IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20100097656A1
• Filed: 04/15/2009
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sano, Shinji, Takebayashi, Manabu, Arakawa, Junya, Namikata, Takeshi, Ito, Naoki, Iinuma, Osamu, Sakaue, Tsutomu, Misawa, Reiji, Kaburagi, Hiroshi, Kashibuchi, Yoichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,284,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/2.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/12 Edge-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6072 adapting to different types of images, e.g. characters, graphs, black and white image portions

Abstract

An input image is segmented into regions based on attributes of the input image. It is determined whether each segmented region is an illustration region. When it is determined that the segmented region is an illustration region, the color of the determined illustration region is compared with that of a region around the illustration region. When these colors coincide with each other as a result of the comparison, attribute information of the illustration region is changed to that of the region around the illustration region. Print data is generated based on the changed attribute information.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus which segments an input image into regions, assigns attribute information to the segmented regions, and generates print data based on the attribute information, the apparatus comprising:

a unit that segments the input image into regions based on attributes of the input image;

a determination unit that determines whether each segmented region is an illustration region;

a comparison unit that, when the segmented region is determined to be an illustration region, compares a color of the determined illustration region with a color of a region around the illustration region;

a change unit that, when the color of the determined illustration region and the color of the region around the illustration region coincide with each other as a result of the comparison, changes attribute information of the illustration region to attribute information of the region around the illustration region; and

a generation unit that generates print data based on the changed attribute information.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the illustration region is a region where a contour of an object is clearer than a natural image, and the number of colors is limited.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information is an identifier for specifying image processing to be applied to the segmented region, and is information representing one of a text, an image, graphics, and a line.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print data is one of PDF data, SVG data, and PDL data each including the attribute information, vector data, and image data.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a unit that generates attribute image data and image data based on the print data, specifies image processing to be applied to the image data based on the attribute image data, and prints.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an editing unit that allows a user to perform an edit operation for the illustration region,

wherein when the edit operation is performed, said comparison unit and said change unit are further executed for the edited illustration region.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the edit operation includes at least one of enlargement, reduction, copying, movement, and rotation.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the illustration region is segmented into regions by a representative color,

the illustration region is vectorized using contour lines of the segmented regions to generate vector data, and

said comparison unit and said change unit are executed for the vector data.

9. An image processing method of segmenting an input image into regions, assigning attribute information to the segmented regions, and generating print data based on the attribute information, the method comprising:

segmenting the input image into regions based on attributes of the input image;

determining whether each segmented region is an illustration region;

when the segmented region is determined to be an illustration region, comparing a color of the determined illustration region with a color of a region around the illustration region;

when the color of the determined illustration region and the color of the region around the illustration region coincide with each other as a result of the comparison, changing attribute information of the illustration region to attribute information of the region around the illustration region; and

generating print data based on the changed attribute information.

10. A program, which is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, for causing a computer to execute an image processing method defined in claim 9.

11. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method defined in claim 9.