If you want to opt for an entire handwriting recognition system, then you will find that the entire process includes the performance of correct segmentation into characters and seeking out the most plausible words and handling formatting.
Process of recognition
If you want to know how the procedure of on-line handwriting recognition works, then know that it involves the automatic conversion of text – written on PDA or a special digitizer. What happens is a sensor picks up the pen-tip movements and the pen-up/pen-down switching. This data provides you the dynamic representation of handwriting.
Furthermore, the signal that is obtained is converted into letter codes, which are then usable within the computer as well as the text-processing applications.
An active community of academics studies this kind of recognition for handwritten stuffs. The biggest conferences that are held for the purpose of the International Conference for Document Analysis and Retrieval (ICDAR), and the International Workshop for Handwriting Recognition (IWFHR). The conferences take place under the IEEE auspices.
An on-line recognition interface elements
The elements of an on-line handwriting recognition interface will include a touch sensitive surface, which is adjacent to or integrated with an output display. There is a pen or stylus with which you can write and there is also the inclusion of a software application that will be interpreting the movements of the stylus across the writing surface and also get translating the resulting curves into digital text format.
Off-line recognition system
This kind of setup will involve the automatic conversion of a text into an image in letter codes; this finds use in the computer as well as the text processing applications. The data that is obtained through this process is known to be a static representation of handwriting. This kind of handwriting recognition is difficult in comparison to its on-line counterpart.
Now, who do you think makes use of these technologies for recognizing handwriting? These are used by the businesses that process many handwritten documents, such as the insurance companies. Handwriting recognition is a great tool that works wonders for the interpretation of certain intelligible handwritten input.