PATTERN RECOGNITION APPARATUS

A pattern recognition apparatus for identifying characters for example comprises a scanner and data extraction circuit which obtains a rectangular sized M.times.N bit pattern matrix B(i,j) representing the presence and configuration of an unknown scanned pattern in subregions (i,j) of a frame which substantially encloses the scanned pattern, wherein each bit in the pattern has a pattern present value when the scanned pattern falls at least partially within its associated subregion and a pattern absent value when the scanned pattern does not fall within its associated subregion. A processor compares the bit pattern matrix with a plurality of previously obtained bit pattern matrices B.sub.S.sup.K (i,j) for a respective plurality of known reference patterns K, and outputs for each reference pattern K a comparison quantity value D.sup.K whose amplitude represents the degree of correspondence between the bit pattern matrix B(i,j) from scanning the unknown pattern and the bit pattern matrices B.sub.S.sup.K (i,j) for each reference pattern K. The processor then selects the lowest and next lowest comparison quantity values and outputs a pattern identification signal which identifies the unknown pattern as the reference pattern corresponding to the lowest quantity value if this value is less than a first preset value, and if the difference between the lowest and next lowest comparison quantity values is greater than a second preset value.