title: Performance evaluation methodology for historical document image binarization.
abstract: Document image binarization is of great importance in the document image analysis and recognition pipeline since it affects further stages of the recognition process. The evaluation of a binarization method aids in studying its algorithmic behavior, as well as verifying its effectiveness, by providing qualitative and quantitative indication of its performance. This paper addresses a pixel-based binarization evaluation methodology for historical handwritten/machine-printed document images. In the proposed evaluation scheme, the recall and precision evaluation measures are properly modified using a weighting scheme that diminishes any potential evaluation bias. Additional performance metrics of the proposed evaluation scheme consist of the percentage rates of broken and missed text, false alarms, background noise, character enlargement, and merging. Several experiments conducted in comparison with other pixel-based evaluation measures demonstrate the validity of the proposed evaluation scheme.
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. kntir@iit.demokritos.gr
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ntirogiannis
authors.forename: Basilis
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gatos
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pratikakis
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods*; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011327:Printing; D015203:Reproducibility of Results