The iterative cross section sequence graph (ICSSG) is an algorithm for handwritten character segmentation. It expands the cross section sequence graph concept by applying it iteratively at equally spaced thresholds. The iterative thresholding reduces the effect of information loss associated with image binarization. ICSSG preserves the characters' skeletal structure by preventing the interference of pixels that causes flooding of adjacent characters' segments. Improving the structural quality of the characters' skeleton facilitates better feature extraction and classification, which improves the overall performance of optical character recognition (OCR). Experimental results showed significant improvements in OCR recognition rates compared to other well-established segmentation algorithms.

In this paper, we propose a novel decision fusion algorithm for target tracking in forward-looking infrared image sequences recorded from an airborne platform. An important part of this study is identifying the failure modes in this type of imagery. Our strategy is to prevent these failure modes from developing into tracking failures. The results furnished by competing ego-motion compensation and tracking algorithms are evaluated based on their similarity to a target model constructed using the weighted composite reference function.

Existing binarization methods are categorized as either global or local. In this paper, we present a new category, where the image is considered a collection of subimages. Each subimage provides a statistical model for the handwritten characters that can be used to optimize the binarization of other subimages based on gray-level and stroke-run features. The proposed method uses these multimodels to iteratively arrive at the optimal threshold for each subimage. It can be applied to different types of documents where prior knowledge about the noisiness of the subimages is not available. Experimental results showed significant improvement in the binarization quality in comparison with other well-established algorithms.

Existing skeletonization methods operate directly onthe binary image ignoring the gray-level information.In this paper we propose a new method for the skeletonization of handwritten characters that uses gray-level information and capitalizes on their elongatedpattern properties. The method controls the development of the skeleton while iteratively binarizing thegray-level image. Two types of iterations are performed: the iterative skeletonization and deletion ofboundary pixels, which is nested within the iterativebinarization of the gray-level image. Detailed analysis of the skeletonization process is presented to showits superior performance related to the prevention offlooding water and end point shrinkage and to noiseimmunity.

Existing binarization methods are categorized as either global or local. In this paper we present a new category, where the image is considered as a collection of sub-images. Each sub-image provides a statistical model for the handwritten characters that will be used to optimize the binarization of other sub-images. This method can be applied to different types of documents and doesn't require any prior knowledge about the noisiness of the sub-images.

Binarization of document images with poor contrast, strong noise complex patterns and variable modalities in the gray-scale histograms is a challenging problem. We present a binarization algorithm based on an image dependent model to address this problem for a cheque processing application. The proposed algorithm seeks an optimal threshold that would eliminate the background noise, while preserving as much character stroke data as possible. The strategy is based on the use of information extracted from one clean part of the image, referred to as the "model" sub-image, to optimize the binarization in another problematic part of the image, referred to as the "target" sub-image. Experiments with 4200 cheque images, provided by our industrial partner, showed significant improvement in the binarization quality in comparison with other well-established algorithms.