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Method and apparatus for automatic cleaning and enhancing of scanned documents

DC
  • US 7,016,536 B1
  • Filed: 11/21/2000
  • Issued: 03/21/2006
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
Patent Images

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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