System and methods for arabic text recognition and arabic corpus building

1. A method for automatically recognizing Arabic text, comprising:

building an Arabic corpus comprising Arabic text files and ground truths corresponding to each of the Arabic text files, wherein the Arabic text files include Arabic texts written in different writing styles;

storing writing-style indices in association with the Arabic text files by a computer, wherein each of the writing-style indices indicates that one of the Arabic text files is written in one of the writing styles;

acquiring a text image containing a line of Arabic characters;

digitizing the line of the Arabic characters to form a two-dimensional array of pixels each associated with a pixel value, wherein the pixel value is expressed in a binary number;

dividing the line of the Arabic characters into a plurality of line images;

defining a plurality of cells in one of the plurality of line images, wherein each of the plurality of cells comprises a group of adjacent pixels;

serializing pixel values of pixels in each of the plurality of cells in one of the plurality of line images to form a binary cell number;

forming a text feature vector according to binary cell numbers obtained from the plurality of cells in one of the plurality of line images;

training a Hidden Markov Model using the Arabic text files and ground truths in the Arabic corpus in accordance with the writing-style indices in association with the Arabic text files; and

feeding the text feature vector into the Hidden Markov Model to recognize the line of Arabic characters.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

converting the binary cell number into a decimal cell number;

serializing the decimal cell numbers obtained from the plurality of cells in the one of the plurality of line images to form the string of decimal cell numbers; and

forming the text feature vector in accordance to a string of decimal cell numbers obtained from the plurality of cells in the one of the plurality of line images.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the writing styles specify with or without punctuation in the Arabic text.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the writing styles specify with or without vowelization in the Arabic text.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the writing styles specify the existence or nonexistence of a non-Arabic text in the Arabic text files.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of building an Arabic corpus comprises:

receiving an input form a user relating to a writing style associated with one of the Arabic text files.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of building an Arabic corpus comprises:

automatically determining a writing style associated with one of the Arabic text files by the computer, wherein a writing-style index associated corresponding to the writing style is automatically stored in association with the one of the Arabic text files.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional array of pixels comprises a plurality of rows in a first direction and a plurality of columns in a second direction, wherein the line of Arabic characters is aligned substantially along the first direction, wherein the plurality of line images are sequentially aligned along the first direction.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the two-dimensional array of pixels comprises N number of rows of pixels, wherein at least one of the plurality of line images has a height defined by M number of rows in the first direction and a width defined by N number of columns in the second direction, wherein M and N are integers.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein N is in a range between 2 and about 100.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pixel values in the two-dimensional array of pixels are expressed in single-bit binary numbers.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pixel values in the two-dimensional array of pixels are expressed in multi-bit binary numbers.

13. A method for automatically recognizing Arabic text, comprising:

building an Arabic corpus comprising Arabic text files and ground truths corresponding to each of the Arabic text files, wherein the Arabic text files include Arabic texts written in different writing styles;

storing writing-style indices in association with the Arabic text files by a computer, wherein each of the writing-style indices indicates that one of the Arabic text files is written in one of the writing styles;

acquiring a text image containing a line of Arabic characters;

digitizing the line of the Arabic characters to form a two-dimensional array of pixels each associated with a pixel value;

dividing the line of the Arabic characters into a plurality of line images;

downsizing at least one of the plurality of line images to produce a downsized line image;

serializing pixel values of pixels in each column of the downsized line image to form a string of serialized numbers, wherein the string of serialized numbers forms a text feature vector;

training a Hidden Markov Model using the Arabic text files and ground truths in the Arabic corpus in accordance with the writing-style indices in association with the Arabic text files; and

feeding the text feature vector into the Hidden Markov Model to recognize the line of Arabic characters.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the two-dimensional array of pixels comprises a plurality of rows in a first direction and a plurality of columns in a second direction, wherein the line of Arabic characters is aligned substantially along the first direction, wherein the plurality of line images are sequentially aligned along the first direction.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the two-dimensional array of pixels comprises N number of rows of pixels, wherein at least one of the plurality of line images has a height defined by M number of rows in the first direction and a width defined by N number of columns in the second direction, wherein M and N are integers.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the writing styles specify with or without punctuation in the Arabic text, with or without vowelization in the Arabic text, and the existence or nonexistence of a non-Arabic text in the Arabic text files.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of building an Arabic corpus comprises:

receiving an input form a user relating to a writing style associated with one of the Arabic text files.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of building an Arabic corpus comprises:

automatically determining a writing style associated with one of the Arabic text files by the computer, wherein a writing-style index associated corresponding to the writing style is automatically stored in association with the one of the Arabic text files.