Determining transparent fills based on a reference background colour

A method of generating an electronic document having an editable table, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving a digital representation of a source document, the document containing at least one table having a plurality of cells;
• (b) determining a reference background colour for the table from the digital representation;
• (c) determining a fill colour for each of the plurality of cells from the digital representation;
• and
• (d) assigning a transparent fill colour to at least one of the plurality of cells based on a comparison of the determined fill colour for the cell and the reference background colour of the table.

A computer readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon, the program being executable by a computer apparatus to generate an electronic document having an enclosed region with a fill colour, the program comprising:

• code for receiving a digital representation of a source document, the source document containing an enclosed region and at least one corresponding background region, the enclosed region overlapping at least a portion of the background region;
• code for determining a fill colour for the enclosed region from the digital representation;
• code for determining a reference background colour for the enclosed region from the corresponding background region of the digital representation;
• code for assigning a transparent fill colour to the enclosed region based on a comparison of the determined fill colour for the enclosed region with the reference background colour;
• and
• code for storing the enclosed region with the transparent fill colour to generate an electronic document.

Computer apparatus comprising at least a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon a program executable by the processor for generating an electronic document having an enclosed region with a fill colour, the program comprising:

• code for receiving a digital representation of a source document, the source document containing an enclosed region and at least one corresponding background region, the enclosed region overlapping at least a portion of the background region;
• code for determining a fill colour for the enclosed region from the digital representation;
• code for determining a reference background colour for the enclosed region from the corresponding background region of the digital representation;
• code for assigning a transparent fill colour to the enclosed region based on a comparison of the determined fill colour for the enclosed region with the reference background colour;
• and
• code for storing in the memory the enclosed region with the transparent fill colour to generate an electronic document.