METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING REFERENCE CHARACTER DICTIONARY COMPARISONS DURING HANDWRITING RECOGNITION

A method, computer program product, and a data processing system for performing handwriting recognition of a language having character stroke order rules. A stroke parameter set describing attributes of a handwritten stroke is calculated, and a user input indicates a stroke order knowledge. A reference character dictionary includes a record having a plurality of reference parameter sets each defining attributes of reference character strokes. A stroke sequence number of the stroke parameter set is identified and at least one of the reference parameter sets are excluded from a comparison with the stroke parameter set based on the stroke sequence number.