diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizer.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizer.java
index 53ca149..44b7193 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizer.java
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public abstract class CharacterRecognizer {
 
     public abstract RecognizedChar recognize(Char chr);
 
-    public class RecognizedChar {
+    public static class RecognizedChar {
         private Vector<RecognizedPattern> patterns;
         private boolean isSorted;
 
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ public BufferedImage render() {
             return histogram;
         }
 
-        public final class RecognizedPattern {
+        public static final class RecognizedPattern {
             private char chr;
             private float cost;
 
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public float getCost() {
             }
         }
 
-        public class PatternComparer implements Comparator<Object> {
+        public static class PatternComparer implements Comparator<Object> {
 
             private int direction;
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/KnnPatternClassificator.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/KnnPatternClassificator.java
index 9afc87e..0619c3b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/KnnPatternClassificator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/KnnPatternClassificator.java
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public RecognizedChar recognize(Char chr) {
         RecognizedChar recognized = new RecognizedChar();
         for (int x = 0; x < this.learnVectors.size(); x++) {
             float fx = this.simplifiedEuclideanDistance(tested, this.learnVectors.elementAt(x));
-            recognized.addPattern(recognized.new RecognizedPattern(ALPHABET[x], fx));
+            recognized.addPattern(new RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern(ALPHABET[x], fx));
         }
         recognized.sort(0);
         return recognized;
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/NeuralPatternClassificator.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/NeuralPatternClassificator.java
index e34b792..a8daea3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/NeuralPatternClassificator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/NeuralPatternClassificator.java
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ public RecognizedChar recognize(Char imgChar) {
         Vector<Double> output = this.network.test(imgChar.extractFeatures());
         RecognizedChar recognized = new RecognizedChar();
         for (int i = 0; i < output.size(); i++) {
-            recognized.addPattern(recognized.new RecognizedPattern(ALPHABET[i], output.elementAt(i).floatValue()));
+            recognized.addPattern(new RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern(ALPHABET[i], output.elementAt(i).floatValue()));
         }
         recognized.render();
         recognized.sort(1);
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizerTest.java b/src/test/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad2af35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/net/sf/javaanpr/recognizer/CharacterRecognizerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013 JavaANPR contributors
+ * Copyright 2006 Ondrej Martinsky
+ * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.osedu.org/licenses/ECL-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
+ * BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
+ * or implied. See the License for the specific language governing
+ * permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package net.sf.javaanpr.recognizer;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.Vector;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.*;
+
+public class CharacterRecognizerTest {
+
+    private CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar getRecognizedCharWithThreePatterns() {
+        CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar recognizedChar = new CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar();
+        recognizedChar.addPattern(new CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern('A', 3.0f));
+        recognizedChar.addPattern(new CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern('B', 1.0f));
+        recognizedChar.addPattern(new CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern('C', 4.0f));
+        return recognizedChar;
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testPatternsCorrectlySortedAscending() {
+        CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar recognizedChar = getRecognizedCharWithThreePatterns();
+        assertFalse(recognizedChar.isSorted());
+        recognizedChar.sort(0);
+        assertTrue(recognizedChar.isSorted());
+        Vector<CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern> patterns = recognizedChar.getPatterns();
+        assertThat(patterns.get(0).getCost(), is(1.0f));
+        assertThat(patterns.get(1).getCost(), is(3.0f));
+        assertThat(patterns.get(2).getCost(), is(4.0f));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testPatternsCorrectlySortedDescending() {
+        CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar recognizedChar = getRecognizedCharWithThreePatterns();
+        assertFalse(recognizedChar.isSorted());
+        recognizedChar.sort(1);
+        assertTrue(recognizedChar.isSorted());
+        Vector<CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar.RecognizedPattern> patterns = recognizedChar.getPatterns();
+        assertThat(patterns.get(0).getCost(), is(4.0f));
+        assertThat(patterns.get(1).getCost(), is(3.0f));
+        assertThat(patterns.get(2).getCost(), is(1.0f));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetPatternReturnsCorrectPatternWhenPatternsSorted() {
+        CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar recognizedChar = getRecognizedCharWithThreePatterns();
+        recognizedChar.sort(0);
+        assertThat(recognizedChar.getPattern(2).getCost(), is(4.0f));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetPatternReturnsNullWhenPatternsNotSorted() {
+        CharacterRecognizer.RecognizedChar recognizedChar = getRecognizedCharWithThreePatterns();
+        assertNull(recognizedChar.getPattern(2));
+    }
+}