Precise character region extraction from scene images using auxiliary lines

The demand for character recognition in scene images has been growing. However, complex background, non-uniform illumination conditions and shadows are main obstacles for accurate detection and recognition of characters in scene images. For accurate detection, some methods that utilize a supplementary information given by a user with a touch operation using a device such as smart phones or tablets have been proposed. Based on this idea, in this paper, we propose a method for detecting character regions in scene image using auxiliary information given by a user. In the proposed method, the user will designate rough positions of characters in the image by an auxiliary lines and character regions are extracted based on the information. The effectiveness of the proposed method is experimentally evaluated with a public database. It achieves better result for character region extraction if the characters are with complex background and uneven brightness.