OCR MATRIX EXTRACTOR

A matrix extractor is described which is particularly useful for extracting data from a memory which contains representations of optically scanned characters. The method and apparatus of the present invention permits the isolation of packets of data in the memory and the determination of the location of these packets. Data representing the packets is then extracted from the memory for character recognition. The isolation of packets in memory greatly reduces the amount of data which must be processed by the recognition processor and provides much more reliable recognition.