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Miquel Ferrer, Ernest Valveny, F. Serratosa, K. Riesen and Horst Bunke. 2010. Generalized Median Graph Computation by Means of Graph Embedding in Vector Spaces. PR, 43(4), 1642–1655.
Abstract: The median graph has been presented as a useful tool to represent a set of graphs. Nevertheless its computation is very complex and the existing algorithms are restricted to use limited amount of data. In this paper we propose a new approach for the computation of the median graph based on graph embedding. Graphs are embedded into a vector space and the median is computed in the vector domain. We have designed a procedure based on the weighted mean of a pair of graphs to go from the vector domain back to the graph domain in order to obtain a final approximation of the median graph. Experiments on three different databases containing large graphs show that we succeed to compute good approximations of the median graph. We have also applied the median graph to perform some basic classification tasks achieving reasonable good results. These experiments on real data open the door to the application of the median graph to a number of more complex machine learning algorithms where a representative of a set of graphs is needed.
Keywords: Graph matching; Weighted mean of graphs; Median graph; Graph embedding; Vector spaces
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Muhammad Muzzamil Luqman, Thierry Brouard, Jean-Yves Ramel and Josep Llados. 2010. Vers une approche foue of encapsulation de graphes: application a la reconnaissance de symboles. Colloque International Francophone sur l'Écrit et le Document.169–184.
Abstract: We present a new methodology for symbol recognition, by employing a structural approach for representing visual associations in symbols and a statistical classifier for recognition. A graphic symbol is vectorized, its topological and geometrical details are encoded by an attributed relational graph and a signature is computed for it. Data adapted fuzzy intervals have been introduced for addressing the sensitivity of structural representations to noise. The joint probability distribution of signatures is encoded by a Bayesian network, which serves as a mechanism for pruning irrelevant features and choosing a subset of interesting features from structural signatures of underlying symbol set, and is deployed in a supervised learning scenario for recognizing query symbols. Experimental results on pre-segmented 2D linear architectural and electronic symbols from GREC databases are presented.
Keywords: Fuzzy interval; Graph embedding; Bayesian network; Symbol recognition
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Marçal Rusiñol and Josep Llados. 2010. Symbol Spotting in Digital Libraries:Focused Retrieval over Graphic-rich Document Collections. Springer.
Abstract: The specific problem of symbol recognition in graphical documents requires additional techniques to those developed for character recognition. The most well-known obstacle is the so-called Sayre paradox: Correct recognition requires good segmentation, yet improvement in segmentation is achieved using information provided by the recognition process. This dilemma can be avoided by techniques that identify sets of regions containing useful information. Such symbol-spotting methods allow the detection of symbols in maps or technical drawings without having to fully segment or fully recognize the entire content.
This unique text/reference provides a complete, integrated and large-scale solution to the challenge of designing a robust symbol-spotting method for collections of graphic-rich documents. The book examines a number of features and descriptors, from basic photometric descriptors commonly used in computer vision techniques to those specific to graphical shapes, presenting a methodology which can be used in a wide variety of applications. Additionally, readers are supplied with an insight into the problem of performance evaluation of spotting methods. Some very basic knowledge of pattern recognition, document image analysis and graphics recognition is assumed.
Keywords: Focused Retrieval , Graphical Pattern Indexation,Graphics Recognition ,Pattern Recognition , Performance Evaluation , Symbol Description ,Symbol Spotting
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Partha Pratim Roy, Umapada Pal and Josep Llados. 2010. Seal Object Detection in Document Images using GHT of Local Component Shapes. 10th ACM Symposium On Applied Computing.23–27.
Abstract: Due to noise, overlapped text/signature and multi-oriented nature, seal (stamp) object detection involves a difficult challenge. This paper deals with automatic detection of seal from documents with cluttered background. Here, a seal object is characterized by scale and rotation invariant spatial feature descriptors (distance and angular position) computed from recognition result of individual connected components (characters). Recognition of multi-scale and multi-oriented component is done using Support Vector Machine classifier. Generalized Hough Transform (GHT) is used to detect the seal and a voting is casted for finding possible location of the seal object in a document based on these spatial feature descriptor of components pairs. The peak of votes in GHT accumulator validates the hypothesis to locate the seal object in a document. Experimental results show that, the method is efficient to locate seal instance of arbitrary shape and orientation in documents.
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Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Florent Perronnin, Gemma Sanchez and Josep Llados. 2010. Unsupervised writer adaptation of whole-word HMMs with application to word-spotting. PRL, 31(8), 742–749.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a novel approach for writer adaptation in a handwritten word-spotting task. The method exploits the fact that the semi-continuous hidden Markov model separates the word model parameters into (i) a codebook of shapes and (ii) a set of word-specific parameters.
Our main contribution is to employ this property to derive writer-specific word models by statistically adapting an initial universal codebook to each document. This process is unsupervised and does not even require the appearance of the keyword(s) in the searched document. Experimental results show an increase in performance when this adaptation technique is applied. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work dealing with adaptation for word-spotting. The preliminary version of this paper obtained an IBM Best Student Paper Award at the 19th International Conference on Pattern Recognition.
Keywords: Word-spotting; Handwriting recognition; Writer adaptation; Hidden Markov model; Document analysis
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Mathieu Nicolas Delalandre, Ernest Valveny, Tony Pridmore and Dimosthenis Karatzas. 2010. Generation of Synthetic Documents for Performance Evaluation of Symbol Recognition & Spotting Systems. IJDAR, 13(3), 187–207.
Abstract: This paper deals with the topic of performance evaluation of symbol recognition & spotting systems. We propose here a new approach to the generation of synthetic graphics documents containing non-isolated symbols in a real context. This approach is based on the definition of a set of constraints that permit us to place the symbols on a pre-defined background according to the properties of a particular domain (architecture, electronics, engineering, etc.). In this way, we can obtain a large amount of images resembling real documents by simply defining the set of constraints and providing a few pre-defined backgrounds. As documents are synthetically generated, the groundtruth (the location and the label of every symbol) becomes automatically available. We have applied this approach to the generation of a large database of architectural drawings and electronic diagrams, which shows the flexibility of the system. Performance evaluation experiments of a symbol localization system show that our approach permits to generate documents with different features that are reflected in variation of localization results.
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Alicia Fornes, Josep Llados, Gemma Sanchez and Dimosthenis Karatzas. 2010. Rotation Invariant Hand-Drawn Symbol Recognition based on a Dynamic Time Warping Model. IJDAR, 13(3), 229–241.
Abstract: One of the major difficulties of handwriting symbol recognition is the high variability among symbols because of the different writer styles. In this paper, we introduce a robust approach for describing and recognizing hand-drawn symbols tolerant to these writer style differences. This method, which is invariant to scale and rotation, is based on the dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm. The symbols are described by vector sequences, a variation of the DTW distance is used for computing the matching distance, and K-Nearest Neighbor is used to classify them. Our approach has been evaluated in two benchmarking scenarios consisting of hand-drawn symbols. Compared with state-of-the-art methods for symbol recognition, our method shows higher tolerance to the irregular deformations induced by hand-drawn strokes.
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Agnes Borras. 2009. Contributions to the Content-Based Image Retrieval Using Pictorial Queries. (Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey.)
Abstract: The broad access to digital cameras, personal computers and Internet, has lead to the generation of large volumes of data in digital form. If we want an effective usage of this huge amount of data, we need automatic tools to allow the retrieval of relevant information. Image data is a particular type of information that requires specific techniques of description and indexing. The computer vision field that studies these kind of techniques is called Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Instead of using text-based descriptions, a system of CBIR deals on properties that are inherent in the images themselves. Hence, the feature-based description provides a universal via of image expression in contrast with the more than 6000 languages spoken in the world.
Nowadays, the CBIR is a dynamic focus of research that has derived in important applications for many professional groups. The potential fields of application can be such diverse as: the medical domain, the crime prevention, the protection of the intel- lectual property, the journalism, the graphic design, the web search, the preservation of cultural heritage, etc.
The definition on the role of the user is a key point in the development of a CBIR application. The user is in charge to formulate the queries from which the images are retrieved. We have centered our attention on the image retrieval techniques that use queries based on pictorial information. We have identified a taxonomy composed by four main query paradigms: query-by-selection, query-by-iconic-composition, query- by-sketch and query-by-paint. Each one of these paradigms allows a different degree of user expressivity. From a simple image selection, to a complete painting of the query, the user takes control of the input in the CBIR system.
Along the chapters of this thesis we have analyzed the influence that each query paradigm imposes in the internal operations of a CBIR system. Moreover, we have proposed a set of contributions that we have exemplified in the context of a final application.
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Marçal Rusiñol. 2009. Geometric and Structural-based Symbol Spotting. Application to Focused Retrieval in Graphic Document Collections. (Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey.)
Abstract: Usually, pattern recognition systems consist of two main parts. On the one hand, the data acquisition and, on the other hand, the classification of this data on a certain category. In order to recognize which category a certain query element belongs to, a set of pattern models must be provided beforehand. An off-line learning stage is needed to train the classifier and to offer a robust classification of the patterns. Within the pattern recognition field, we are interested in the recognition of graphics and, in particular, on the analysis of documents rich in graphical information. In this context, one of the main concerns is to see if the proposed systems remain scalable with respect to the data volume so as it can handle growing amounts of symbol models. In order to avoid to work with a database of reference symbols, symbol spotting and on-the-fly symbol recognition methods have been introduced in the past years.
Generally speaking, the symbol spotting problem can be defined as the identification of a set of regions of interest from a document image which are likely to contain an instance of a certain queriedn symbol without explicitly applying the whole pattern recognition scheme. Our application framework consists on indexing a collection of graphic-rich document images. This collection is
queried by example with a single instance of the symbol to look for and, by means of symbol spotting methods we retrieve the regions of interest where the symbol is likely to appear within the documents. This kind of applications are known as focused retrieval methods.
In order that the focused retrieval application can handle large collections of documents there is a need to provide an efficient access to the large volume of information that might be stored. We use indexing strategies in order to efficiently retrieve by similarity the locations where a certain part of the symbol appears. In that scenario, graphical patterns should be used as indices for accessing and navigating the collection of documents.
These indexing mechanism allow the user to search for similar elements using graphical information rather than textual queries.
Along this thesis we present a spotting architecture and different methods aiming to build a complete focused retrieval application dealing with a graphic-rich document collections. In addition, a protocol to evaluate the performance of symbol
spotting systems in terms of recognition abilities, location accuracy and scalability is proposed.
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Partha Pratim Roy, Umapada Pal, Josep Llados and Mathieu Nicolas Delalandre. 2009. Multi-Oriented and Multi-Sized Touching Character Segmentation using Dynamic Programming. 10th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition.11–15.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a scheme towards the segmentation of English multi-oriented touching strings into individual characters. When two or more characters touch, they generate a big cavity region at the background portion. Using Convex Hull information, we use these background information to find some initial points to segment a touching string into possible primitive segments (a primitive segment consists of a single character or a part of a character). Next these primitive segments are merged to get optimum segmentation and dynamic programming is applied using total likelihood of characters as the objective function. SVM classifier is used to find the likelihood of a character. To consider multi-oriented touching strings the features used in the SVM are invariant to character orientation. Circular ring and convex hull ring based approach has been used along with angular information of the contour pixels of the character to make the feature rotation invariant. From the experiment, we obtained encouraging results.
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