Segmentation of date field on bank cheques

This article describes a system being developed to segment handwritten date fields on bank cheque images. The handwritten information extracted from the date zone is segmented into day, month and year, and a hypothesis is also made on the writing style of the month (in word or digits). The system has been implemented and tested on cheque images. Subsequent modifications have also been designed and implemented to include contextual information in the determination of segmentation points. Results have shown that the system is effective; with continuing improvements, the system is expected to be a useful component for processing the date written on cheques. Copyright © 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.