Up to now, the problem of recognizing printed characters of different fonts with high speed and reliability is not solved. The team of authors carried out research of images of printed characters of different fonts for the purpose of revealing the signs necessary and sufficient for recognition of signs by a computer. These features were a certain combination of directions, formed by elements of the contours of signs. According to the developed program for the computer, the image of each printed character stored in the computer's memory device was scaled up, uncharacteristic signs of signs, certain defects were eliminated and the contour of the sign was highlighted. The contour was represented in the form of a sequence of definite directions formed by its elements. All printed characters of the Russian alphabet of different fonts were recognized by a certain technique, despite the different types of printed fonts, for certain possible defects.

Keywords: printed sign, direction, standard view, recognition, outline, font, tag, serif, reading device, information