Abstract: In the case where an image of a document or the like is taken by an economical camera in a TV conference system and the image is transmitted and received through a communication line, when an image of the whole of the document is taken, small characters are defaced and illegible, and, when an imaging operation is performed with a resolution at which characters are readable, it is impossible to take an image of the whole of the document. An image F1 at time T1 which is taken while moving an imaging section is captured into an image storing section and a feature point extracting section. The feature point extracting section extracts feature points of the image F1. An image F2 at time T2 when the subsequent frame is started is captured into the image storing section and the feature point extracting section.

Abstract: In the case where an image of a document or the like is taken by an economical camera in a TV conference system and the image is transmitted and received through a communication line, when an image of the whole of the document is taken, small characters are defaced and illegible, and, when an imaging operation is performed with a resolution at which characters are readable, it is impossible to take an image of the whole of the document. An image F1 at time T1 which is taken while moving an imaging section is captured into an image storing section and a feature point extracting section. The feature point extracting section extracts feature points of the image F1. An image F2 at time T2 when the subsequent frame is started is captured into the image storing section and the feature point extracting section.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for discriminating between figure areas, e.g., half-tone photographs, drawings and the like, and text areas in an image. More specifically, an image is processed to determine the difference between maximum and minimum brightnesses in convolutions thereof. When the difference between the maximum and minimum brightnesses is less than or equal to a predetermined level, the center pixel in the convolution is determined to be a half-tone pixel. A half-tone area is detected by determining areas of the image having at least a predetermined number of half-tone pixels. In another aspect of the invention, contiguous areas of the image having fewer than a predetermined number of configuration pixels are determined to be vacant areas having neither figure nor character information.