Connected pattern segmentation and title grouping in newspaper images

This paper presents an algorithm that performs automated segmentation and classification of newspaper images. The algorithm discusses a technique for segmenting components that are connected to other components and presents another technique to correctly group titles and subtitles. The algorithm uses a bottom-up approach to initially segment the image, classify patterns and extract text lines. The classified patterns are then merged into complete regions. The algorithm is tested on a set of complex newspaper images taken from the First International Newspaper Segmentation Contest, and the results are compared with the contest results.

1. Introduction

The process of converting physical newspaper pages into digital format is vital for their preservation and archival. Newspapers provide a great challenge for document image analysis because of the huge variety of layouts and qualities.