Image processing methods, image processing systems, and articles of manufacture

• US 20070253031A1
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Fan, Jian
• Granted Patent: US 8,213,687 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/3.270
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00681 Detecting the presence, position or size of a sheet or correcting its position before scanning H04N1/047 takes precedence; mode signalling H04N1/333; skew detection or correction in image signals H04N1/3878
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0071 Width
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00713 Length
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00718 Skew
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00737 using the scanning elements as detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00763 Action taken as a result of detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/38 Circuits or arrangements for blanking or otherwise eliminating unwanted parts of pictures H04N1/387 takes precedence

Abstract

Image processing methods, image processing systems, and articles of manufacture are described. According to one aspect, an image processing method includes defining an image dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of a plurality of images which are associated with one another, determining a plurality of image boundaries individually corresponding to a size of the data content of a respective one of the images, comparing individual ones of the image boundaries with respect to the image dimension providing difference information for respective ones of the images and indicative of differences of the respective image boundaries with respect to the image dimension, and adjusting the images using respective difference information corresponding to respective ones of the images.

Claims

1. An image processing method comprising:

defining an image dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of a plurality of images which are associated with one another;

determining a plurality of image boundaries individually corresponding to a size of the data content of a respective one of the images;

comparing individual ones of the image boundaries with respect to the image dimension providing difference information for respective ones of the images and indicative of differences of the respective image boundaries with respect to the image dimension; and

adjusting the images using respective difference information corresponding to respective ones of the images.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the images include a plurality of pages of a bound book;

and

further comprising identifying binding sides of the pages corresponding to sides of the pages bound to a spine of the book, and wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting using the identified binding sides.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining comprises, for one of the images:

identifying an initial bounding box corresponding to a size of body content of the one of the images; and

increasing the size of the initial bounding box to another bounding box corresponding to the image boundary of the one of the images.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the initial bounding box does not include margins about the body content and the another bounding box includes the margins.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining comprises, for one of the images, searching the one of the images for a defined shape corresponding to a shape of the data content of the one of the images.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the searching comprises searching the one of the images for a plurality of lines of the defined shape.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising restricting the search for the lines to a plurality of regions of the one of the images corresponding to the top portion, bottom portion, left portion and right portion of the one of the images.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying the presence of margins in the images, and wherein the adjusting is responsive to the identified presence of the margins.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting comprises cropping at least a portion of one of the images and deskewing another of the images.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether to perform the adjusting of the images using the images and wherein the adjusting is responsive to the determining.

11. An image processing system comprising:

processing circuitry configured to access a plurality of images which are associated with one another, to process the images which includes using one of the images to identify a portion of another of the images, and to crop the identified portion of the another of the images after the identification.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to use the one of the images to identify an image dimension indicative of a common size of data content of the images, and to use the image dimension to identify the portion of the another of the images.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is configured define an image boundary for the another of the images and corresponding to a size of the data content of the another of the images, and to compare the image boundary of the another of the images with the image dimension to identify the portion of the another of the images.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate difference information responsive to the comparison and to crop the identified portion of the another of the image using the difference information.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to identify an initial bounding box corresponding to body content of the another of the images, and to increase the size of the initial bounding box to another bounding box including margins about the body content, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to identify the portion of the another of the images comprising content of the image external of the another bounding box.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to identify a defined shape within the another of the images to identify the portion of the another of the images.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to search the another of the images for the presence of a plurality of lines of the defined shape comprising a rectangle.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the cropped portion of the another of the images includes content external of data content of the another of the images.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the images comprise images of a book, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to identify binding sides of the one and the another images bound to a spine of the book, and to crop the identified portion of the another of the images using the identification of the binding sides.

20. An article of manufacture comprising:

media comprising programming configured to cause processing circuitry to perform processing comprising;

accessing a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of pages of a book;

defining a page dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of the images;

determining a plurality of page boundaries individually corresponding to a respective one of the images;

analyzing the page boundaries with respect to the page dimension; and

cropping the images using information of the analyzing.