Overview of Some Algorithms of Off-Line Arabic Handwriting Segmentation

Toufik Sari and Mokhtar Sellami

LRI Laboratory, University of Badji Mokhtar-Annaba, Algeria

Abstract: We present in this paper an overview of realized works in the field of automatic segmentation of off-line Arabic handwriting. The Arabic writing is cursive in nature even printed or handwritten. The shapes of characters vary considerably according to their positions within the word. The word shapes change depending on whether letters are horizontally or vertically ligatured, i.e. superposed letters. This variability makes word decomposition in letters very delicate and not always assured, what explains the lack of robust commercialized systems. The objective of this paper is to realize a state of the art of the different techniques for off-line Arabic handwriting segmentation proposed in the literature.

Keywords: Handwriting Arabic segmentation, contour following, topological rules, ligatures.

Received December 28, 2005; accepted September 27, 2006