Method and apparatus for automatic cleaning and enhancing of scanned documents
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for producing a cleaned-up digital image of a document including essential data images and undesired noise images, comprising:
- (a) digitally scanning the document to produce a first digital representation of the data images and the noise images;
(b) performing a first object grabbing operation on the first digital representation to identify all object images thereof;
(c) determining a skew angle of a straight line having a predetermined relationship to some objects representative of the essential data images and de-skewing the document by rotating the first digital representation by an amount equal to the magnitude of the skew angle to provide a de-skewed first digital representation;
(d) performing a second object grabbing operation on the de-skewed first digital representation to create an object list of all object images of the de-skewed first digital representation;
(e) identifying a portion of the de-skewed first digital representation corresponding to a picture region of the document;
(f) producing a reduced-resolution representation of the de-skewed first digital representation and performing a second object grabbing operation on the reduced-resolution representation;
(g) identifying objects of the reduced-resolution representation representing essential data areas of the document; and
(h) constructing the cleaned-up digital image of the document by performing a logical ANDing operation between the picture region and the data areas with the de-skewed first digital representation to eliminate all objects outside of the picture region and the data areas to provide the cleaned-up digital image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for removing noise from a first digital representation of data images and noise images of a document, including digitally scanning the document so as to produce the first digital representation of all the images of the document, including the data images and the noise images. After de-skewing the image representation, objects are built from a reduced-resolution representation of the scanned representation. Objects identified as picture objects are included in a mask which is logically ANDed with the de-skewed representation of the scanned document. All objects are added to an object list and initially marked as noise. Objects identified as text objects or geometric objects are marked as data objects. Objects identified as picture objects are included in a mask which is logically ANDed with the de-skewed representation to eliminate all other objects. Objects marked as data objects are added to that representation to provide the de-skewed, de-speckled representation of the scanned document.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for producing a cleaned-up digital image of a document including essential data images and undesired noise images, comprising:
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(a) digitally scanning the document to produce a first digital representation of the data images and the noise images; (b) performing a first object grabbing operation on the first digital representation to identify all object images thereof; (c) determining a skew angle of a straight line having a predetermined relationship to some objects representative of the essential data images and de-skewing the document by rotating the first digital representation by an amount equal to the magnitude of the skew angle to provide a de-skewed first digital representation; (d) performing a second object grabbing operation on the de-skewed first digital representation to create an object list of all object images of the de-skewed first digital representation; (e) identifying a portion of the de-skewed first digital representation corresponding to a picture region of the document; (f) producing a reduced-resolution representation of the de-skewed first digital representation and performing a second object grabbing operation on the reduced-resolution representation; (g) identifying objects of the reduced-resolution representation representing essential data areas of the document; and (h) constructing the cleaned-up digital image of the document by performing a logical ANDing operation between the picture region and the data areas with the de-skewed first digital representation to eliminate all objects outside of the picture region and the data areas to provide the cleaned-up digital image.
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2. A method for producing a cleaned-up digital image of a document including essential data images and undesired noise images, comprising:
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(a) digitally scanning the document to produce a first digital representation of the data images and the noise images; (b) performing a first object grabbing operation on the first digital representation to identify all object images thereof; (c) determining a skew angle of a straight line having a predetermined relationship to some objects representative of the essential data images and de-skewing the document by rotating the first digital representation by an amount equal to the magnitude of the skew angle to provide a de-skewed first digital representation; (d) performing a second object grabbing operation on the de-skewed first digital representation to create an object list of all object images of the de-skewed first digital representation; (e) identifying a portion of the de-skewed first digital representation corresponding to a picture region of the document; (f) identifying objects representing essential data images of the document and marking the identified objects as data objects; and (g) constructing the cleaned-up digital image of the document by i. combining the objects in the picture region and the marked data objects, and ii. eliminating all objects not marked as data objects to provide a reconstructed digital representation of the essential images without the noise images. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for producing a cleaned-up digital image of a document including essential data images and undesired noise images, comprising:
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(a) digitally scanning the document to produce a first digital representation of the data images and the noise images; (b) operating a processor to perform a first object grabbing operation on the first digital representation to identify all object images thereof; (c) operating the processor to determine a skew angle of a straight line having a predetermined relationship to at least some objects representative of essential data and to de-skew the document by rotating the first digital representation by an amount equal to the magnitude of the skew angle to provide a de-skewed first digital representation; (d) operating the processor to perform a second object grabbing operation on the de-skewed first digital representation to create an object list of all object images of the de-skewed first digital representation; (e) operating the processor so as to identifying a portion of the de-skewed first digital representation corresponding to a picture region of the document; (f) operating the processor to produce a reduced-resolution representation of the de-skewed first digital representation and to perform a second object-grabbing operation on the reduced resolution representation; (g) operating the processor to identify objects of the reduced-resolution representation representing essential data areas of the document; and (h) constructing the cleaned-up digital image of the document by operating the processor to perform a logical ANDing operation between the picture region and the data areas with the de-skewed first digital representation to eliminate all objects outside of the picture region and the data areas to provide the cleaned-up digital image.
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20. A method for producing a cleaned-up digital image of a document including essential data images and undesired noise images, comprising:
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(a) digitally scanning the document to produce a first digital representation of the data images and the noise images; (b) operating a processing system to perform a first object grabbing operation on the first digital representation to identify all object images thereof; (c) operating the processing system to determine a skew angle of a straight line having a predetermined relationship to at least some objects representative of essential data and to de-skew the document by rotating the first digital representation by an amount equal to the magnitude of the skew angle to provide a de-skewed first digital representation; (d) operating the processing system to perform a second object grabbing operation on the de-skewed first digital representation to create an object list of all object images of the de-skewed first digital representation; (e) operating the processing system so as to identify a portion of the de-skewed first digital representation corresponding to a picture region of the document; (f) operating the processing system to identify objects representing essential data images of the document and mark the identified objects as data objects; and (g) constructing the cleaned-up digital image of the document by operating the processing system to i. combine the objects in the picture region and the marked data objects to provide the cleaned-up digital image, and ii. eliminate all objects not marked as data objects to provide a reconstructed digital representation of the essential images without the noise images.
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Specification