diff --git a/engine/pom.xml b/engine/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..626047c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>de.vorb</groupId>
+        <artifactId>tesseract4java</artifactId>
+        <version>0.2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </parent>
+
+    <artifactId>engine</artifactId>
+
+    <properties>
+        <dl4j.version>0.6.0</dl4j.version>
+        <nd4j.version>0.6.0</nd4j.version>
+
+        <slf4j.version>1.7.21</slf4j.version>
+        <logback.version>1.1.7</logback.version>
+    </properties>
+
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.deeplearning4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>deeplearning4j-core</artifactId>
+            <version>${dl4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.deeplearning4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>deeplearning4j-nlp</artifactId>
+            <version>${dl4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.deeplearning4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>deeplearning4j-ui</artifactId>
+            <version>${dl4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.nd4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>nd4j-native-platform</artifactId>
+            <version>${nd4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.nd4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>nd4j-cuda-7.5</artifactId>
+            <version>${nd4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
+            <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
+            <version>${logback.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
+            <artifactId>logback-core</artifactId>
+            <version>${logback.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+
+    <build>
+        <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+                <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>1.5.0</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <mainClass>${mainClass}</mainClass>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+    </build>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Box.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Box.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba016e82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Box.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Objects;
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
+
+public class Box {
+
+    private final Offset offset;
+    private final Dimension dimension;
+
+    private Box(Offset offset, Dimension dimension) {
+
+        Preconditions.checkNotNull(offset);
+        Preconditions.checkNotNull(dimension);
+
+        this.offset = offset;
+        this.dimension = dimension;
+    }
+
+    public Offset getOffset() {
+        return offset;
+    }
+
+    public Dimension getDimension() {
+        return dimension;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Box box = (Box) o;
+
+        return offset.equals(box.offset) && dimension.equals(box.dimension);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = offset.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + dimension.hashCode();
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return Objects.toStringHelper(this)
+                .add("offset", offset)
+                .add("dimension", dimension)
+                .toString();
+    }
+
+    public static Box of(Offset offset, Dimension dimension) {
+        return new Box(offset, dimension);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/DefaultTextSegment.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/DefaultTextSegment.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..70c539fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/DefaultTextSegment.java
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+class DefaultTextSegment implements TextSegment {
+
+    private final Box boundingBox;
+    private final TextSegmentationLevel segmentationLevel;
+
+    DefaultTextSegment(Box boundingBox, TextSegmentationLevel segmentationLevel) {
+        this.boundingBox = boundingBox;
+        this.segmentationLevel = segmentationLevel;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Box getBoundingBox() {
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public TextSegmentationLevel getLevel() {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Dimension.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Dimension.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d21d973d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Dimension.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Objects;
+
+public class Dimension {
+
+    private final int width;
+    private final int height;
+
+    private Dimension(int width, int height) {
+        this.width = width;
+        this.height = height;
+    }
+
+    public int getWidth() {
+        return width;
+    }
+
+    public int getHeight() {
+        return height;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Dimension that = (Dimension) o;
+
+        return width == that.width && height == that.height;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = width;
+        result = 31 * result + height;
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return Objects.toStringHelper(this)
+                .add("width", width)
+                .add("height", height)
+                .toString();
+    }
+
+    public static Dimension of(int width, int height) {
+        return new Dimension(width, height);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Offset.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Offset.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..75972763
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Offset.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Objects;
+
+public class Offset {
+
+    private final int left;
+    private final int top;
+
+    private Offset(int left, int top) {
+        this.left = left;
+        this.top = top;
+    }
+
+    public int getLeft() {
+        return left;
+    }
+
+    public int getTop() {
+        return top;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Offset that = (Offset) o;
+
+        return left == that.left && top == that.top;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = left;
+        result = 31 * result + top;
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return Objects.toStringHelper(this)
+                .add("left", left)
+                .add("top", top)
+                .toString();
+    }
+
+    public static Offset of(int left, int top) {
+        return new Offset(left, top);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Segment.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Segment.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..72337c22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/Segment.java
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+public interface Segment {
+
+    Box getBoundingBox();
+
+
+
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/TextSegment.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/TextSegment.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6909285b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/TextSegment.java
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+public interface TextSegment extends Segment {
+
+    TextSegmentationLevel getLevel();
+
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/TextSegmentationLevel.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/TextSegmentationLevel.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..614d3689
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/model/TextSegmentationLevel.java
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model;
+
+public enum TextSegmentationLevel {
+
+    SYMBOL,
+    WORD,
+    TEXT_LINE,
+    PARAGRAPH,
+    BLOCK;
+
+    public TextSegment getSegmentWith(Box boundingBox) {
+        return new DefaultTextSegment(boundingBox, this);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/ImageSegmentationOptions.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/ImageSegmentationOptions.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..38971cf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/ImageSegmentationOptions.java
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.segmentation;
+
+public class ImageSegmentationOptions {
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/ImageSegmenter.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/ImageSegmenter.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b1160c66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/ImageSegmenter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.segmentation;
+
+public interface ImageSegmenter {
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/impl/SimpleImageSegmenter.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/impl/SimpleImageSegmenter.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..63f22efa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/segmentation/impl/SimpleImageSegmenter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.segmentation.impl;
+
+public class ParallelImageSegmenter {
+}
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/util/ImageUtils.java b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/util/ImageUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..771cb496
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/de/vorb/tesseract/engine/util/ImageUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package de.vorb.tesseract.engine.util;
+
+import de.vorb.tesseract.engine.model.Box;
+
+import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
+
+public final class ImageHelper {
+
+    private ImageHelper() {}
+
+    public static BufferedImage getSubImageForBoundingBox(BufferedImage source, Box boundingBox) {
+        return source.getSubimage(
+                boundingBox.getOffset().getLeft(),
+                boundingBox.getOffset().getTop(),
+                boundingBox.getDimension().getWidth(),
+                boundingBox.getDimension().getHeight());
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 7e55dd78..20cd9041 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -9,9 +9,17 @@
     <version>0.2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>io.spring.platform</groupId>
+        <artifactId>platform-bom</artifactId>
+        <version>2.0.8.RELEASE</version>
+        <relativePath/>
+    </parent>
+
     <modules>
         <module>gui</module>
         <module>tools</module>
+        <module>engine</module>
     </modules>
 
     <properties>
@@ -20,4 +28,16 @@
         <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
     </properties>
 
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
+            <artifactId>guava</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+
 </project>