IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20070047814A1
• Filed: 08/30/2006
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Taeko
• Granted Patent: US 7,933,447 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/176
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4406 Restricting access, e.g. according to user identity mechanisms actuated y cards, PIN or the like in apparatus for dispensing G07F7/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/444 to a particular document or image or part thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4446 Hiding of documents or document information

Abstract

A document includes a region with a high character recognition ratio, and that with not so high a character recognition ratio. Hence, even when identical types of information are provided because they have the same attribute, it is hard to say that satisfactory information provision can be made. Also, different kinds of information are required depending on output methods. To solve these problems, output information to be output for each region is determined based on information of an output destination of a document image and attributes of respective regions in the document image, and pieces of output information to be output are combined to be output to the output destination. The output information to be output for each region may be determined based on the information of the output destination of the document image, the attributes of the respective regions in the document image, and user'"'"'s authority information.

Claims

1. An image processing method comprising the steps of:

obtaining information of an output destination of a document image stored in a memory;

determining types of output information to be output for respective regions based on the information of the output destination and attributes of the respective regions in the document image;

obtaining pieces of output information of the types to be output for the respective regions;

combining the pieces of output information obtained for the respective regions into a document image; and

outputting the combined document image to the output destination.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

dividing a document image to be registered into a plurality of regions based on image attributes;

transforming images in the divided regions into one or a plurality of types of output information;

generating structured document information indicating a structure of the document image by associating pieces of the output information of the respective regions; and

storing the structured document information and the pieces of output information of the respective regions in the memory as the document image.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining step of the output information comprises the step of transforming, for a region in which no output information of the type to be output is available, output information of a type different from the type to be output into the output information of the type to be output, so as to obtain the output region of that region.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of storing the output information obtained by transforming the output information of the different type in the memory in association with the region.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining step of the output information comprises the step of retrieving, for a region in which no output information of the type to be output is available, the output information of the type to be output similar to the image in that region, so as to obtain the retrieved output region as the output information of that region.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of storing the retrieved output information in the memory in association with the region.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein information associated with the document image stored in the memory includes attribute information of each region and layout information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the output information is at least one of a resolution-variable raster image, a vector image, a monochrome image, a color image, a three-dimensional image, text of a character recognition result, font information, and a translation result into another language.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining step includes a step of determining the types of output information to be output for the respective regions based on the information of the output destination and characteristics of the output information of the respective regions.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining authority information of a user who inputs an output instruction of the document image, wherein the obtaining step of the output information includes a step of obtaining the output information for each region based on the information of the output destination and the authority information of the user.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein information associated with the document image stored in the memory includes use authority information set for each region, and the obtaining step of the output information includes a step of obtaining the output information for each region based on the information of the output destination, the authority information of the user, and the use authority information of each region.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

dividing a document image to be registered into a plurality of regions based on image attributes;

transforming images in the divided regions into one or a plurality of types of output information;

setting the use authority information for each region;

generating structured document information indicating a structure of the document image by associating pieces of the output information of the respective regions and pieces of the use authority information of the respective regions; and

storing the structured document information and the pieces of output information of the respective regions in the memory as the document image.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the authority information of the user includes authority indicating whether or not transformation of the output information is permitted.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the authority information of the user includes authority indicating whether or not retrieval of output information similar to an image in a region is permitted.

15. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a first obtainer, arranged to obtain information of an output destination of a document image stored in a memory;

a determiner, arranged to determine types of output information to be output for respective regions based on the information of the output destination and attributes of the respective regions in the document image;

a second obtainer, arranged to obtain pieces of output information of the types to be output for the respective regions;

a combiner, arranged to combine the pieces of output information obtained for the respective regions into a document image; and

an output unit, arranged to output the combined document image to the output destination.

16. A computer program for an image processing method, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining information of an output destination of a document image stored in a memory;

determining types of output information to be output for respective regions based on the information of the output destination and attributes of the respective regions in the document image;

obtaining pieces of output information of the types to be output for the respective regions;

combining the pieces of output information obtained for the respective regions into a document image; and

outputting the combined document image to the output destination.

17. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium comprising program code for an image processing method, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining information of an output destination of a document image stored in a memory;

determining types of output information to be output for respective regions based on the information of the output destination and attributes of the respective regions in the document image;

obtaining pieces of output information of the types to be output for the respective regions;

combining the pieces of output information obtained for the respective regions into a document image; and

outputting the combined document image to the output destination.