Development of an alphabetic address OCR : Special issue on postal automation technology

In Japan, postal OCRs read Japanese addresses written on machine-printed and handwritten mail including building names, room numbers and enterprise names. In foreign countries, in the ame way, needs for high-performance OCRs which can read up to carrier sequencing level are increasing. A recognition technology for handwritten post codes and addresses is especially important. The authors researched the development of an OCR which reads addresses written in alphabetic characters and developed an OCR to read Finnish mail. This OCR recognizes machine-printed full addresses including enterprise names and so on. As for handwritten mail, free handwritten postal codes and city names were recognized as the first step. The authors would like to proceed with research and development of alphabetic handwritten address reading up to the equivalent reading level of the Japanese address OCR, and to design such full address OCRs for many countries.