US 6,430,320 B1 · Image processing system with automatic image cropping and skew correction

Abstract

A system and method is described for automatically determining in a scanned document image the presence of unwanted extraneous information caused by an extraneous device and scanner background information. Once the presence of this information is determined, the system and method of the present invention can compute, for instance, skew and crop statistics. From this, the image can be automatically deskewed and cropped appropriately without the background and extraneous information. The system and method accomplishes this by first determining the presence of unwanted extraneous and background information and then appropriately processing the document image. The extraneous information is ignored during deskew and crop computations. Also, the scanner background and the extraneous information are prevented from being included in the final digital representation of the image.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method of processing a document image inside a scan image having a plurality of scan lines of pixels, comprising:

(a) applving at least one scan processing simulation to a portion of the scan image to produce a first processed simulation in a first resolution mode;
(b) providing a visual preview of the first processed simulation for approval;
(c) reversing the applied simulation to return the scan image to its original state and then either returning to step (a) to allow application of another scan processing simulation if the preview is disapproved or continuing to step (d) if the preview is approved;
and
(d) secondarily applying the approved scan processing simulation to the portion of the scan image in a second resolution mode that is higher than the first resolution mode.

2 more elements

A computer apparatus, comprising:

a computer executable program stored on a storage medium. the computer executable program, when executed, processes a document image inside a scan image having a plurality of scan lines of pixels by:
sending a portion of the scan image in a first resolution mode to a digital processor. applying and storing at least one scan processing simulation to a portion of the scan image, allowing approval or disapproval of the simulation, reversing the applied simulation, if the simulation is approved, sending a portion of the scan image in a second resolution mode higher than the first resolution mode to the digital processor without the simulation and applying the stored simulation to the portion of the scan image in the second resolution mode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Image processing system with automatic image cropping and skew correction

Life of this patent

Image processing system with automatic image cropping and skew correction

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12