A meter readout on a meter has digits including a first digit, a second digit, etc. A sequence of images of the meter is obtained. The images include images of the digits in the meter readout. Automated recognition of the digits in the images result in likelihood arrays indicating the likelihoods for the digit values for the digits imaged in the meter images. Short chains of digit values are identified and spliced together to form a series of single digit, two-digit, three-digits, etc. paths that are built up based on the likelihood arrays. Various criteria are used to discard most of the chains and thereby avoid the combinatorial explosion of possible paths and thereby produce reliable meter readings without consuming considerable computational resources.