Mathematical Expression Detection and Segmentation in Document Images
Mathematical Expression Detection and Segmentation in Document Images Jacob R. Bruce Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science In Computer Engineering A. Lynn Abbott, Committee Chair Jianhua J. Xuan, Co-Chair Michael S. Hsiao February 12, 2014 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: document layout analysis, optical character recognition, mathematical expression detection and segmentation, document image, type- specific layout analysis Mathematical Expression Detection and Segmentation in Document Images Jacob R. Bruce Abstract Various document layout analysis techniques are employed in order to enhance the accuracy of optical character recognition (OCR) in document images. Type-specific document layout analysis involves localizing and segmenting specific zones in an image so that they may be recognized by specialized OCR modules. Zones of interest include titles, headers/footers, paragraphs, images, mathematical expressions, chemical equations, musical notations, tables, circuit diagrams, among others. False positive/negative detections, oversegmentations, and undersegmentations made during the detection and segmentation stage will confuse a specialized OCR system and thus may result in garbled, incoherent output. In this work a mathematical expression detection and segmentation (MEDS) module is implemented and then thoroughly evaluated. The module is fully integrated with the open source OCR software, Tesseract, and is designed to function as a component of it. Evaluation is carried out on freely available public domain images so that future and existing techniques may be objectively compared. Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr. Abbott for his helpful insights. I'd also like to thank my lab-mates Sherin Aly, Sherin Ghannam, Ahmed Ibrahim, Mahmoud Sobhy, and Amira Youssef for keeping me company, teaching me a thing or two about their rich culture, and letting me try some great foods.
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