Character Recognition of randomly rotated characters

[cenevz]

Hi,

I am working on character recognition algorithm for the images enclosed to this post. The correct order of the two numbers (characters that are needed to be recognized) must be considered. For instance for the first picture the output should be ’23’, for the second ’20 ’ and so on.

My last attempt is attached as well. I am looking for concrete ideas of how to:

- Identify the characters, meaning which tool shell I use (eg. Geometric Pattern, OCR/OCV or something else)

- Do I need to rotate the image in order to aid the character recognition and the order of the characters (numbers)

Thanks in advance,

Zoran

[BruceAmmons]

OCR is not going to work for this application.  OCR expects the characters to be in a nice straight line, oriented upright.  With the large circles in the middle and the random orientation, OCR will just get stuck.

My recommendation would be to train a pattern using standard pattern matching for each character.  For the zero, I would include a piece of the circle to get the proper orientation, unless numbers can start with zero.  You can quickly do ten searches, one for each character, expecting up to two matches for each (except for zero.)  Using the orientation of the characters, you can figure out which one comes first.

Bruce