the template being matched 34 c 34 vs 34 a 34 as in the example above as well as on the number of bits in the character bitmap and the height and width of the character bitmap referring to fig3 a method for comparing bitmaps 94 receives at step 96 first and second bitmaps to be compared along with outlines of the first and second bitmaps generally the first bitmap is an input bitmap of an image to be recognized or compared and the second bitmap is a template bitmap with which the input bitmap is compared these correspond to the bitmaps and outlines a and b respectively of fig2 38 40 39 and 41 the input and template bitmaps are xored to generate at step 100 a difference map of bits that differ between the first and second bitmaps the total number of very different bits contained in the difference map is determined at step 104 this is done by excluding from the bits of the difference map all bits that fall on either of the outlines received at step 96 the excluded bits are those which have been called 34 outline bits 34 their number is determined at step 105 the number of bits gained by the input bitmap bits that are not on the template bitmap but are on the input bitmap is determined at step 106 the number of bits lost from the input bitmap from the template bitmap is determined at step 108 the bits lost or gained do not include.