Apparatus and method for extracting outline data and encoding image data using the outline data
First Claim
1. An outline data extraction apparatus for processing a raster-scan signal representing an image, and producing a signal representative of an outline of the image, said apparatus comprising:
- input means for inputting image data including black and white pixels in a raster scanning form, in units of one scan line of image data;
a processor comprising extraction means for extracting vector data surrounding each black pixel in each scan line of the image data input by said input means, wherein said extracted vector data for each black pixel comprises a plurality of outline vectors surrounding each black pixel and incoming and outgoing vectors for each of said outline vectors, wherein an incoming vector of one of said outline vectors has an end point which is a start point of said one of said outline vectors, and wherein an outgoing vector of one of said outline vectors has a start point which is an end point of said one of said outline vectorsstorage means for storing the vector data extracted by said extraction means into an outline vector table;
wherein said processor further comprises updating means for updating the incoming and outdoing vectors in the outline vector table for each of said outline vectors, both in the case when two incoming and outgoing vectors are present in the outline vector table for one of the outline vectors, and in the case when a vector in the outline vector table overlaps one of the outline vectors; and
a memory for registering the updated incoming and outgoing vectors stored in the outline vector table and outputting the updated outline vector table.
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Abstract
An outline extraction method and apparatus which extracts a line of interest from image data in order of raster scanning and detects outline vectors of the pixels in the line of interest. The detected outline vectors are sequentially stored in a memory, a state of connection between the stored outline vectors and the other outline vectors in the line of interest is determined, and the outline of the image data is extracted based on the state. Accordingly, coordinates of an intersecting point of the outline of the image data with the coordinate axis of the outline vector is obtained and the image data is coded by generating coded data indicating a white run length and black run length for every line from the coordinates of the intersecting point.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. An outline data extraction apparatus for processing a raster-scan signal representing an image, and producing a signal representative of an outline of the image, said apparatus comprising:
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input means for inputting image data including black and white pixels in a raster scanning form, in units of one scan line of image data; a processor comprising extraction means for extracting vector data surrounding each black pixel in each scan line of the image data input by said input means, wherein said extracted vector data for each black pixel comprises a plurality of outline vectors surrounding each black pixel and incoming and outgoing vectors for each of said outline vectors, wherein an incoming vector of one of said outline vectors has an end point which is a start point of said one of said outline vectors, and wherein an outgoing vector of one of said outline vectors has a start point which is an end point of said one of said outline vectors storage means for storing the vector data extracted by said extraction means into an outline vector table; wherein said processor further comprises updating means for updating the incoming and outdoing vectors in the outline vector table for each of said outline vectors, both in the case when two incoming and outgoing vectors are present in the outline vector table for one of the outline vectors, and in the case when a vector in the outline vector table overlaps one of the outline vectors; and a memory for registering the updated incoming and outgoing vectors stored in the outline vector table and outputting the updated outline vector table. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18)
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6. An outline data extraction method for processing a raster-scan signal representing an image, and producing a signal representative of an outline, said method comprising the steps of:
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inputting image data including black and white pixels in a raster scanning form, in units of one scan line of image data; extracting vector data surrounding each black pixel in each scan line of the image data input in said inputting step, wherein the extracted vector data for each black pixel comprises a plurality of outline vectors surrounding each black pixel and incoming and outgoing vectors for each of said outline vectors, wherein an incoming vector of one of said outline vectors has an end point which is a start point of said one of said outline vectors, and wherein an outgoing vector of one of said outline vectors has a start point which is an end point of said one of said outline vectors; storing the vector data extracted in said extraction step into an outline vector table; updating the incoming and outgoing vectors in the outline vector table for each of said outline vectors, both in the case when two incoming and outgoing vectors are present in the outline vector table for one of the outline vectors, and in the case when a vector in the outline vector table overlaps one of the outline vectors; and registering the updated incoming and outgoing vectors stored in the outline vector table and outputting the updated outline vector table. - View Dependent Claims (7, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 40)
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12. An apparatus for processing a raster-scan signal representing image data including black pixels, identifying and extracting outline data from the image data, and producing a signal representative of the outline, said apparatus comprising:
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input means for inputting image data including black and white pixels in a raster scanning form, in units of one scan line of image data; a processor comprising extraction means for extracting vector data surrounding each black pixel in each scan line of the image data input by said input means, wherein the extracted vector data for each black pixel comprises a plurality of outline vectors surrounding each black pixel and incoming and outgoing vectors for said plurality of outline vector, wherein an incoming vector of one of said outline vectors has an end point which is a start point of said one of said outline vectors, and wherein an outgoing vector of one of said outline vectors has a start point which is an end point of said one of said outline vectors; storage means for storing the vector data into an outline vector table; wherein said processor further comprises deleting means for deleting vector data stored in the outline vector table, which has an opposite direction to the direction of outline vector data to be registered, and for updating the incoming and outgoing vectors related to deleted vector data; and a memory for registering the vector data and the incoming and outgoing vectors stored in the outline vector table and outputting the updated outline vector table. - View Dependent Claims (13, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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14. A method for processing a raster-scan signal representing image data including black pixels, identifying and extracting outline data from the image data, and producing a signal representative of the outline, said method comprising the steps of:
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inputting image data including black and white pixels in a raster scanning form, in units of one scan line of image data; extracting vector data surrounding each black pixel in each scan line of the image data, wherein the vector data for each black pixel comprises a plurality of outline vectors surrounding each black pixel and incoming and outgoing vectors for said plurality of outline vector, wherein an incoming vector of one of said outline vectors has an end point which is a start point of said one of said outline vectors, and wherein an outgoing vector of one of said outline vectors has a start point which is an end point of said one of said outline vectors; storing the vector data and the incoming and outgoing vectors into an outline vector table; deleting vector data stored in the outline vector table, which has an opposite direction to the direction of outline vector data to be registered; updating the incoming and outgoing vectors related to deleted vector data in said deleting step; and registering the updated vector data and the incoming and outgoing vector data in the outline vector table and outputting the updated outline vector table. - View Dependent Claims (15, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification