Semi-automatic assembly of real cross-cut shredded documents

This paper introduces a semi-automatic approach for cross-cut shredded document reassembly. Automatic algorithms are proposed for segmenting and orienting individual shreds from a scanned shred image, as well as for computing features and ranking potential matches for each shred. Additionally, a human-computer interface is designed to allow semi-automatic assembly of the shreds using the computed feature and match information. Our document de-shredding system was tested on puzzles from the DARPA Shredder Challenge, allowing successful reconstruction of multiple shredded documents and demonstrating the effectiveness of the automatic algorithms.