Usage

Introduction

Demo mode

This mode demonstrates how the STD algorithm works with  the default template patterns and a preset unknown character pattern. Users do not need to provide any input in this mode.

User mode - default template patterns

This mode automatically loads the default template patterns and requires the user to provide a bitmap file as the unknown character pattern. The user also needs to manually start the algorithm.

User mode - custom template patterns

This mode requires the user to provide a set of template patterns and an unknown character pattern.  The user also needs to manually start the algorithm.

File Format

Template patterns

Each of the template pattern is a 100 by 100 24-bit bitmap file with black strokes and white background. All the template patterns must be placed under the same directory and have the file extension ".bmp" for the program to load successfully.

Unknown character

A unknown character has exactly the same format as a template pattern. It is a 100 by 100 24-bit bitmap file with black strokes and white background. The unknown character file does not required to have the file extension ".bmp" since the user will specify its full name. The unknown character file can be placed anywhere in the system.

Running the Program

• Demo Mode
  
  1. Press the Demo button.
  2. The program automatically loads the default templates from template directory and unknown pattern from unknown/A2.bmp and start running the STD algorithm.
  3. The current training process is shown in 20 blocks in the lower center and the number indicate the SOM network corresponding to each template pattern. The features of unknown patterns are plotted as red dots and the neurons for the template patterns are plotted as blue dots.  As time goes by, there will be small green crosses adding to the graph.  The green crosses indicate the trace of the SOM training process; in other words, it is the path the neurons move to match the unknown pattern.
  4. The upper center part displays the bar graph of scores at each iteration for all template patterns.  The lower the score is the more similar the template pattern to the unknown character because the score is a distance measure between the two patterns. The listbox on the right is a sorted list of the the bar graph.
  5. Once all iterations are done, the best matching result is displayed in the lower left corner.
• User mode - default template
  
  1. Press the Use default template button.
  2. The program loads the default template and indicates the number of templates loaded in the text area in the lower left corner.
  3. Fill in the path and file name of the unknown character pattern in the text field below the Load Unknown button and press the Load Unknown button. Both relative and absolute path works.
  4. Press the Compare button. The program should work as explained in the demo mode.
• User mode - custom template
  
  1. Fill in the directory path of the custom templates in the text field below the Load custom template button and press the Load custom template button.
  2. The program loads the custom template and indicates the number of templates loaded in the text area in the lower left corner.
  3. Fill in the path and file name of the unknown character pattern in the text field below the Load Unknown button and press the Load Unknown button. Both relative and absolute path works.
  4. Press the Compare button. The program should work as explained in the demo mode.

Modify the Program Parameters