Using BLSTM for Interpretation of 2D Languages - Case of Handwritten Mathematical Expressions
Résumé
In this work, we study how to extend the capability of BLSTM networks to process
data which are not only text strings but graphical two-dimensional languages such as handwrit-
ten mathematical expressions. The proposed solution aims at transforming the mathematical
expression description into a sequence including at the same time symbol labels and relation-
ship labels, so that classical supervised sequence labeling with recurrent neural networks can
be applied. For simple one-dimensional (1-D) expression, we use the Right label to segment
one symbol from the next one, as with the standard blank label for regular text. For genuine two-
dimensional (2-D) expressions, we introduce additional specific labels assigned to each of the
different possible spatial relationships that exist between sub-expressions. As a result, BLSTM network is able to perform at the same time the symbol recognition task and the segmentation
task, which is a new perspective for the mathematical expression domain.