Image processing apparatus, computer readable medium storing program, and image processing method

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for image processing, the process comprising:

• receiving an image including at least a character image;
• calculating a separation path in the received image, the separation path comprising a line segment that separates a character image from the image and is defined by a convergence of paths about an outer boundary of the character image;
• and
• separating the received image into a plurality of character images using the calculated separation path,
• wherein in the calculating, a separation path is calculated within a predetermined range including a portion of a character image in the image so that a cumulative value of luminance values of pixels along the separation path satisfies a predetermined condition.

An image processing method comprising:

• receiving an image including at least a character image;
• calculating a separation path in the received image, the separation path comprising a line segment that separates a character image from the image and is defined by a convergence of paths about an outer boundary of the character image;
• and
• separating the received image into a plurality of character images using the calculated separation path,
• wherein in the calculating, the separation path is calculated within a predetermined range including a portion of a character image in the image so that a cumulative value of luminance values of pixels along the separation path satisfies a predetermined condition.

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a receiving unit that receives an image including at least a character image;
• a path calculation unit that calculates a separation path in the image received by the receiving unit, the separation path comprising a line segment that separates a character image from the image;
• and
• a separation unit that separates the image received by the receiving unit into a plurality of character images using the separation path calculated by the path calculation unit,
• wherein the path calculation unit calculates a separation path within a predetermined range including a portion of a character image in the image so that a cumulative value of products of the luminance values of pixels along the separation path and weight coefficients based on a movement of the separation path satisfies the predetermined condition.

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a receiving unit that receives an image including at least a character image;
• a path calculation unit that calculates a separation path in the image received by the receiving unit, the separation path comprising a line segment that separates a character image from the image;
• and
• a separation unit that separates the image received by the receiving unit into a plurality of character images using the separation path calculated by the path calculation unit,
• wherein the path calculation unit calculates the separation path within a predetermined range including a portion of a character image in the image so that a cumulative value of luminance values of pixels along the separation path satisfies a predetermined condition, and
• wherein the path calculation unit determines whether a width of a gap between adjacent separation paths satisfies a third predetermined condition, and, based on a determination corresponding to the third predetermined condition, the path calculation unit combines the adjacent separation paths into one separation path.

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a receiving unit that receives an image including at least a character image;
• a path calculation unit that calculates a separation path in the image received by the receiving unit, the separation path comprising a line segment that separates a character image from the image;
• and
• a separation unit that separates the image received by the receiving unit into a plurality of character images using the separation path calculated by the path calculation unit,
• wherein the path calculation unit calculates the separation path within a predetermined range including a portion of a character image in the image so that a cumulative value of luminance values of pixels along the separation path satisfies a predetermined condition, and
• wherein the path calculation unit determines whether a cumulative value of luminance values of pixels in the gap between adjacent separation paths satisfies a fourth predetermined condition, and, based on a determination corresponding to the fourth predetermined condition, the path calculation unit combines the adjacent separation paths into one separation path.