Youssouf Chherawala

Jen-Hao Rick Chang, Martin Bresler, Youssouf Chherawala et al.

In this paper, we demonstrate how a generative model can be used to build a better recognizer through the control of content and style. We are building an online handwriting recognizer from a modest amount of training samples. By training our controllable handwriting synthesizer on the same data, we can synthesize handwriting with previously underrepresented content (e.g., URLs and email addresses) and style (e.g., cursive and slanted). Moreover, we propose a framework to analyze a recognizer that is trained with a mixture of real and synthetic training data. We use the framework to optimize data synthesis and demonstrate significant improvement on handwriting recognition over a model trained on real data only. Overall, we achieve a 66% reduction in Character Error Rate.

Youssouf Chherawala, Hans J. G. A. Dolfing, Ryan S. Dixon et al.

As handwriting input becomes more prevalent, the large symbol inventory required to support Chinese handwriting recognition poses unique challenges. This paper describes how the Apple deep learning recognition system can accurately handle up to 30,000 Chinese characters while running in real-time across a range of mobile devices. To achieve acceptable accuracy, we paid particular attention to data collection conditions, representativeness of writing styles, and training regimen. We found that, with proper care, even larger inventories are within reach. Our experiments show that accuracy only degrades slowly as the inventory increases, as long as we use training data of sufficient quality and in sufficient quantity.