Method and apparatus for separating static and dynamic portions of document images

An apparatus for use in a document image processing system, said system processing electronic images of documents of a type that include both a static form and an added dynamic information, the apparatus comprising;

• means for receiving a first electronic image of a substantially complete document of said type, said first electronic image including image data for both said static form and said added dynamic information;
• means for identifying a portion of the first electronic image which corresponds to a portion of the added information by comparing the first electronic image to at least one predetermined image feature inherently characteristic of the added dynamic information;
• means for processing the identified portion of the first electronic image to determine an additional feature of the added dynamic information;
• means for electronically extracting portions of said first image having the additional feature;
• and
• means for generating a compressed image that includes at least a subset of the extracted portions of the first signal such that said first image can be substantially reconstructed from said compressed image and an electronic image of the form.

A method for use in a document image processing system, said system processing digital signals representing electronic images of documents of a type that include both a static form and an added dynamic information, the method comprising the steps

• receiving a first signal representing an electronic image of a substantially complete document of said type said first signal including image data for both said static form and said added dynamic information;
• determining from said received first signal an indicator of said form;
• identifying a portion of the first signal which corresponds to a portion of the added dynamic information by comparing the first signal to said at least one predetermined image feature inherently characteristic of the added dynamic information;
• processing the identified portion of the first signal to determine an additional feature of the added dynamic information;
• electronically extracting portions of said first signal having the additional feature;
• generating a second signal that includes at least a representation of said form indicator and a subset of the extracted portions of the first signal;
• and
• storing said second signal such that said first signal representing said image can be substantially reconstructed from said second signal and an image of the form corresponding to the indicator.

A method for use in a document image processing system, said system processing digital signals representing electronic images of documents of a type that include both a static original information portion and a dynamic added information portion, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a first signal representing an electronic image of a substantially complete document of said type, said signal including both the original information and the dynamic added information portions of said document;
• extracting from said first signal substantially all of the added information portion of said document, regardless of location thereon, by automatically distinguishing features of said added information portion from features of said original information portion;
• and
• generating a second signal that includes at least a representation of said indicator of said original information portion and said extracted added information portion of said document whereby said first signal representing said image can be substantially reconstructed from said second signal and an image of the original information portion corresponding to said indicator.