Binary text image compression using overlapping rectangular partitioning

Abstract In this paper a new lossless binary text image coding technique based on overlapping partitioning is presented. In this technique, the black regions in the image are first partitioned into a number of overlapping and nonoverlapping rectangles. This partitioning algorithm gives, in general, fewer rectangles than those obtained using nonoverlapping partitioning. After partitioning, the two opposite vertices of each rectangle are compressed using a simple encoding technique. For binary text images (of different languages and fonts) the overlapping partitioning proposed here yields compression ratios better than the nonoverlapping partitioning. In addition, the proposed scheme is suitable for texts consisting of different languages, fonts and sizes.