regions and complex regions, extending simple regions in their directions, and finally merging them into one stroke if certain conditions are satisfied. It extracts first vertical strokes and horizontal strokes independently by 2-way raster scannings, and combines them in an early stage by referring to the mutual scanning results and the original pattern. Experiments using 200 handwritten Kanji characters of ‘ki’ and ‘kuchi’ from the ETL9B database show more than 94% of successful stroke extraction.