Author : Chirag Patel , Atul Patel and Dipti Shah

Image to text conversion is the vital area of research for many years. Mainly, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in use to extract characters from the image. Character segmentation is a preprocessing step for an OCR. In this paper, we have discussed different character segment methods used in various domains. Some of the methods are used for handwritten character recognition and some of the methods are for vehicle Number Plate (NP) detection. The major focus of this research is to identify the approaches that can be useful in the vehicle NP detection. After analyzing the existing character segmentation methods, the favored methods for NP detection are discussed in the conclusion section. The paper is concluded by suggesting the future scope of research in this research area.

Keywords: OCR, Character Segmentation, Dynamic Programming, Handwritten character recognition

Article published in International Journal of Current  Engineering  and Technology, Vol.3,No.5(Dec- 2013)