REDUCING AND CONTROLLING SIZES OF MODEL-BASED RECOGNIZERS

A technique for reducing a model database for use with handwriting recognizers. The model database is processed with a tuning set to identify a set of models that would result in the greatest character recognition accuracy. If further model database reduction is desired, the technique iteratively identifies smaller models that have the least adverse effect on the error rate. The technique continues identifying smaller models until a desired model database size has been achieved.