Arabic Character Recognition: Progress and Challenges

Abstract

An optical character recognition (OCR) system may provide a solution to the data entry problems, a bottleneck for the data processing industry. Therefore, OCR systems are being developed for almost all major languages and Arabic language is no exception to it. During the past three decades, considerable research and development works have been done towards the development of an efficient Arabic optical character recognition (ACR) system. In this paper we present a comprehensive review of ACR techniques and evaluate the status of the ACR system development and an up to date bibliography.