1. A method for refining character segmentation in an optical character recognition system receiving as input a plurality of candidate objects, comprising: merging each candidate object below a threshold character width with another candidate object at one or more merge lines to form a composite object; preclassifying the plurality of candidate objects to identify a plurality of composite objects; determining one or more proposed split lines for each of the composite objects at which the composite object may be segmented; defining regions within each of the composite objects from the position of the merge and split lines; classifying the defined regions within each composite object to obtain an associated score for each region; defining a number of complete region sets for each composite object, each with an associated set ranking determined from the associated score of the regions comprising the set; and selecting the set having the highest ranking for each composite object.