SOM Segmentation of gray scale images for optical recognition

This paper describes a clustering technique using Self Organizing Maps and a two-dimensional histogram of the image. The two-dimensional histogram is found using the pixel value and the mean in the neighborhood. This histogram is fed to a self organizing map that divides the histogram into regions. Carefully selecting the number of regions, a scheme that allows an optimum optical recognition of texts can be found. The algorithm is specially suited for optical recognition application where a very high degree of confidence is needed. As an example application, the algorithm has been tested in a voting application, where a high degree of precision is required. Furthermore, the algorithm can be extended to any other thresholding or clustering applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.