EP0472313A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Image processing method and apparatus therefor
Assignee: Canon Inc
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Filing: 1991-08-02
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-08-02
Abstract
Abstract A character recognition method capable of determining the direction of row of characters, applicable to a language which can be written in horizontal or vertical direction, such as Japanese language, is disclosed. The method takes projection in both directions, by counting black pixels, and compares the obtained counts with a threshold value. The text is identified as horizontally or vertically written, respectively if the count exceed the threshold value more in the horizontal or vertical direction. Projection is taken again in the perpendicular direction, after the writing direction is determined, to extract each character, which is subjected to character recognition in known manner. Thus the method can achieve automatic recognition, without instruction of the direction of writing, by the operator.
Inventors
- 👤 Tadanori C/O Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Nakatsuka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-31 03:17
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V30/00; G06V30/10; G06V30/14; G06V30/146; G06V30/1463
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
51 words
An image processing method comprising steps of: counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; comparing the results of said counting with a threshold value; and determining the direction of row of characters in said input image information, according to the results of said comparison.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
28 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said threshold value includes a first threshold value for the horizontal direction and a second threshold value for the vertical direction.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said threshold value corresponds to the size of area of said image information.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
56 words
An image processing method comprising steps of: counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; comparing maximum values in the horizontal and vertical directions in said counting of image data, and determining the direction of row of characters in said input image information according to the result of said comparison.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 4, wherein the results of said counting of image data are corrected according to the size of area of said image information.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
58 words
An image processing method comprising steps of: counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical direction; deriving a vertical-to-horizontal ratio of a rectangular area of character information extracted according to the results of said counting; and determining the direction of row of characters in said image information according to thus derived vertical-to-horizontal ratio.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
44 words
An image processing method comprising steps of; counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; and deriving the direction of row of characters in a partical area in said image information, according to the results of said counting.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
68 words
An image processing apparatus compressing: counter means for counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; comparator means for comparing the results of counting of image data by said counter means with a threshold value; and direction determining means for determining the direction of row of characters in said input image information, according to the result of comparison by said comparator means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said threshold value includes a first threshold value for the horizontal direction and a second threshold value for the vertical direction.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
20 words
An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said threshold value corresponds to the size of area of said image information.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
70 words
An image processing apparatus compressing: counter means for counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; comparator means for comparing the maximum values in the horizontal and vertical directions in the image data counted by said counter means; and determination means for determining the direction of row of characters in said input image information, according to the result of comparison by said comparator means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
30 words
An apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising correction means for correcting the results of counting by said counter means, according to the size of area of said image information.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
72 words
An image processing apparatus comprising: counter means for counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; derivation means for deriving a vertical-to-horizontal ratio of a rectangular area of character information extracted according to the results of counting by said counter means; and determination means for determining the direction of row of characters in said image information, according to thus derived vertical-to-horizontal ratio by said derivation means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
52 words
An image processing apparatus comprising: counter means for counting image data, on the input image information, in the horizontal and vertical directions; and derivation means for deriving the direction of a row of characters in a partial area in said image information, according to the results of counting by said counter means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
32 words
Text processing apparatus comprising means for inputting text information and means for determining whether said text information comprises text written parallel or perpendicular to the axis of the characters of said text.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
20 words
Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising means for scanning in an image including said text, and for recognising characters therefrom.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
20 words
Apparatus according to claim 16, comprising means for recognising separate areas of said images corresponding to separately oriented text areas.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
15 words
Apparatus for determining the orientation of text comprising means for statistically analysing the orientation thereof.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
17 words
Apparatus for recognising text orientation comprising means for recognising the orientation of the ragged edge of text.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
15 words
A document scanner comprising means for performing print density histogram derivation in two orthogonal directions.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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