Local and global approaches to achieve quantitative measurement of handwriting

A writing style is defined from the global feeling one gets when simply looking at a text. The text is not only an image, it has a proper orientation and we think that the inner structure of each text must be taken into account, that is to say the lines of the text are important. The parameters presented rely on the extraction of text lines and on the definition of upper and lower profiles. We show that a measurement of the evolution of the behavior of some characteristics of these profiles, when observation scales are modified, allows a quantification of different aspects of the handwriting. These new parameters are then interpreted and the link with some physical properties often present in handwriting is shown, such as the presence of loops or sloping of the writing