An address reading method with processing steps controlled by parameters, in which free parameters which cannot be adapted by learning samples are to be automatically optimized. These parameters are therefore assigned costs. The value of free parameters which are expensive and lie above selectable cost thresholds are maintained and the remaining free parameters are improved by repeatedly modifying their values on the basis of strategies known per se, taking already evaluated parameter settings into account, and training and evaluating the reading method only with these modified values.