Text Extraction from Document Images Using Edge Information

Abstract

Detection of text from documents in which text is embedded in complex colored document images is a very challenging problem. There are a lot of potential uses of text extraction in image searching, archiving documents etc. In this paper, we propose a simple edge based feature to perform this task. It aims at detecting textual regions from the document and separating it from the graphics portion. The algorithm is based on the sharp edges of the characters which are missing in images. We find these edges and use them to classify text from images. This edge information can also be used for other image interpretation tasks.