A segmentation algorithm used in conjunction with Artificial Neural Networks for the recognition of real-world postal addresses

Abstract

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been successfully applied for pattern recognition, speech recognition, control and other real world problems. This paper presents a method for segmentation of printed and difficult handwritten postal addresses. The segmentation algorithm is used to prepare raw training data for use with an Artificial Neural Network. The C programming language, the SP2 supercomputer and a SUN workstation were used for the experiments. The algorithm has been successfully tested on real world handwritten postal addresses. Some experimental results are presented in this paper.