CHARACTER RECOGNITION METHOD AND APPARATUS, INCLUDING GENERATION OF A DEGREE OF BELIEF

A method for recognizing characters includes the steps of: inputting image data; carrying out a recognition process for recognizing each character based on the image data, the recognition process including a plurality of processes, each of the plurality of processes generating a result based on independent information, wherein a recognition result with respect to each character is determined based on the result generated in each of the plurality of processes; generating a degree of belief for the recognition result with respect to each character; and outputting the recognition result and the degree of belief with respect to the recognition result. The step of generating a degree of belief includes the steps of: generating certainty data based on the independent information which is used for generating the result in each of the plurality of processes; combining the certainty data which are generated for results in the plurality of processes with each other; and generating the degree of belief based on the combination data.