Image inspection apparatus and method

An image inspection method of determining whether a test image is a copy of an original image, comprising:

• a first step of generating an original image group by transforming the original image according to one or more types of image transform within a color space, wherein the original image group comprises the original image and a plurality of images obtained by said transforming;
• a second step of organizing a database of color difference data obtained by transforming the color space of each of the images in the original image group to a common color space and calculating first spatial color differences between the original image and images among the images in the original image group;
• a third step of, upon receiving a request for image inspection while the database of the color difference data is available, receiving, by an image input unit the original image group, the test image, and the color difference data corresponding to the first spatial color differences and providing the original image group, the test image, and the color difference data corresponding to the first spatial color differences to a spatial color difference inspection unit;
• a fourth step of calculating, by the spatial color difference inspection unit, second spatial color differences between the test image and the images in the original image group;
• a fifth step of comparing, by the spatial color difference inspection unit, the second spatial color differences to the color difference data corresponding to the first spatial color differences in the database and generating a comparison result;
• and
• a sixth step of determining whether the test image is a copy of the original image based on the comparison result of the fifth step.

An image inspection apparatus for determining whether a test image is a copy of an original image, comprising:

• an image group generation unit comprising an image transform determining unit and an image transform unit,
• wherein the image transform determining unit receives the original image to determine one or more types of image transform, and the image transform unit performs a plurality of levels of each of the one or more types of image transform on the original image according to the determined types of image transform to generate an original image group, each of the plurality of levels corresponding to a different degree of transform;
• a spatial color difference computing unit that transforms a color space of the each of the images original image group to a common color space, and calculates first spatial color differences between the original image and images in the original image group to provide color difference data corresponding to the first spatial color differences;
• an image inspection unit that receives the test image and the original image group and calculates second spatial color differences between the test image and the images in the original image group, and compares the second spatial color differences to the color difference data corresponding to the first spatial color differences to generate a comparison result, wherein the image inspection unit includes an image input unit that receives the original image group, the test image and the color difference data corresponding to the first spatial color differences;
• and
• an inspection result output unit that outputs the comparison result.