Image processing system suitable for colored character recognition

An image processing system, comprising:

• an image input unit for entering an input image data, corresponding to a plurality of image portions of an input image, to be processed;
• a color separation unit, communicatively coupled to the image input unit, for determining a color separation of the input image data entered by the image input means to separately extract color images for different colors including every color present in the input image data, wherein geometrical data specifying geometrical characteristics of each image portion of the input image data obtained from the input image data and color data specifying colors of each image portion and a background of the input image data obtained from the input image data are utilized for separately extracting said color images for different colors;
• and
• an image data processing unit, communicatively coupled to the color separation unit, for processing the input image data according to the color separation determined by the color separation unit,
• wherein the input image data is accompanied by form data specifying a recognition scheme for each color in the input image data, and the input image data processing unit processes the input image data by applying the recognition scheme specified by the form data for each color separated by the color separation unit.

An image processing system, comprising:

• an image input unit for entering an input image data, corresponding to a plurality of image portions of an input image, to be processed;
• a color separation unit, communicatively coupled to the image input unit, for determining a color separation of the input image data entered by the image input means to separately extract color images for different colors including every color present in the input image data, wherein geometrical data specifying geometrical characteristics of each image portion of the input image data obtained from the input image data and color data specifying colors of each image portion and a background of the input image data obtained from the input image data are utilized for separately extracting said color images for different colors;
• and
• an image data processing unit, communicatively coupled to the color separation unit, for processing the input image data according to the color separation determined by the color separation unit,
• wherein the color separation unit determines the color separation for separating representative colors in the input image data, and the image data processing unit produces run length representations for the representative colors and a pointer table formed by pointers pointing to the run length representations, such that any of the representative colors can be looked up from the pointers of the pointer table.

An image processing system, comprising:

• an image input unit for entering an input image data, corresponding to a plurality of image portions of an input image, to be processed;
• a color separation unit, communicatively coupled to the image input unit, for determining a color separation of the input image data entered by the image input means to separately extract color images for different colors including every color present in the input image data, wherein geometrical data specifying geometrical characteristics of each image Portion of the input image data obtained from the input image data and color data specifying colors of each image portion and a background of the input image data obtained from the input image data are utilized for separately extracting said color images for different colors;
• and
• an image data processing unit, communicatively coupled to the color separation unit, for processing the input image data according to the color separation determined by the color separation unit,
• wherein the input image data is accompanied by attribution data indicating color correction parameters for the input image data, and the system further includes a reproducing unit for reproducing the color correction parameters from the attribution data accompanying the input image data and carrying out a color correction with respect to the input image data according to the reproduced color correction parameters.

An image processing system, comprising:

• image input means for receiving an input image data to be processed, said input image data including at least one of a color image, a gray scale image, and a binary image;
• a color image buffer connected to said image input means and configured to store and output a color image, if any, of said input image data;
• a gray scale image buffer connected to said image input means and to said color image buffer, said gray scale image buffer configured to store and output a gray scale image, if any, of said input image data, based on said color image, if any, output from said color image buffer;
• a binary image buffer connected to said image input means and to said gray scale image buffer, said binary image buffer configured to store and output a binary image, if any, of said input image data, based on said gray scale image, if any, output from said gray scale image buffer;
• a first, second and third data recognition unit respectively connected to said color image buffer, said gray scale image buffer, and said binary image buffer, and configured to respectively perform independent image data processing on said color image, if any, said gray scale image, if any, and said binary image, if any;
• and
• a result correction unit connected to said first, second and third data recognition units and configured to determine a data recognition based on said independent image data processing performed by said first, second and third data recognition units.

A character recognition apparatus for recognizing characters on an input image data, comprising:

• an input unit configured to receive the input image data;
• a color separation unit connected to the input unit and configured to determine a plurality of separate regions on the input image data, the separate regions being determined based on a same color existing throughout all of the separate regions;
• an image processing unit connected to the color separation unit and configured to perform image processing on the separate regions to obtain a combined region based on a proximity of a subset of the separate regions with respect to each other;
• and
• a character recognition unit connected to the image processing unit and configured to compare the combined region with a plurality of predetermined geometrical shapes representing known characters,
• wherein the subset of the separate regions are determined to correspond to one of the predetermined geometrical shapes that most closely matches the combined region with respect to a geometrical shape.

A method of image processing, comprising the steps of:

• entering an input image data to be processed;
• storing binary image data obtained from the input image data along with at least one of color image data and gray scale image data given by the input image data;
• and
• processing the binary image data stored at the storing step, wherein said at least one of the color image data and the gray scale image data stored at the storing step are utilized to correct inaccuracies contained in the binary image data while processing the binary image data,
• wherein the storing step further comprises the substeps of:
• extracting color image data from the input image data;
• extracting gray scale image data from the input image data and the color image data;
• extracting the binary image data from the input image data and the gray scale image data;
• and
• storing the binary image data in a binary image buffer,
• wherein the processing step further comprises the substeps of:
• performing a first character recognition based on the color image data, and outputting first character recognition data as a result thereof;
• performing a second character recognition based on the first character recognition data and the gray scale image data, and outputting second character recognition data as a result thereof;
• performing a third character recognition based on the second character recognition data and the binary image data, and outputting third character recognition data as a result thereof;
• and
• performing result correction to output an image recognition result based on the first, second and third character recognition data.