System and method for locating a character set in a digital image
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
- using a processing unit to perform the following steps;
examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes;
identifying regions of said detected pixels;
clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and
examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set;
wherein during pixel examining, the pixels are examined to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; and
wherein detected pixels having said specific color attributes are those having red, green and blue channel values outside of the following constraints;
red<
80;
green>
180 and red<
100;
blue>
180 and red<
100;
red>
100 and green>
100 and blue<
80;
red>
180 and green>
180 and blue>
180;
green>
(red+50) and red>
100;
blue>
(red+50) and red>
100;
green<
(red+15) and red<
100;
blue>
(red+15) and red<
100;
|red-green|<
30 and |red-blue|<
30 and |green-blue|<
30;
where each of red, green, and blue is from 0 to 255.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprises examining pixels of the digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes. Regions of the detected pixels are identified and the identified regions are clustered according to color similarity. Each cluster is examined to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate the character set. An apparatus for locating a character set in a digital image is also provided.
38 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
-
using a processing unit to perform the following steps; examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; identifying regions of said detected pixels; clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein during pixel examining, the pixels are examined to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; and wherein detected pixels having said specific color attributes are those having red, green and blue channel values outside of the following constraints; red<
80;green>
180 and red<
100;blue>
180 and red<
100;red>
100 and green>
100 and blue<
80;red>
180 and green>
180 and blue>
180;green>
(red+50) and red>
100;blue>
(red+50) and red>
100;green<
(red+15) and red<
100;blue>
(red+15) and red<
100;|red-green|<
30 and |red-blue|<
30 and |green-blue|<
30;where each of red, green, and blue is from 0 to 255. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
-
using a processing unit to perform the following steps; examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; identifying regions of said detected pixels; clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein during pixel examining, the pixels are examined to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; and wherein detected pixels having said specific color attributes are those pixels having hue, saturation and luminance channel values outside of the following constraints; 80<
hue<
280;saturation<
0.28;luminance<
0.40;where hue is from 0 to 360, saturation is from 0 to 1.0, and luminance is from 0 to 1.00.
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4. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
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using a processing unit to perform the following steps; examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; identifying regions of said detected pixels; clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein during pixel examining, the pixels are examined to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; wherein the pixels are examined to determine if the pixels meet both the specified RGB and HSL properties; and wherein the pixels of said digital image are processed in parallel to determine pixels meeting both the specified RBG and HSL properties. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
-
using a processing unit to perform the following steps; examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; identifying regions of said detected pixels; clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; and wherein during said identifying, parts of the digital image with little blue information are focused on to identify said pixel regions; and wherein during said identifying, red and blue channel images are extracted from said digital image and processed to yield a multi-level grey scale image, successive pixels of common grey scale forming said regions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
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using a processing unit to perform the following steps; examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; identifying regions of said detected pixels; clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein said pixel regions are clustered according to hue; wherein during said clustering the average hue of the pixels in each region is detected and wherein said regions are clustered according to average hue; wherein said regions are clustered into one of three hue levels to yield first, second and third hue channel images, said hue channel images being examined to detect the cluster of regions meeting said specified morphological constraints; and wherein during said clustering the hue of the pixels is examined to determine if a threshold number of pixels has a hue level falling within a specified range, if so, all of the pixels being used to form said first hue channel image, said second and third hue channel images being set to black. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
-
using a processing unit to perform the following steps; examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; identifying regions of said detected pixels; clustering said identified regions according to color similarity; and examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein said morphological constraints require the cluster to have at least three horizontally aligned characters of similar height; wherein said morphological constraints further require all of the characters in said cluster to be bound by a rectangle between 20 and 80 pixels; and wherein said morphological constraints further require the rectangle to have a width between 20% and 90% of the digital image width. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. An apparatus for locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
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a color attribute detector for examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; a pixel color similarity detector identifying regions of pixels having said specified color attributes and clustering identified regions according to color similarity; and a morphological constraint applier examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein said color attribute detector examines the pixels to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; wherein the color attribute detector examines the pixels to determine if the pixels meet both the specified RGB and HSL properties; and wherein detected pixels having said specific color attributes are those pixels having red, green and blue channel values outside of the following constraints; red<
80;green>
180 and red<
100;blue>
180 and red<
100;red>
100 and green>
100 and blue<
80;red>
180 and green>
180 and blue>
180;green>
(red+50) and red>
100;blue>
(red+50) and red>
100;green<
(red+15) and red<
100;blue>
(red+15) and red<
100;|red-green|<
30 and |red-blue|<
30 and |green-blue|<
30;where each of red, green, and blue is from 0 to 255; and
having hue, saturation and luminance channel values outside of the following constraints;80<
hue<
280;saturation<
0.28;luminance<
0.40;where hue is from 0 to 360, saturation is from 0 to 1.0, and luminance is from 0 to 1.00.
-
-
28. An apparatus for locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
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a color attribute detector for examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; a pixel color similarity detector identifying regions of pixels having said specified color attributes and clustering identified regions according to color similarity; and a morphological constraint applier examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein said color attribute detector examines the pixels to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; wherein the color attribute detector examines the pixels to determine if the pixels meet both the specified RGB and HSL properties; and wherein said color attribute detector processes the digital image in parallel to determine pixels meeting the specified RGB and HSL properties. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. An apparatus for locating a character set in a digital image comprising:
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a color attribute detector for examining pixels of said digital image to detect pixels having specified color attributes; a pixel color similarity detector identifying regions of pixels having said specified color attributes and clustering identified regions according to color similarity; and a morphological constraint applier examining each cluster to detect the cluster meeting specified morphological constraints thereby to locate said character set; wherein said color attribute detector examines the pixels to determine if the pixels meet at least one of specified red, green, blue (RGB) color properties and specified hue, saturation and luminance (HSL) properties; wherein the color attribute detector examines the pixels to determine if the pixels meet both the specified RGB and HSL properties; wherein said pixel color similarity detector focuses on parts of the digital image with little blue information to identify the pixel regions; and wherein the pixel color similarity detector extracts red and blue channel images from the digital image and processes the red and blue channel images to yield a multi-level grey scale image with successive pixels of common grey scale forming said regions. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification