A contour fill method for alpha-numeric character image generation

Abstract

A new, high speed method filling in the contours of alpha-numeric characters which produces accurate and correct image patterns is proposed. The method is called the improved edge fill method because it improves on a previously developed edge fill method. It does so by selecting fill pixels from contour lines expressed by Freeman's chain code and using combinations for neighboring the codes and accordingly processing time is reduced by about 20% over conventional methods. For binary image contour filling, the method eliminates faults found in conventional edge fill methods, and in consequence the areas inside contour lines are filled in rapidly and correctly. The method's effectiveness is examined in experiments using both Arabic numerals and letters of the Roman alphabet. As a result it is found that this filling method is able to produce correct and accurate image patterns and that it can be applied to alpha-numeric character contour filling. >