Duo from NUS and I²R wins Document Image Binarization Contest 2009

27 Aug 2009

Prof Tan Chew Lim of the NUS School of Computing (SoC) and Dr Lu Shijian from the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) emerged winner at the 2009 Document Image Binarization Contest (DIBCO 2009), beating 35 research groups from around the world. The team's winning algorithm allows Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to capture a scanned document more accurately and to have the text better match the hard copy.

Document image binarization is an important element in making document image analysis and recognition possible in OCR software.

DIBCO 2009 is organised by the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos" in Athens, Greece. This is DIBCO's inaugural contest and it aims to record recent advances in document image binarization via established evaluation performance measures. DIBCO was held in conjunction with the 10th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition in Barcelona, Spain.

Commending Prof Tan, Dean of SoC Prof Ooi Beng Chin noted: "The win at the international event is testament to the cutting-edge research that Prof Tan has been performing in the area of image and text recognition. Our School celebrates with Prof Tan his pursuit of excellence."

Deputy Executive Director (Research) of I²R Prof Lye Kin Mun said: "We have continued to demonstrate that our in-house developed technologies are able to compete with the best of the best in the global arena on real world challenges. I view this achievement as well deserved recognition from fellow researchers over the world for the team at I²R."