An object comparison method comprises: generating a first ordered vector sequence representation (22) of a first object; generating a second ordered vector sequence representation of a second object; representing the first object by a first ordered sequence of model parameters generated by modeling the first ordered vector sequence representation using a semi-continuous hidden Markov model employing a universal basis; representing the second object by a second ordered sequence of model parameters generated by modeling the second ordered vector sequence representation using a semi-continuous hidden Markov model employing the universal basis; and comparing (40) the first and second ordered sequences of model parameters to generate a quantitative comparison measure.
Model-based comparative measure for vector sequences and word spotting using same