A method for character recognition. The method includes: obtaining a plurality of character segments extracted from an image; determining a first character bounding box having a first set of the plurality of character segments and a second character bounding box having a second set of the plurality of character segments; determining a plurality of directions for the first set and a plurality of timing properties for the first set, where the plurality of timing properties includes an ordering for first set and a drawing duration for the first set; and executing character recognition for the first character bounding box by sending the first set, the plurality of directions for the first set, and the plurality of timing properties for the first set to an intelligent character recognition (ICR) engine.