Text-Independent Writer Identification and Verification Using Textural and Allographic Features

—The identification of a person on the basis of scanned images of handwriting is a useful biometric modality with application in forensic and historic document analysis and constitutes an exemplary study area within the research field of behavioral biometrics. We developed new and very effective techniques for automatic writer identification and verification that use probability distribution functions (PDFs) extracted from the handwriting images to characterize writer individuality. A defining property of our methods is that they are designed to be independent of the textual content of the handwritten samples. Our methods operate at two levels of analysis: the texture level and the character-shape (allograph) level. At the texture level, we use contour-based joint directional PDFs that encode orientation and curvature information to give an intimate characterization of individual handwriting style. In our analysis at the allograph level, the writer is considered to be characterized b...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: PAMI
• Authors: Marius Bulacu, Lambert Schomaker
• Keywords: Automatic Writer Identification, PAMI 2007, Texture Level, Writer Identification