23. A method for recognizing characters in image information, comprising the steps of: inputting coordinate data of a plurality of character patterns; displaying the character patterns on the basis of the coordinate data; recognizing character information on the basis of the coordinate data; determining whether the recognized character information consists of a punctuation mark; and outputting the result of character recognition in a case where it has been determined in said determining step that the recognized character information consists of a punctuation mark and, in a case where it has not been determined in said determining step that the recognized character information consists of a punctuation mark, not outputting the result of character recognition, thereby resulting in the reduction of screen display flicker.
29. A method for recognizing characters in image information according to claim 23, wherein the character recognition result to be output is a prestored character pattern.