A system for automatic extraction of the user-entered data from bankchecks

This paper presents a system for automatic extraction of the user-entered data from Brazilian bankchecks. We have assumed that the layout structure of bankchecks is standardized, that any bankcheck can be identified through the MICR line and that a sample of the background pattern is available for every bankcheck. Based on these assumptions, a template is designed for extracting the user-entered items of any bankcheck, no matter which financial institution has issued it. First, the bankcheck is digitized through a scanner and its skew angle is computed by an algorithm based on the Hough transform. Next a template is generated and used for extracting the user-entered data. The extracted data still shows the presence of the background pattern, character strings, and vertical and horizontal lines. The background pattern is eliminated by a morphological subtraction operation while the baselines are erased using an algorithm based on the projection profiles. The printed character strings are eliminated through a morphological subtraction between the image covered by the signature area and a sample of the character strings generated by the system. Finally, a post-processing algorithm is used for recovering some erased pixels. Experimental results show that this approach is robust and efficient for automatic extracting the user-entered items from Brazilian bankchecks achieving a moderate processing time, very good image quality and excellent accuracy rates.