Image processing method, apparatus and system

An image processing method, comprising:

• receiving, from a camera, a camera captured image comprising a user drawn image, at least part of the user drawn image being within a field of view of the camera;
• applying an image processing operation to the camera captured image so as to generate an image feature within the camera captured image which corresponds to the user drawn image;
• thinning the image feature to a line width which is smaller than a line width associated with the image feature so as to generate a modified width image feature;
• and
• generating vector data from pixels associated with the modified width image feature so that the vector data substantially represents the modified width image feature;
• in which:
• the vector data comprises a plurality of vectors, each having an associated magnitude and direction, and each of the vectors has substantially the same magnitude.

A tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium on which is stored instructions of a computer program, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the computer to perform an image processing method comprising:

• receiving, from a camera, a camera captured image comprising a user drawn image, at least part of the user drawn image being within a field of view of the camera;
• applying an image processing operation to the camera captured image so as to generate an image feature within the camera captured image which corresponds to the user drawn image;
• thinning the image feature to a line width which is smaller than a line width associated with the image feature so as to generate a modified width image feature;
• and
• generating vector data from pixels associated with the modified width image feature so that the vector data substantially represents the modified width image feature;
• wherein the image processing operation comprises:
• carrying out a flood fill operation on the camera captured image so as to detect boundary pixels associated with a boundary between a first image region corresponding to the user drawn image and a second image region corresponding to a flood filled image area;
• and
• for each boundary pixel, associating a predetermined number of pixels surrounding the boundary pixel with that boundary pixel,
• in which the image feature comprises the boundary pixels together with the pixels associated with those boundary pixels.

Image processing apparatus comprising:

• an image receiver to receive, from a camera, a camera captured image comprising a user drawn image, at least part of the user drawn image being within a field of view of the camera;
• an image processor to apply an image processing operation to the camera captured image so as to generate an image feature within the camera captured image which corresponds to the user drawn image;
• an image thinner to thin the image feature to a line width which is smaller than a line width associated with the image feature so as to generate a modified width image feature;
• and
• a vector data generator to generate vector data from pixels associated with the modified width image feature so that the vector data substantially represents the modified width image feature;
• wherein the image processing operation comprises:
• carrying out a flood fill operation on the camera captured image so as to detect boundary pixels associated with a boundary between a first image region corresponding to the user drawn image and a second image region corresponding to a flood filled image area;
• and
• for each boundary pixel, associating a predetermined number of pixels surrounding the boundary pixel with that boundary pixel,
• in which the image feature comprises the boundary pixels together with the pixels associated with those boundary pixels.

An image processing system comprising:

• an image processing apparatus;
• and
• a camera operable to capture a camera captured image comprising a user drawn image, and to transmit the camera captured image to the image processing apparatus,
• the image processing apparatus comprising:
• an image receiver to receive, from the camera, the camera captured image comprising the user drawn image, at least part of the user drawn image being within a field of view of the camera;
• an image processor to apply an image processing operation to the camera captured image so as to generate an image feature within the camera captured image which corresponds to the user drawn image;
• an image thinner to thin the image feature to a line width which is smaller than a line width associated with the image feature so as to generate a modified width image feature;
• and
• a vector data generator to generate vector data from pixels associated with the modified width image feature so that the vector data substantially represents the modified width image feature;
• wherein the image processing operation comprises:
• carrying out a flood fill operation on the camera captured image so as to detect boundary pixels associated with a boundary between a first image region corresponding to the user drawn image and a second image region corresponding to a flood filled image area;
• and
• for each boundary pixel, associating a predetermined number of pixels surrounding the boundary pixel with that boundary pixel,
• in which the image feature comprises the boundary pixels together with the pixels associated with those boundary pixels.

Image processing apparatus comprising:

• receiving means operable to receive, from a camera, a camera captured image comprising a user drawn image, at least part of the user drawn image being within a field of view of the camera;
• image processing means operable to apply an image processing operation to the camera captured image so as to generate an image feature within the camera captured image which corresponds to the user drawn image;
• image thinning means operable to thin the image feature to a line width which is smaller than a line width associated with the image feature so as to generate a modified width image feature;
• and
• vector data generating means operable to generate vector data from pixels associated with the modified width image feature so that the vector data substantially represents the modified width image feature;
• wherein the image processing operation comprises:
• carrying out a flood fill operation on the camera captured image so as to detect boundary pixels associated with a boundary between a first image region corresponding to the user drawn image and a second image region corresponding to a flood filled image area;
• and
• for each boundary pixel, associating a predetermined number of pixels surrounding the boundary pixel with that boundary pixel,
• in which the image feature comprises the boundary pixels together with the pixels associated with those boundary pixels.

An image processing system comprising:

• an image processing apparatus;
• and
• a camera operable to capture a camera captured image comprising a user drawn image, and to transmit the camera captured image to the image processing apparatus,
• the image processing apparatus comprising:
• receiving means operable to receive, from the camera, the camera captured image comprising the user drawn image, at least part of the user drawn image being within a field of view of the camera;
• image processing means operable to apply an image processing operation to the camera captured image so as to generate an image feature within the camera captured image which corresponds to the user drawn image;
• image thinning means operable to thin the image feature to a line width which is smaller than a line width associated with the image feature so as to generate a modified width image feature;
• and
• vector data generating means operable to generate vector data from pixels associated with the modified width image feature so that the vector data substantially represents the modified width image feature;
• wherein the vector data comprises a plurality of vectors, each having an associated magnitude and direction, and each of the vectors has substantially the same magnitude.