Patents by Inventor Philip B. Foster

Philip B. Foster has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Method and apparatus for automatic cleaning and enhancing of scanned documents
    Patent number: 7016536
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: GTX Corporation
    Inventors: Marvin T. Ling, Alan J. Filipski, Philip B. Foster, Michael E. Higgins