An efficient quantum-classical hybrid algorithm for distorted alphanumeric character identification

Abstract: An algorithm for image processing is proposed. The proposed algorithm, which can be viewed as a quantum-classical hybrid algorithm, can transform a low-resolution bitonal image of a character from the set of alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) into a high-resolution image. The quantum part of the proposed algorithm fruitfully utilizes a variant of Grover's search algorithm, known as the fixed point search algorithm. Further, the quantum part of the algorithm is simulated using CQASM and the advantage of the algorithm is established through the complexity analysis. Additional analysis has also revealed that this scheme for optical character recognition (OCR) leads to high confidence value and generally works in a more efficient manner compared to the existing classical, quantum, and hybrid algorithms for a similar task.