US 5,687,252 AGranted

Image processing apparatus

AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

InventorsHiroki Kanno, Gururaj Rao

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Abstract

A binarization circuit binarizes a pixel signal indicative of an input image, using binarizing processing capable of preserving a gradation of a photograph image. A run expansion circuit performs processing for expanding black pixels included in a binary image to obtain runs, and outputting a run expansion signal. A labelling circuit integrates connected runs into an integrated region (a label) by means of a circumscribing-rectangle extraction circuit, and obtains the position and the size of a rectangle which circumscribes each integrated region, thereby outputting the obtained data as circumscribing-rectangle data. A determination circuit determines whether the integrated region is a text region or a photograph (continuous) region from the size and the configuration of the circumscribing rectangle, and outputs a determination signal.

Claims7

Dependent claims

An image processing apparatus comprising:

means for binarizing the pixel value of each of target pixels included in an image to be processed, on the basis of a threshold value selected from a plurality of preset threshold values, so as to maintain the gradation of a gradation image component included in the to-be-processed image;
means for expanding black pixels on the basis of each binary target pixel and binary black pixels located around the target pixel;
means for integrating, into an integrated region, a plurality of black pixel regions each obtained by expanding the black pixels by means of the expanding means;
means for extracting a circumscribing rectangle which circumscribes each integrated region formed by integrating means;
and
means for determining the type of an image component included in an integrated region circumscribed by each circumscribing rectangle extracted by the circumscribing-rectangle extraction means, on the basis of features of the circumscribing rectangle.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.