29. The method of claim 28 wherein each stroke has a place within the set of characteristics and wherein a comparison value is generated from a pair of characteristics, a first characteristic of the pair selected from the set of characteristics associated with the unknown pattern and a second characteristic of the pair selected from the set of characteristics associated with the pattern prototype, wherein the first and second characteristics have the same place within the sets of characteristics from which they are selected.
29. The method of claim 28 wherein each stroke has a place within the set of characteristics and wherein a comparison value is generated from a pair of characteristics, a first characteristic of the pair selected from the set of characteristics associated with the unknown pattern and a second characteristic of the pair selected from the set of characteristics associated with the pattern prototype, wherein the first and second characteristics have the same place within the sets of characteristics from which they are selected. 30. The method of claim 29 wherein the probability table is a shape feature probability matrix.