This paper presents a multi-staged technique for locating the courtesy amount block on bank checks. In the case of a check processing system, many of the proposed methods are not acceptable, due to the the presence of many fonts and text sizes, as well as the short length of many text strings. This paper will describe particular methods chosen to implement a Courtesy Amount Block Locator (CABL). First, the connected components in the image are identified. Next, strings are constructed on the basis of proximity and horizontal alignment of characters. Finally a set of rules and heuristics are applied to these strings to choose the correct one. The chosen string is only reported if it passes a verification test, which includes an attempt to recognize the currency sign. Keywords: check analysis and processing, block detection, courtesy amount recognition, image processing, heuristics rules, segmentation 1 Introduction Trillions of dollars change hands each year in the form of handwritten ...

study the use of information technology in both the private and public sectors and to enhance productivity in areas ranging from finance to transportation, and from manufacturing to telecommunications. " At the time of its inception, PROFIT took