Text Line Aggregation

Abstract

We present a new approach to text line aggregation that can work as both a line formation stage for a myriad of text segmentation methods (over all orientations) and as an extra level of filtering to remove false text candidates. The proposed method is centred on the processing of candidate text components based on local and global measures. We use orientation histograms to build an understanding of paragraphs, and filter noise and construct lines based on the discovery of prominent orientations. Paragraphs are then reduced to seed components and lines are reconstructed around these components. We demonstrate results for text aggregation on the ICDAR 2003 Robust Reading Competition data, and also present results on our own more complex data set.