Letter/Number Recognition in an image

[Greyskull]

Im not sure how to implement an application which can recognise letters in an image. Say Ive got a king of hearts image, i want the computer to recognise that it is a king of hearts just by analysing the image.
So far all i know is i need to have some form of letter template that the program can compare to..that's all..

Anybody can help me with this?

Thanks in advance

[DTD33incSoft]

Well first you have to be able to read the image correctly. You have to be able to find the symbols. What happens when the symbols are not clear? Does it make a guess at the symbol? What happens if your letter template does not match exactly to how your images letters are (size, shape, etc). This task is going to require some AI and luck. You could try google and see if they have some examples.

[Greyskull]

I can read the image correctly. In fact, im trying make things a bit better by having a webcam read the image. Each image inputted will have the same layout at first, i.e. all letter are placed on top each one having the same font size apart from the first letter, which is capitalised.
I still have a few bugs on the cam side, but im not too sure how im going to compare each letter in the image to letter templates. Guess ill need to be able to know the perimeter, area, and compactness of the letter.
The example i know of exist if the number plate detection from cars implemented in the UK.....