Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for recognizing cursive and non-cursive handwriting. The invention comprises capturing a handwritten character as an image of pixels, partition the image into a plurality of segments each having a pixel ratio of the number of pixels in the segment divided by the total number of pixels in the image, and compare the pixel ratio for each segment to a value range associated with a corresponding segment of a reference character. The handwritten character is recognized as the reference character if more than a predetermined number of the segments in the image have the pixel ratios within the respective value ranges of the reference character.

Abstract: A printing apparatus, including a user input unit which receives a first user command to initiate a printing operation, a display unit which displays information relating to the printing operation, a printing unit which performs printing with respect to printing data, and a controller which controls the display unit to display reference information of the printing data before the printing, and which controls the printing unit to perform the printing according to a second user command.

Abstract: A multi-level data encoding system is provided that is operable on a computer. The encoding system includes a data input device adapted to input a data set and store the data set in a database. The system further includes an encoder adapted to encode the data set and separate the encoded data set into two files, wherein each character of the data set comprises a unique electronic footprint. Additionally, the system includes a data field adapted to organize the encoded data set for proper decoding, a master file comprising one file of the encoded data set and an overlay file comprising the other file of the encoded data set. The system also includes a decoder adapted to align the overlay file onto the master file to decode the encoded data set.

Abstract: Aspects of the present invention are related to systems and methods for rendering graphical objects in a printing system. According to one aspect of the present invention a graphic list may be partitioned, and the graphic-list partitions may be rendered “out-of-order” or concurrently.

Abstract: The transfer of a duplicate electronic document between image forming devices is done with an electronic document that is formed of only resolution-independent vector data and the like, and a normal printing of the duplicate electronic document or printing of different resolution is performed by developing the vector data. In high-quality printing of the duplicate electronic document, a Fill Map included in the original document the information indicating the location of an electronic document of copy source that is embedded in a metadata specifies is obtained, and this printing is made using the Fill Map.

Abstract: An image forming device includes a main body casing, a cover configured to be openable and closable with respect to the main body casing, a sensing unit configured to sense an opening-closing operation of the cover, a forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet, a detecting unit configured to perform a detecting operation to detect a deviation of an image forming position of the image to be formed by the forming unit, an accepting unit configured to accept a print request, and a control unit configured to control the detecting unit to perform the detecting operation in response to the print request being accepted when the sensing unit senses an opening-closing operation of the cover after execution of a previous detecting operation, and thereafter to control the forming unit to form the image in the image forming position corrected to cancel the deviation detected in the detecting operation.

Abstract: A method and system for recognizing a character affected by a noise or an obstruction is disclosed. After receiving an image with characters, a character being affected by a noise or an obstruction is determined. Then, areas in the character where the noise or obstruction affected are precisely located. Templates representing every possible character in the image are updated by removing equivalent areas to the areas in the character being affected by the noise or obstruction. Then, the character is classified in a template among the updated templates by finding the template having the highest number of matching pixels with the character.

Abstract: There is provided an image printer having a display unit, in which a predetermined image can be set as a background picture of the display unit. The image printer includes an image processing unit processing an image selected by a user in accordance with a predetermined image processing technique so as to set the selected image as a background picture of the display unit; and a setting unit setting the processed image as the background picture of the display unit, wherein the display unit displays the processed image.

Abstract: This invention deters information leakage by a flexible monitoring method according to the characteristic of an image or document. A job analysis section analyzes a print job and separates image data and attribute information. An image generator generates print image data from the image data by referring to the attribute information. A digital watermark generator and synthesis section embed at least part of the attribute information in the print image data. An image transmitter transmits, to a monitoring server, the print image data with at least part of the attribute information added. A monitoring method selector selectively operates the image transmitter or the digital watermark generator and synthesis section based on the attribute information.

Abstract: The watermarked information embedding apparatus which inputs an image and embeds watermarked information in the input image, comprises: picture element determining means which determines whether it is a picture element constituting a background image for each of picture elements which constitute the input image; background picture element removing means which removes all of background picture elements determined as picture elements constituting the background image by the picture element determining means; and watermarked information embedding means which embeds the watermarked information in an image constituted by a picture element from which the background picture element constituting the input image is removed by the background picture element removing means.

Abstract: Image processing by which both of high compressibility and high image quality are achieved, and in which characters in character regions and graphics in graphic regions are vectorized. If a pixel of a character in a character region overlaps with a graphic in a graphic region, graphic region vectorization is performed first, whereas if a pixel of a character in the character region does not overlap with a graphic in the graphic region, character region vectorization is performed first.

Abstract: A method includes measuring the likelihood that two different space-time video segments could have resulted from a similar underlying motion field without computing the field. The method may be employed to identify locations in a video sequence where at least one behavioral phenomenon similar to that demonstrated in the video segment occurs. For example, the phenomenon might be a dynamic behavior, an action, a rigid motion, and/or a non-rigid motion.

Abstract: A method and system for preprocessing an image for Optical Character Recognition (OCR), wherein the image includes a plurality of columns is disclosed. Each column includes one or more of Arabic text and non-text items. The method includes determining a plurality of components associated with one or more of the Arabic text and the non-text items, wherein a component includes a set of connected pixels. On determining the plurality of components, a line height and a column spacing is determined for the plurality of components. The plurality of components are then associated with a column of the plurality of columns based on the line height and the column spacing. Subsequently, a set of characteristic parameters are calculated for each column and the plurality of components of each column are merged based on the set of characteristic parameters to form sub-words and words.

Abstract: A method for video mode detection, wherein video input data (VID) corresponding to a video picture (P) is received and a video mode is determined for said video picture (P). The determining of said video mode depends on a local video mode (LVM) and a global video mode (GVM) of said video picture (P). Said global video mode (GVM) is determined for said video picture (P) based on said video input data (VID) or a derivative (m1) thereof. For determining said local video mode (LVM), first said video picture (P) is subdivided into a ticker area (TA) and a remaining area (RA), thereby generating ticker area data (TAD). Then, said local video mode (LVM) is determined for said ticker area (TA) based on said ticker area data (TAD). When determining said local video mode (LVM), said ticker area (TA) is subdivided into n sub-areas, and at least one of said n sub-areas (1 . . . 6) is selected as selected sub-area (SSA).

Abstract: The present invention aims to prevent a problem that an image on a document sheet is erased due to misdetection of a line-shaped noise. A copy machine 1 compares RGB values of a target pixel with averaged RGB values (Step S103). If only one of the RGB values has a difference that is greater than a prescribed value Ref2 (Step S103: YES), the copy machine 1 extracts the target pixel as a line-shaped noise pixel, and moves to a line-shaped noise correction (Step S108) while holding the address of the target pixel in a line-shaped noise address storing area 49b. If two of the RGB values have differences (Step S103: NO, Step S104: YES) and a difference between these two of the RGB values is no greater than a prescribed value Ref3 (Step S105: YES), the copy machine 1 extracts the target pixel as a line-shaped noise pixel, and moves to the line-shaped noise correction (Step S108) while holding the address of the target pixel in the line-shaped noise address storing area 49b.

Abstract: An overall processing time to rasterize, at the first device, the electronic document to be rendered is computed. Also, a rendering time to render, at the first device, the electronic document to be rendered is computed. When the overall processing time to rasterize at the first device is greater than the rendering time to render at the first device, the electronic document to be rendered is parsed into a first document and sub-documents. A productivity capacity of each node is determined, the productivity capacity being a measured of the processing power of the node and the communication cost of exchanging information between the first device and the node. A sub-document is rasterized at a node when a productivity capacity of the node reduces the processing time to rasterize the electronic document to be rendered to be less than the computed overall processing time.

Abstract: A CG image having a transparency parameter is superimposed on a shot image, which is an image picked up by an image-pickup device, to obtain a combined image. The combined image is displayed in a combined-image-display region. In the combined image, a mask region of the CG image is set based on parameter information used to extract a region of a hand. The transparency parameter of the CG image is set based on a ratio of the size of the region of the CG image excluding the mask region to the size of the shot image. By checking the combined image, which is displayed in the combined-image-display region, the user can set the parameter information by a simple operation.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a novel system and method for minimizing dot visibility in color marking devices capable of dot-on-dot printing. The present method achieves minimum dot visibility for a given dispersed-dot screen by performing a CMYK to CMYKRGB conversion which uses less visible dots as much as possible before more visible dots are introduced. The output color dot coverages are calculated sequentially to minimize the coverage of more visible dots in a decreasing order of brightness. Resulting images have noticeably reduced halftone graininess, particularly in the mid to darker tone areas. The present method is also computationally efficient.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an image processing method, an image processing apparatus and an image processing program for dealing with inverted characters (outlined characters) constituted by white pixels on a black ground in a tree structure same as that of normal characters constituted by black pixels on a white ground. In the present invention, black pixel blocks and white pixel blocks are sampled recursively from a binary image, tree structure data indicating a positional relation between the sampled black pixel blocks and white pixel blocks is created, an inverted image is created by white-black-inverting the insides of black pixel blocks that can include inverted characters, of black pixel blocks included in the tree structure data, white pixel blocks and black pixel blacks are sampled from the created inverted image, and data regarding the sampled white pixel blocks and black pixel blocs is added to corresponding nodes of the tree structure data.

Abstract: A color processing apparatus includes an image signal acquisition section, a color component preservation section, a first color conversion section, a color gamut compression section and a second color conversion section. The image signal acquisition section acquires an image signal including an input color signal having predetermined color components. The color component preservation section preserves at least one of the color components of the input color signal as a preserved color component. The first color conversion section converts the input color signal into an intermediate color signal belonging to a first color space. The color gamut compression section performs a color gamut compression for the intermediate color signal using color components of the intermediate color signal and the preserved color component, to generate a compressed color signal. The second color conversion section that converts the compressed color signal into an output color signal belonging to a second color space.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a document image, a primary region segmentation unit configured to segment the acquired document image into a plurality of regions, a detection unit configured to detect a text region including an erroneous sentence from the regions segmented by the primary region segmentation unit, a secondary region segmentation unit configured to detect a second attribute region partly overlapped with an original sentence of the erroneous sentence and separate the detected region into the second attribute region and a part of the original sentence, and a combining unit configured to combine the part of the original sentence separated by the secondary region segmentation unit with the text region including the erroneous sentence.

Abstract: To handle static text and logos in stabilized images without destabilizing the static text and logos, a method of handling overlay subpictures in stabilized images includes detecting an overlay subpicture in an input image, separating the overlay subpicture from the input image, stabilizing the input image to form a stabilized image, and merging the overlay subpicture with the stabilized image to obtain an output image.

Abstract: A printer is provided which is capable of shortening time required to complete overlay printing. The printer includes a job controlling section to divide received data into a printer language-dependent portion being dependent on a printer language and print job information being not dependent on a printer language, a form controlling section to produce form bit-mapped data based on form information, and a bit-mapped controlling section to produce bit-mapped data representing non-form based on a result from analysis of a printer language-dependent portion and to perform overlay printing on a form and a non-form by overlaying bit-mapped data on form bit-mapped data. Since control on overlay printing is performed in accordance with form information in printing job information, the printer can be free from constraint of a printer language.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and system for the acquisition and correlation matching of points belonging to a stereoscopic pair of images, whereby the pair is formed by a first image and a second image representing a scene. According to the invention, the two images of the pair are acquired with a single acquisition instrument (30) comprising two sensors CCD (31, 32) in the optical focal plane. The matching of the acquired stereoscopic pair consists in determining, by means of correlation, the point in the second image that is homologous to a point in the first image. Said correlation is performed for a point from the first image using an optimally-sized correlation window. When the homologous point of a point from the first image has been determined, the position deviation between the point from the first image and the homologous point thereof is entered in a table. Once all of the homologous points of the points from the first image have been found, the results table is reset barycentrically.

Abstract: A character recognition processing system includes a character recognition confidence evaluating unit that evaluates whether confidence of character recognition of a plurality of areas are low or high, a character area classification unit that classifies a first area evaluated low by the character recognition confidence evaluating unit into a plurality of components, a character separation unit that separates the components classified by the character area classification unit into a character component and non-character components, according to information relating to a second area evaluated high by the character recognition confidence evaluating unit, and a first character recognition unit that performs character recognition processing for the character component separated by the character separation unit.

Abstract: An apparatus receives a base image and a reference image that are images picked up by two cameras provided on left and right. A weight coefficient determination portion determines a coefficient for cutting off a high-frequency region of combined phase spectrum of the base image and the reference image, based on an image pickup condition of the camera and texture information of the image in a window centered on a gaze point within the base image.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus comprises an extraction unit configured to extract areas having predetermined attributes from image data of a document; a calculation unit configured to calculate skew angles of the areas extracted by the extraction unit; a selection unit configured to select necessary elements by determining, as unnecessary elements, the areas having the calculated skew angles not less than a threshold and by determining, as the necessary element, the areas having the calculated skew angles less than the threshold; and a processing unit configured to apply image processing to the necessary elements selected by the selection unit.

Abstract: A system and method for selecting targeted information (e.g., advertisements) for serving with map views. The information is associated with target geographical areas (e.g., cities, metropolises, regions, countries) identified by the information providers. A given message or other set of information may be served with map views that significantly intersect the message's target area. A target area significantly intersects a map view if it overlaps the map view by at least a threshold percentage of the map view (e.g., 25%). Messages' target areas may first be compared with a map view to identify those that significantly intersect. Then, the messages whose target areas significantly intersect the map view may be filtered or screened based on any search terms or key words received with a request for the map view.

Abstract: A computer-readable recording medium recorded with a printing program causes a processor of a computer to calculate a rendering area of print data stored in a storing section of the computer as a primary area based on the print data, and to calculate a rendering area of commentary string data to be attached to the print data as a sub-area. The program then judges whether the primary area and the sub-area overlap, and whether the sub-area deviates from an effective printing area. The commentary string data can be changed so that the primary area and the sub-area do not overlap, and so that the entire sub-area is within the effective printing area, if at least one of the judgment results in the judging step is affirmative. The changed commentary string data then is attached to the print data.

Abstract: A method identifying a ligature within a scanned document, the ligature including two or more touching characters. The two or more touching characters of the ligature are then compared to a plurality of prototypes to identify two or more matched prototypes. A synthetic ligature is then created based on the two or more matched prototypes.

Abstract: A method for recognition of a handwritten pattern comprising one or more curves is presented. The method comprises a step of receiving sample data representing the handwritten pattern. The method further comprises a step of segmenting the handwritten pattern by detecting segmentation points on each curve, and by dividing the handwritten pattern into segments. Further, the method comprises a step of comparing the handwritten pattern to templates wherein the comparing comprises a step of normalizing said segments according to a scheme which is independent of the templates to which the segments are to be compared, and a step of determining matching measures for selecting at least one sequence of templates representing a recognintion candidate of the handwritten pattern.

Abstract: An apparatus includes: a reading unit that obtains image data by reading a document through a reading glass; a detecting unit that detects a dirty place on the reading glass; a determining unit that determines a type of each area in the image data; an edge enhancing unit that applies an edge enhancement to each area based on the type determined; and a control unit that controls, when the type of an area determined is a text area, and when the area overlaps the dirty place detected, an amount of the edge enhancement for the area.

Abstract: A method for optimizing a source document comprising a plurality of pages of content, comprising each of the following, is presented. A source document is obtained. An optimized document is created corresponding to the source document. Thereafter, for each page in the source document, the following are applied. A page record is created for the page. Each page record comprises a word table comprising a list of the page's words in the order that they appear in the page's content. Each page record further comprises a paragraph entry list for the page including a paragraph entry for each paragraph in the page. Each paragraph entry includes a reference to the first and last word of that paragraph in the word table. The page record is compressed using a compression technique. Thereafter, the compressed page record is stored in the optimized document.

Abstract: An image processing device includes a separation unit that separates image information including a first image having plural color components and a second image having a specific color component and to be overlaid at least in part on the first image into a specific color component image of the same color component as the specific color component and an image with color components other than the specific color component among the plural color components; a color conversion unit that performs color conversion of the image with color components other than the specific color component, separated by the separation unit; and a combination unit that combines the color-converted image with color components other than the specific color component, converted by the color conversion unit, and the specific color component image separated by the separation unit.

Abstract: A biometric handwriting identification system converts characters and a writing sample into mathematical graphs. The graphs comprise enough information to capture the features of handwriting that are unique to each individual. Optical character recognition (OCR) techniques can then be used to identify these features in the handwriting sample so that drafts from two different samples can be aligned to compare to determine if the features in the writing sample correlate with each other.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for context-based adaptive image processing wherein print job elements are processed according to context, which may be determined by segmentation and analysis of print job elements.

Abstract: A navigation apparatus which includes a front image display displaying an image of a front side and a back image display displaying an image of a back side, the each image being one of images stereoscopically overlapped along the line of sight; a front image signal; a measuring unit for measuring a current position of own vehicle; a map storage unit; a controller for controlling each unit, wherein the controller reads map data of a predetermined area and determines if an elevated road exists in the area, wherein when the elevated road exists, the controller checks whether or not the current position of the own vehicle is on the elevated road, and wherein when the current position is not on the elevated road, the front image display draws the image of the elevated road so that an image drawn on the back image display can be visually percepted.

Abstract: In certain embodiments, a method for generating fees using a receiving device, involves distributing censored video from a distributor video to a receiving device; and uncensoring the censored video using the receiving device upon payment of a fee. The receiving device uses overlay data received from the distributor to uncensor the censored video by overlaying the overlay data over the censored video using a video overlay frame to overlay a video frame containing the censored video data in accordance with boundaries determined by an alpha plane within the receiving device. This abstract should not be considered limiting since embodiments consistent with the present invention may involve more, different or fewer elements.

Abstract: Upon synthesizing objects, information bits indicating the types of objects are lost. To solve this problem, this invention provides an image processing apparatus having discrimination means for discriminating a type of object to be rendered, determination means for determining the presence/absence of synthesis of the discriminated object, synthesis means for synthesizing an object and information of the type of object in accordance with the determination result, and processing means for appending information indicating the type of synthesized object to a rendering result obtained by rendering the object to be rendered in units of pixels.

Abstract: A character recognition apparatus generates each character candidate from a character string written in a plurality of character entry boxes written on a sheet of paper such as a business form, and performs character recognition. A row image separating unit acquires an image containing a plurality of character entry boxes and the character string. A character extraction processing unit detects each point at which a plurality of lines are in contact with each other and intersect in the character string contained in the image, determines a point at which the character string should be cut or recombined on the basis of the placement relationship between the point and the corresponding character entry box, and generates each character candidate constituting the character string. A character recognition unit performs character recognition for each character candidate generated by the character extraction processing unit.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for processing a document involving the automatic removal of text from a predetermined area of a document, the method comprising inputting a bitmap containing the predetermined area of the document from which the text will be removed wherein the predetermined area contains handwritten strokes, detecting the text, removing the text and any handwritten strokes that intersect with the text and outputting the bitmap with the text removed therefrom.

Abstract: The techniques and mechanisms described herein are directed to a system for stylizing video, such as interactively transforming video to a cartoon-like style. Briefly stated, the techniques include determining a set of volumetric objects within a video, each volumetric object being a segment. Mean shift video segmentation may be used for this step. With that segmentation information, the technique further includes indicating on a limited number of keyframes of the video how segments should be merged into a semantic region. Finally, a contiguous volume is created by interpolating between keyframes by a mean shift constrained interpolation technique to propagate the semantic regions between keyframes.

Abstract: An image generating apparatus includes a color correcting unit, a setting unit and an image generating unit. The color correcting unit corrects a drawing color of each image element. When at least one of color components of the corrected drawing color of each image element meets a predetermined condition, the setting unit sets the at least one of the color components to a predetermined value. The image generating unit draws each image element with the drawing color subjected to the correcting and the setting, to generate an image. When the image element, which is to be drawn with the drawing color including the at least one of the color components, is drawn to overlap another image element, the image generating unit draws a color component, which is same as the at least one of the color components, of a drawing color of the other image element without overwriting.

Abstract: A technique for searching for a gap in a drawing is disclosed. The technique includes sweeping an evaluation line across at least a portion of the drawing, detecting on the evaluation line an endpoint of a first segment, determining a distance from the endpoint to a point on the second segment, comparing the distance to a maximum gap distance, and detecting a gap.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate normalizing and beautifying digitally generated handwriting, such as can be generated on a tablet PC or via scanning a handwritten document. A classifier can identify extrema in the digital handwriting and label such extrema according to predefined categories (e.g., bottom, baseline, midline, top, other, . . . ). Multi-linear regression, polynomial regression, etc., can be performed to align labeled extrema to respective and corresponding desired points as indicated by the labels. Additionally, displacement techniques can be applied to the regressed handwriting to optimize legibility for reading by a human viewer and/or for character recognition by a handwriting recognition application. The displacement techniques can comprise a “rubber sheet” displacement algorithm in conjunction with a “rubber rod” displacement algorithm, which can collectively preserve spatial features of the handwriting during warping thereof.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a document image, a primary region segmentation unit configured to segment the acquired document image into a plurality of regions, a detection unit configured to detect a text region including an erroneous sentence from the regions segmented by the primary region segmentation unit, a secondary region segmentation unit configured to detect a second attribute region partly overlapped with an original sentence of the erroneous sentence and separate the detected region into the second attribute region and a part of the original sentence, and a combining unit configured to combine the part of the original sentence separated by the secondary region segmentation unit with the text region including the erroneous sentence.

Abstract: A writing sheet assembly including a sheet-like body portion and a guide portion on the body portion. The guide portion includes at least three generally parallel spaced apart lines defining first and second portions therebetween such that a user can write on the portions while using the spaced lines to guide the writing thereof. The first portion is of a first color and the second portion is of a second color different from the first color, and the first portion is positioned on top of the second portion. The first color is blue or green and the second color is green or brown.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of forming a composite biometric image. The method comprises sensing first and second successive partial images of a biometric object with a sensor during relative movement of the biometric object and the sensor. The sensor comprises an array of sensing elements defining an area smaller than an area of the biometric object to be formed as the composite biometric image and thus the first and second successive partial images overlap each other along a direction of the relative movement. The method also comprises acquiring at least a first image portion and a second image portion from each of the first and second sensed partial images, the first image portion and the second image portion of each comprising different sensed image data along a direction orthogonal to a direction of relative movement of the biometric object and the sensor, the first image portions overlapping with each other, and the second image portions overlapping with each other.

Abstract: A system includes an interface receiving a search print record including a first direction image of a search print and a file print record including a second direction image of a file print, and a processing device. The processing device performs a method and a computer-readable storage medium stores code for programming a computer to perform the method, which includes: aligning the first and second direction images to identify an overlapping and a non-overlapping area; comparing block direction between the first and second direction images within the overlapping area; performing a rationality analysis on the aligned direction images to at least determine whether one of the direction images and the non-overlapping area of the other direction image are from a different finger; and generating a similarity score based on the block direction comparison and the rationality analysis, which indicates a measure of similarity between the search and file prints.

Abstract: An object extraction method comprising the steps of comparing each portion of first image data obtained by capturing an extraction object with another portion of the first image data or second image data, thereby generating shape data as an image representing a provisional region of the extraction object in the first image data, and matching a contour of the shape data to a contour of the extraction object by using the first image data and the provisionally generated shape data.