Image analysis – Image enhancement or restoration – Artifact removal or suppression
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-14
2004-02-24
Mehta, Bhavesh M. (Department: 2625)
Image analysis
Image enhancement or restoration
Artifact removal or suppression
C358S461000, C358S463000, C358S464000, C358S515000, C382S163000, C382S164000, C382S165000, C382S203000, C382S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06697536
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a document image scanning apparatus and method thereof, which obtain document images by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus such as a camera, in particular, which can obtain the document images at the right timing by separating hand images from document images technically even at the case that an operator does not take the hand off the documents.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
As a conventional document image scanning apparatus, for example, Technical Report of The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers describes “Document Management by Desk Scene Analysis” in pattern recognition and media understanding (PRMU) 98-153 pp. 25-32, 1998. And the operation of a document image scanning apparatus is mentioned in a Fig.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of this conventional document image scanning apparatus. As shown in
FIG. 1
, this conventional document image scanning apparatus consists of an image inputting section
101
composed of a scanner that is a non-contact type instrument such as a camera, and obtains images at a designated time interval, and a document image scanning section
202
. This conventional document image scanning apparatus detects a document
303
that a hand
304
of an operator places on a desk, and obtains an image of the document.
FIG. 2
is a block diagram showing a structure of the conventional document image scanning apparatus. As mentioned above, the conventional document image scanning apparatus consists of the image inputting section
101
and the document image scanning section
202
. The document image scanning section
202
consists of an image memorizing section
103
, a movement detecting section
104
, a hand region detecting section
206
, a hand region removing section
207
, and a document image forming section
212
. With this structure, for example, the image inputting section
101
takes images at a speed of a sheet per ten seconds and transfers the taken images to the document image scanning section
202
.
Each section of the document image scanning section
202
performs the following operation. First, the images transferred from the image inputting section
101
are memorized at the image memorizing section
103
, and the images memorized in the image memorizing section
103
are transferred to the movement detecting section
104
. At the movement detecting section
104
, the difference in corresponding pixels between an image I (t) at time “t” and an image I (t−1) at right before time “t−1” is calculated. And the difference image F of the calculated result is transferred to the hand region detecting section
206
and the hand region removing section
207
. At the hand region detecting section
206
divides the difference image F into regions, and the regions connecting to the upper side in the difference image F are detected as the hand regions, and the detected regions are transferred to the hand region removing section
207
. The hand region removing section
207
removes the regions detected at the hand region detecting section
206
from the difference image F, and judges the remaining parts in the difference image F as a document region, and transfers the remaining region to the document image forming section
212
. The document image forming section
212
cuts out the same region that the hand region removing section
207
judged as the document region from the image I (t) read from the image memorizing section
103
, and forms a sheet of an image and makes the image the document image. And the document image is outputted from a terminal
113
.
However, at the conventional document image scanning apparatus mentioned above, there are following problems. At the conventional document image scanning apparatus, the hand region detecting section
206
regards the region connecting to the upper side of the image as the hand region, and decides that the region removed the regarded hand region is the document region. However, when an operator handles documents on a desk, the operator does not always take the hand off the document. Therefore, there is a problem that the document image can not be obtained, unless the operator takes the hand off the document.
And the document image is obtained at the timing when the hand is taken off the document, therefore, when a document is obtained in a state that the hand is not taken off the document, there is a problem that the document part and the hand part can not be separated. And also, there is a problem that the timing when the document should be obtained can not be controlled. And in case that the pages of a book are turned, there is a problem that unnecessary images during the pages are turning are obtained.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a document image scanning apparatus and method thereof, in which document images can be obtained at the right timing by separating hand images from document images technically, even at the case that the hand images and the document images are not separated.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images. The document image scanning apparatus provides an image being still detecting means for detecting that said inputted image became still, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when said image being still detecting means detected a still image.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides an image being still detecting means for detecting that said inputted image became still, a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when said image being still detecting means detected a still image.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides an image being still detecting means for detecting that said inputted image became still, a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, a hand movement feature extracting means for extracting features of hand movements, a document movement feature extracting means for extracting features of document movements, a turning pages or moving documents judging means for judging whether a movement is turning pages or moving documents from said features extracted at said hand movement feature extracting means and said document movement feature extracting means, a document region judging means for judging a document region by said movement of turning pages or moving documents, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when said image being still detecting means detected a still image.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from a displayed image.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning
Desire Gregory
NEC Corporation
LandOfFree
Document image scanning apparatus and method thereof does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Document image scanning apparatus and method thereof, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Document image scanning apparatus and method thereof will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3343457