This paper presents an efficient algorithm for lexicon-driven handwritten word recognition. In this algorithm, a word image is represented by a segmentation graph, and the lexicon is represented by a trie. As opposed to the standard lexicon-driven matching approach, where dynamic programming is invoked independently for matching each entry in the lexicon against the segmentation graph, the proposed algorithm matches the trie with the segmentation graph. Computation is saved by the efficient representation of the lexicon using the trie data structure. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with the standard dynamic programming algorithm. The proposed approach saves about 48.4% (excluding the trie initialization cost) and 15% of computation time from the standard algorithm when a dynamic lexicon is used. Better performance can be expected in static lexicon cases where the trie needs to be constructed only once.

To achieve fast turn around, appropriate performance and efficient silicon area in ASIC design, it is desirable to have the capability of generating new customized cells overnight. A design rule independent cell compiler which is capable of generating nearly optimal layout and all the desirable user interfaces such as automatic place and route database, data sheet, SPICE information and the layout verification mode I for any user specified cell I is reported in this paper. The algorithms used for cell synthesis are also discussed in this paper.