Patent US 5,657,396

Apparatus and method for pattern recognition and validation, especially of hand-written signatures. Original files of basic structures are established and stored in a reference image file. The structure to be verified is analyzed in the same way and with the same methods to find their significant basic structures. Information stored in the reference image file and information found as significant basic structures are compared. This comparison is performed in the order of significance sequentially or parallel for at least for some information entities. Validation is performed for each single comparison step and the results are weighted. If no clear result (either a match with a given confidence or a non-match is delivered) is obtained, a stepwise refinement of the recognition structures is performed by repeating the recognition and validation procedure, on a higher level of information, or with other words with finer details to be analyzed.