Method and apparatus for elimination of color from multi-color image documents

A method of eliminating color from multi-color image documents having an image and a background, in processing of said document for optical character recognition, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing concurrently all color information signals for each picture element of said image of said document, said providing performed simultaneously;
• b) analyzing said color information signals of all colors for each picture element;
• c) selecting a color information signal for each picture element which has the minimum contrast relative to said background of said document;
• d) outputting only said selected color information signal for each picture element having said minimum contrast;
• e) converting said selected color information signal to a value representative of the picture element with the color dropped out of the image;
• f) assembling a data base of the values representing the picture elements with the color dropped out forming a data base representative of a black and white image,
• wherein said simultaneously providing is performed by projecting an image of a picture element onto an inclined one line CCD color image sensor providing an approximately simultaneous output of the primary color component signals, wherein said inclined sensor is inclined by approximately 45 degrees.

A method of eliminating color from multi-color image documents having an image and a background, in processing of said document for optical character recognition, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing concurrently all color information signals for each picture element of said image of said document;
• b) analyzing said color information signals of all colors for each picture element;
• c) selecting a color information signal for each picture element which has the minimum contrast relative to said background of said document;
• d) outputting only said selected color information signal for each picture element having said minimum contrast;
• e) converting said selected color information signal to a value representative of the picture element with the color dropped out of the image;
• f) assembling a data base of the values representing the picture elements with the color dropped out forming a data base representative of a black and white image, and
• g) weighting and combining said color image signals into one output, providing a weighted color grey signal for archiving purposes.

A method of eliminating color from multi-color image documents having an image and a background, in processing of said document for optical character recognition, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing concurrently all color information signals for each picture element of said image of said document, said providing concurrently all color information performed in a time multiplexed manner;
• b) analyzing said color information signals of all colors for each picture element;
• c) selecting a color information signal for each picture element which has the minimum contrast relative to said background of said document;
• d) outputting only said selected color information signal for each picture element having said minimum contrast;
• e) converting said selected color information signal to a value representative of the picture element with the color dropped out of the image;
• f) assembling a data base of the values representing the picture elements with the color dropped out forming a data base representative of a black and white image;
• said time-multiplex manner comprising scanning each picture element of an image for each primary color component and delaying results of each primary color component scan until all color scan results of each pel are available;
• and
• g) weighting and combining said color image signals into one output, providing a weighted color grey signal for archiving purposes.

Apparatus for elimination of representations of color from a scanned data collection electronically representing a multi-color document, said document having an image and a background comprising:

• a) means for providing concurrently signals for all color information of each picture element of the image of said document;
• b) means for determining a maximum signal value for all color information signals for analyzing said color information signals of all input colors of each picture element simultaneously and for outputting only said color information signal having said determined maximum value;
• c) means for converting said signal having said maximum value to a digital value representative of either a black or white picture element with the color dropped out of the image, and
• d) means for assembling a data base of said digital values representing all picture elements of said document image with the color dropped out of the image, for character recognition,
• thereby converting said scanned data collection to a data base of digital values representing said document image in a black and white form with all color representation eliminated.