1. A method for estimating at least one run-based font attribute of a group of characters of an input image independently of any character identification information of the group of characters, comprising: forming a plurality of single-connected and well-aligned-connected runs from bitmaps of the characters of the group of characters; determining a left contour and a right contour for each character of the group of characters, each contour having parameters; and determining the at least one slant for the group of characters based on the determined left and right contour.