Image processing methods, image processing systems, and articles of manufacture

• US 8,213,687 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Fan, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Bali, Vikkram
• Application Number:
  US11/414,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20070253031A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,258 Days
• Field of Search: 382/174, 382/176, 382/199, 382/277, 382/282, 382/283, 382/286, 382/290, 382/292, 382/295, 382/296, 382/297, 382/298, 382/301, 382/302, 382/289, 382/294, 358/449, 358/451, 358/452, 358/453, 358/462, 358/464, 358/528, 358/530, 358/537, 358/538, 355/25
• US Class Current: 382/112
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00681 Detecting the presence, position or size of a sheet or correcting its position before scanning H04N1/047 takes precedence; mode signalling H04N1/333; skew detection or correction in image signals H04N1/3878
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0071 Width
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00713 Length
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00718 Skew
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00737 using the scanning elements as detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00763 Action taken as a result of detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/38 Circuits or arrangements for blanking or otherwise eliminating unwanted parts of pictures H04N1/387 takes precedence

Abstract

Image processing methods, image processing systems, and articles of manufacture are described. According to one aspect, an image processing method includes defining an image dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of a plurality of images which are associated with one another, determining a plurality of image boundaries individually corresponding to a size of the data content of a respective one of the images, comparing individual ones of the image boundaries with respect to the image dimension providing difference information for respective ones of the images and indicative of differences of the respective image boundaries with respect to the image dimension, and adjusting the images using respective difference information corresponding to respective ones of the images.

Claims

1. An image processing method comprising:

defining an image dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of a plurality of images which are associated with one another;

determining a plurality of image boundaries individually corresponding to a size of the data content of a respective one of the images;

comparing respective dimensions of individual ones of the image boundaries to the image dimension to obtain difference information for respective ones of the images and indicative of differences of the respective image boundaries with respect to the image dimension; and

adjusting the images based on the respective difference information corresponding to respective ones of the images.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the images include a plurality of pages of a bound book;

and

further comprising identifying binding sides of the pages corresponding to sides of the pages bound to a spine of the book, and wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting using the identified binding sides.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining comprises, for one of the images:

identifying an initial bounding box corresponding to a size of body content of the one of the images; and

increasing the size of the initial bounding box to another bounding box corresponding to the image boundary of the one of the images.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the initial bounding box does not include margins about the body content and the another bounding box includes the margins.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining comprises, for one of the images, searching the one of the images for a defined shape corresponding to a shape of the data content of the one of the images.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the searching comprises searching the one of the images for a plurality of lines of the defined shape.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising restricting the search for the lines to a plurality of regions of the one of the images corresponding to the top portion, bottom portion, left portion and right portion of the one of the images.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying the presence of margins in the images, and wherein the adjusting is responsive to the identified presence of the margins.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting comprises, based on the respective difference information, cropping at least a portion of one of the images and deskewing another of the images.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether to perform the adjusting of the images using the images and wherein the adjusting is responsive to the determining.

11. Apparatus, comprising:

a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions and calibration-enabling data comprising a reference set of image features characterizing a reference image in a reference coordinate space and rendering information describing a physical rendering of the reference image; and

processing circuitry coupled to the computer-readable medium, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

defining an image dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of a plurality of images which are associated with one another;

determining a plurality of image boundaries individually corresponding to a size of the data content of a respective one of the images;

comparing respective dimensions of individual ones of the image boundaries to the image dimension to obtain difference information for respective ones of the images and indicative of differences of the respective image boundaries with respect to the image dimension; and

adjusting the images based on the respective difference information corresponding to respective ones of the images.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein in the determining, the processing circuitry is operable to perform operations comprising identifying an initial bounding box corresponding to body content of the another of the images, and increasing the size of the initial bounding box to another bounding box including margins about the body content;

and wherein in the identifying, the processing circuitry is operable to perform operations comprising identifying the portion of the another of the images comprising content of the image external of the another bounding box.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein in the identifying, the processing circuitry is operable to perform operations comprising identifying a defined shape within the another of the images to identify the portion of the another of the images.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein in the identifying, the processing circuitry is operable to perform operations comprising searching the another of the images for the presence of a plurality of lines of the defined shape comprising a rectangle.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein in the adjusting, the processing circuitry is operable to perform operations comprising, based on the respective difference information, cropping at least a portion of one of the images and deskewing another of the images.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the images comprise images of a book, and wherein based at least in part on the execution of the instructions the processing circuitry is operable to perform operations comprising identifying binding sides of the one and the another images bound to a spine of the book, and cropping the identified portion of the another of the images using the identification of the binding sides.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:

accessing a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of pages of a book;

defining a page dimension corresponding to a common size of data content of the images;

determining a plurality of page boundaries individually corresponding to a respective one of the images;

analyzing respective dimensions of the page boundaries to the page dimension to obtain difference information for respective ones of the images and indicative of differences of the respective image boundaries with respect to the image dimension; and

cropping the images based on the difference information.