1. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform a method for recognizing characters of an original set of characters displayed on a surface in an original linear orientation, the method comprising: within an image of the original set of characters, identifying an acquired set of characters represented by pixels of the image, the acquired set of characters having an acquired linear orientation skewed relative to the original linear orientation by a rotation angle; applying an edge detection filter to the acquired set of characters to produce an edge map, the edge map identifying edge pixels comprising pixels of the image lying along a plurality of lines associated with the acquired set of characters; inputting the edge map to a linear hough transform filter to produce a set of output lines in (r, Θ) parametric form, where for each output line, r is a length of a normal line drawn perpendicular to the output line between a point of origin and a particular edge pixel through which the output line passes, and Θ is an angle the normal line forms to a horizontal axis; forming a matrix having rows and columns, each of the edge pixels passed through by a particular output line (r, Θ) being represented by an element of the matrix located at a particular row corresponding to Θ of the particular output line and a particular column corresponding to r of the particular output line; assigning a score to each output line, the score based on a dispersion of edge pixels within the particular row corresponding to Θ of the particular output line; based on the scores, within the set of output lines, identifying at least two dominant output lines, (r dom1 , Θ dom1 ) and (r dom2 , Θ dom2 ) calculating a first confidence value corresponding to a likelihood that Θ dom1 estimates the rotation angle; calculating a second confidence value corresponding to a likelihood that Θ dom2 estimates the rotation angle; and based on the first and second confidence values, determining whether Θ dom1 or Θ dom2 estimates the rotation angle.