US 5,966,455 AGranted

Image processing apparatus and method

AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorKazuyuki Saito

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Abstract

An image processing apparatus which detects dotted/broken-line separator between image areas in input data. In an area divider 105 which divides image data inputted from an input unit 101 into a plurality of image areas, a labeling unit 106 which generates block areas each containing one or plural connected black pixels; a dotted/broken-line factor extractor 108 extracts block areas having a block area size smaller than a predetermined size, as candidates for dotted/broken-line separator block areas; a block area combiner combines one candidate block area with another candidate block area within a predetermined distance; and a dotted/broken-line separator detector 110 determines whether each combination of candidate block areas satisfies a shape as a separator factor between image areas. Thus, a dotted/broken-line separator between image areas can be correctly detected.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An image processing apparatus capable of detecting a separator in a document image, comprising:

formation means for forming block areas, that each contain a single or plural connected black pixels, in the document image, and for generating block data corresponding to each respective block area, the block data corresponding to each block area including position data of the respective block area;
extraction means for extracting block areas that have a block area size smaller than a predetermined size, from the block areas formed by said formation means, and for turning on an identification flag in the block data corresponding to each of the extracted block areas;
combining means for combining a first block area having block data in which the identification flag is turned on and a second block area having block data in which the identification flag is turned on, if said first and second block areas exist within a predetermined range determined based on a distance between adjacent characters, and generating new block data, in which the identification flag is turned on, corresponding to the new block area;
and
judgment means for judging whether or not a block area having block data in which the identification flag is turned on is a separator block area based on a shape of the new block area.

2 more elements

An image processing method capable of detecting a separator in a document image, comprising:

a formation step of forming block areas, that each contain a single or plural connected black pixels, in the document image, and of generating block data corresponding to each respective block area, the block data corresponding to each block area including position data of the respective block area;
an extraction step of extracting block areas that have a block area size smaller than a predetermined size, from the block areas formed in said formation step, and of turning on an identification flag in the block data corresponding to each of the extracted block areas;
a combining step of combining a first block area having block data in which the identification flag is turned on and a second block area having block data in which the identification flag is turned on, if said first and second block areas exist within a predetermined range determined based on a distance between adjacent characters, and generating new block data, in which the identification flag is turned on, corresponding to the new block area;
and
a judgment step of judging whether or not a block area having block data in which the identification flag is turned on is a separator block area, based on a shape of the new block area.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.