As optical character recognition (OCR) begins to find applications ranging from store checkout scanners to money-changing machines and postal system automation, it has become one of the most dynamic areas in information science today. Yet few volumes explore this data-oriented process without relying heavily on mathematical background reading.

Now, Shunji Mori, Hirobumi Nishida, and Hiromitsu Yamada, among the field's most respected researchers since its inception, present this self-contained, clearly written guidebook to OCR--the first comprehensive treatment of the...