# US 2013/0155475 A1 · Determining transparent fills based on a reference background colour > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0155475 A1 - Document ID: US20130155475A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/715,554 - Filed: 2012-12-14 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-20 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Yu-Ling CHEN; James Austin BESLEY; Steven Richard IRRGANG - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130155475A1 ## CPC - H04N 1/40093: {Modification of content of picture, e.g. retouching (geometric modifications H04N1/387)} - G06T 5/77: Retouching; Inpainting; Scratch removal - G06T 11/40: Filling planar surfaces by adding surface attributes, e.g. adding colours or textures - G06T 2207/10024: Color image - G06T 2207/30176: Document - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL ## Abstract Disclosed is a method of generating an electronic document having an enclosed region with a fill colour. The method receives 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. A fill colour is determined for the enclosed region from the digital representation as is a reference background colour for the enclosed region from the corresponding background region of the digital representation. The method assigns 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 stores enclosed region with the transparent fill colour to generate an electronic document. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of generating an electronic document having an enclosed region with a fill colour, the method comprising: (a) 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; (b) determining a fill colour for the enclosed region from the digital representation; (c) determining a reference background colour for the enclosed region from the corresponding background region of the digital representation; (d) 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 (e) storing the enclosed region with the transparent fill colour to generate an electronic document. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the source document comprises a plurality of enclosed regions including said enclosed region, the method comprising: (a) assigning a reference background flag to each of the plurality of enclosed regions based on a comparison of the determined fill colour for each of the enclosed regions with a corresponding reference background colour; and (b) storing background image data and, for each of the plurality of enclosed regions classified as a foreground region, storing a fill colour and reference background flag as an intermediate representation for the electronic document. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising: displaying the electronic document in one of a plurality of modes based on a selection to draw the background image, wherein the transparent fill colour is controlled by the selection. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising: converting the electronic document to one of a plurality of formats based on a selection to output the background image data, wherein the transparent fill colour is controlled by the selection. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising: displaying the electronic document in one of a plurality of modes based on a predetermined option, wherein each mode is a configuration based on a selection to draw the background image and a selection to enable transparent fills. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising converting the electronic document to one of a plurality of formats based on a predetermined option, wherein each format is a configuration based on a selection to output the background image data and a selection to enable transparent fills. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the reference background colour for the enclosed region is a page colour of the source document. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the reference background colour for the enclosed region is determined according to a colour of a region that encloses the enclosed region. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the source document comprises a plurality of non-transparent enclosed regions, the method further comprising the step of consolidating fill colours of the plurality of non-transparent enclosed regions. ### Claim 10 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. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the reference background colour for the table is a page colour of the source document. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the reference background colour for the table is a colour of a region that encloses the table. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising consolidating fill colours of at least two non-transparent cells of the plurality of cells based on a comparison of the determined fill colours of the at least two non-transparent cells. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the digital representation comprises scanned data of the source document. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the digital representation comprises scanned data of the source document. ### Claim 16 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. ### Claim 17 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. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The computer apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising a reproduction device being at least one of a video display and a printer, coupled to the processor, and configured to reproduce the generated electronic document.