Analysis of Handwriting Individuality Using Word Features

Analysis of allographs (characters) and allograph com-binations (words) is the key for obtaining the discriminat-ing elements of handwriting. While allographs usually in-habit in words and segregation of a word into allographs is more subjective than objective, especially for cursive writ-ing, analysis of handwritten words is a natural and better option. In this study, a handwritten word image is charac-terized by gradient, structural, and concavity features, and individuality of handwritten words is experimented through writership identification and verification on over 12,000 word images extracted from 3000 handwriting samples of 1000 individuals in U.S.. Experimental results show that handwritten words are very effective in differentiating hand-writing and carry more individuality than most handwritten characters (allographs).