Pattern recognition as a consistent labeling problem

This paper discusses a new method of recognizing patterns employing consistent labeling. A consistent labeling problem is a generalized expression of constraint satisfaction problems. When a pattern is recognized by pattern matching, the matching between a reference pattern and an acquired pattern resolves itself into finding correspondence between the pixels on the former and those on the latter. This can be expressed as a consistent labeling problem. Pattern association, a variation of pattern recognition, is also described employing consistent labeling. The proposed technique is supported by experimental results, yet further studies need to be done before its practical use.