JP2000251072A - Color document reader and read result display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To extract a seal impression part from a color document, which has a preprint part of the same color with the seal impression, separately from others by removing the preprint image from a binary image composed of red pixels and extracting an image of the seal impression part. SOLUTION: Color component image data of the primary colors obtained by a color sensor 300 are binarized by binarization parts 301, 302 and 303 into binary data of respective color components, which are stored in color-component binarization storage parts 305, 206 and 307. A red pixel extraction part 308 inputs color-component binary images, detects the position coordinates of red pixels, and outputs the red pixels 320. A preprint image storage part 309 is stored with a preprint document image 321 generated by document generating software. A preprint removal part 310 erases the preprint image 321 from the red image 320 and outputs a red seal impression candidate image 322. A seal impression omission decision part 311 extracts image features of the red seal impression candidate image 322 and decides that the seal impression is given according to the feature quantity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a form having color information, in particular, a color form reading apparatus for extracting color information such as the presence or absence of a seal from a form on which a red seal is stamped, and a result of reading the color form on a screen. It relates to a reading result display method to be displayed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when recognizing characters printed or entered in a tabular form in which the arrangement of characters is separated by ruled lines, a form called a dropout color is used when optically inputting an image. The color that constitutes the pre-printed part was dropped by optical filter processing, the pre-printed part was deleted from the original image to be recognized, image input was performed, and character recognition was performed on the dropped-out image .

For this reason, in the prior art, when recognizing a black character written in a red frame, red is set as a dropout color, and the red frame is dropped out to be inserted in the frame. Character recognition was performed by inputting an image of only the written black characters. Therefore, since the red imprinted part is the same color as the dropout color, the imprinted part is dropped out, the imprint is erased as an image, and even if the red dropout image is displayed on the screen,
The stamped part is erased and invisible, and the stamped part cannot be confirmed on the screen.

In view of the above, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-46885 has proposed a method of identifying the type of a color photograph, a color line figure, and a color character from a color document image, and identifying the type of the color of each element. However, this publication does not disclose identifying and separating elements of the same color having similar area shapes, for example, red preprinted characters or red frame lines and red imprints.

Conventionally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 06-290302 discloses that the color of a seal is divided into a portion corresponding to the color of a seal and a color portion of a written character, and the position coordinates of the extracted double line canceling portion are used as clues to provide a clue. It is disclosed that a corresponding part is taken out. However, since the method of this publication is a method of checking whether the color of the seal is present in the canceled part, that is, whether red is present, a red frame line is displayed near the red stamped part. It is difficult to distinguish a stamp from other parts in a report in which a red preprinted portion and a stamp are close to each other, such as when there is a form or a red underline near a red stamp. Further, in this publication, the stamped portion is detected using the double-line canceled portion as a clue, so that if the double-line canceled portion is not erroneously detected, the stamp cannot be detected. Further, in a form in which a seal is stamped on a portion where there is no double line cancellation, the stamp cannot be detected.
This publication also discloses that a stamp color exists in the canceled portion and warns the operator if it does not exist. However, the color is changed and displayed on the screen to emphasize the stamp portion. That is not taken into account.

[0006] Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-243290 discloses a C and C corresponding to blue and red dropout colors.
By AND logic operation between images by CD sensor,
It is disclosed that an image is obtained in which character frames and imprints of a plurality of dropout colors are eliminated, and an image including all character frames and imprints of a plurality of dropout colors is obtained by OR operation between images. However, this publication does not consider separation of the red frame and the red seal, and cannot extract only the red stamped portion. To obtain the above two images for character reading and imprint reading, the image is switched by a selector, and the same form must be scanned twice by the scanner. There is a problem that it takes time.

Further, conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-212294 has a character reading operation mode and an imprint reading operation mode. In the imprint reading operation mode, only the same color components as the imprint are extracted as effective dots. In this publication, the red frame and the red imprint are the same red and are extracted as effective dots without distinction. For this reason, it is impossible to extract the red imprint distinguished from the red frame. Also, for a form in which the area where the seal is present is fixed to a predetermined area, in this publication, only the same color components as the seal are extracted as valid dots in the seal reading operation mode, and the fixed area is cut out from the image. However, it does not describe the determination of the presence or absence of the seal. Further, in this publication, since the cutout position is the fixed position, it is impossible to cut out the seal imprinted at an arbitrary position.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-81666 discloses that
It is disclosed that a character entered in a form is canceled by the addition of a double line, a fill, or the like to detect whether or not the character is a character, and the canceled portion is displayed on a screen. There is no description about highlighting and displaying on the screen.

[0009]

A multi-color preprint is made on a color form, and not only a black frame and a typeface but also a multicolor such as a red and a blue frame and a typeface for a red entry explanation. The parts are pre-printed mixedly in one form.
Conventionally, in a method of extracting an area of the same color, a form in which a red stamp is placed near a red frame line or a red print character of a color form, the same color as the seal, that is, a red frame. Since lines and red printed characters are extracted together with the stamped portion, it is difficult to extract only the stamped portion separately from other red elements (lines and printed characters). SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a first object of the present invention to provide a color document reading apparatus that extracts a stamp portion separately from a color document including a preprinted portion having the same color as the stamp color.

Conventionally, for a seal imprinted on a fixed position of a form, the coordinates of the fixed position are registered in advance, and the image of the fixed position is cut out from the blue drop-out image to be imprinted. Was an image. However,
Since it is necessary to set the cutout position wide in consideration of the influence of the form displacement, there is a problem that a part of the border line around the seal and the entered characters are cut out and are mixed in the seal image. For this reason, it has not been possible to change the display color of only the seal portion on the screen. In addition, it is necessary to register the fixed position in advance, and the work efficiency for registering the format information is low. A second object of the present invention is to provide a color form reading apparatus capable of extracting a seal imprinted at an arbitrary position.

Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-290302 discloses that the color of the seal, that is, whether red is present in the double-line canceled portion is disclosed. There is no description of automatic determination of whether or not. A third object of the present invention is to provide a color form reading apparatus for automatically determining whether a seal is stamped at a fixed position.

Conventionally, in order to determine whether an input form is an original genuine color form or black and white copied paper, a color image must be displayed on a screen and visually checked. there were. A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a color document reading apparatus for automatically identifying whether an input document image is a genuine colored document or a document copied in black and white. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a color document reading apparatus for automatically determining whether a stamp is not authentic, and whether the stamp is a forged document in which a seal is copied in black and white and pasted as a stamp.

Further, conventionally, there has been known a method of using a color look-up table to represent a color image with a representative color by using a color index. Since the image is generated for each image, it is necessary to scan the image twice to determine the representative color and to generate the index image, and there is a problem that the image input time becomes long. A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a color form reading apparatus capable of generating an index image at high speed without performing image scanning for determining a representative color in color lookup type image input. is there.

Further, conventionally, in order to confirm the seal on the screen, a predetermined area to be stamped is displayed in black and white in a blue dropout color image (black and white binary image). In this display method, since not only the stamped portion but also the adjacent preprinted portion is displayed in black, there is a problem that the display screen is difficult to see, and it takes time for the operator to determine whether or not the stamped portion is leaked. Conventionally, as another simple method, there is a method of displaying a full-color image composed of a red component, a blue component, a green component, and 8 bits each on a screen. There is a problem that the processing time required for reading and transferring data becomes long. A sixth object of the present invention is to check the presence / absence of a stamp on a form including a red frame, a preprinted portion in a multicolor red frame or a red print character, and a red underline, on a screen. Another object of the present invention is to propose a color form reading result display method in which, on a display screen, a display color of a red imprinted portion is changed from a display color of a red preprinted portion and highlighted.

[0015]

In order to achieve the first object, means for extracting a partial image of a predetermined region from a collected form image and generating a binary image composed of red pixels from the partial image And a means for removing the pre-printed image from the binary image composed of the red pixels and extracting the image of the imprinted portion.

In order to achieve the second object, means for generating a binary image of a red component, means for generating a binary image of a blue component, and converting a binary image of a red component from the binary image of the blue component There is provided means for performing subtraction, and means for performing thinning processing and thickening processing on the subtraction result image. Further, means for generating a preprinted binary image composed of elements having designated color information as attributes from the form data generated by the form creation software, and a subtracted binary image based on the preprinted binary image Means for correcting geometric distortion of the image, and means for subtracting the preprinted binary image from the subtracted binary image after the distortion correction.

In order to achieve the third object, means for extracting a partial image of a predetermined area from the binary image, means for extracting appearance characteristics of black and white pixels from the partial image, and a form based on the characteristic amount Means for determining whether or not a red seal is imprinted on the predetermined area.

In order to achieve the fourth object, means for determining whether a monochrome image or a colored image is to be obtained from a color component image taken from the entire surface or a portion of the form surface, and that the image is a monochrome image Means for displaying the form image in color on the screen for confirmation and displaying a warning on the screen when the determination is made.

In order to achieve the fifth object, a color look-up table consisting of representative colors is held for the color component images of the three primary colors, and the contents of the color look-up table are switched as format information for each form type and set. Means for holding index data of the color look-up table from the input color component image data as a form color index image in synchronization with scanning by a scanner, and indicating a range of a specific color in the index. There are provided means for selecting a plurality of indices, and means for generating a binary image including pixels having any one of the plurality of indices as pixel data and other pixels.

In order to achieve the sixth object, a binary image of each color component is generated from the color component images of the three primary colors, and stamping is performed by performing an image operation between the color component binary image and a preset pre-print image. The binary image of the part and the binary image of the entry part are extracted, and the image obtained by superimposing the binary image of the seal part, the binary part of the entry part, and the preprinted image in different display colors are combined and displayed on the screen in color. At the same time, the image centering on the seal detection part is displayed on the screen in an enlarged manner, and the image of the peripheral part of the seal part is scrolled and displayed.

Note that red is a color generally called red. For example, the red color includes vermilion of vermilion when stamped with a seal, and the red color of ink that does not take water-based oiliness when used for a rubber stamp. The red color of the frame pre-printed on the form includes a color called red when distinguished from other colors, such as pinkish red or orangeish red. Similarly, other colors, such as black, blue, and green, are not generally used to indicate the definition of colors in a strict sense, but are generally used when indicating colors. Therefore, yellow-green may be regarded as green in the present invention in a color form actually observed.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a color form reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The color form to be read in the present invention is, as shown in FIG.
Multicolored frame lines 201 and 203 and underline 205 are preprinted. The seal is a red seal 206. The color form reading device is shown in FIG.
Color form reading unit 101 and color form image storage unit 1
02 and an operator dialogue unit 103, which are connected by a network 120. A color sensor 100 for collecting an image of the surface of a color form and a color form reading unit 101 read the input color form and store the color form image in a color form image storage unit 102. In addition, the read result is sent to the operator interaction unit 103 together with the image, and the form image and the combined stamp image are displayed on the screen to confirm and correct the form read result. Color form reading unit 101
Then, red component image data, blue component image data, and green component image data, which are output data of the color sensor 100, are input, and the seal detection unit 112 extracts a seal partial image of a seal. In addition, the character reading unit 114 recognizes characters printed or written on the form. Further, the color / monochrome determination unit 113 determines whether the entire surface of the form or the specified partial area is colored or achromatic. Control unit 1
10 is an overall execution control of the color form reading unit 101;
Controls data transfer. The operator interaction unit 103 includes a confirmation / correction unit 115 and an imprint color display unit 116 for displaying a color or monochrome image.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the extraction of the stamp partial image from the color form to be processed. Color report is 20
As shown in FIG. 0, multicolored frame lines 201 and 203 and an underline 205 are preprinted. The printed characters 202 and the handwritten characters 204 are written in black, and the seal is a red seal 206. Preprints of the same color may be present in the vicinity of the red imprint 206, for example, the red imprint 206 and the red underline 20
6 are superimposed or the red frame line 203 is
6 may be in the vicinity. An image resulting from extracting the stamped part 211 from the color form 200 is indicated by 210.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the seal detection unit 112. The color component image data of the three primary colors collected by the color sensor 300 is converted into binary data of each color component by the binarizing units 301, 302, and 303 for the respective color components. The image is stored in the binary image storage unit 306 and the green component binary image storage unit 307. Then, the red pixel extraction unit 308
, The position coordinates of a pixel whose pixel is red are detected using each color component binary image as an input, and the pixel corresponding to the red pixel is set to be valid (for example, black), and the other pixels are set to be invalid (for example, white). A red image 320 is output. On the other hand, the preprinted image storage unit 309 stores a preprinted form image generated by the form creation software.
The pre-print image 321 is a black and white binary image including elements such as a frame line, underline, and printed characters having the same color as that of the stamp as red, and the pixel in which the red element exists is valid (for example, black). , And other pixels are invalid (for example, white). Then, the pre-print removing unit 310
Then, the pre-print image 321 is deleted from the red image 320, and a red seal candidate image 322 is output. Imprint leak determination unit 31
In step 1, an image feature of a predetermined area of the red seal candidate image 322 is extracted, and it is determined whether or not a seal has been made based on the feature amount. As a feature of the image, for example, the number of black pixels in a predetermined area is detected, and if the number of black pixels is larger than a certain value, it is determined that an imprint is present. As another example of the feature of the image, a connected component (a mass of black pixels) of the black pixel is extracted, and the width and height of a circumscribed rectangle of the connected component are detected.
If the width and height are within a predetermined range, it is determined that an imprint exists.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the red pixel extraction unit 308. Input blue component binary image data 410
Then, the image subtraction unit 400 performs image subtraction on the red component binary image data 411. Here, the blue component binary image data 410 is a subtracted image, and the red component 2
The value image data 411 is used as a subtraction image, and the red component binary image data 411 is subtracted from the blue component binary image data 410. The image subtraction is performed for each corresponding pixel, and the subtraction formula is as follows: pixel value of subtracted image−pixel value of subtracted image = pixel value of result image;
0 = 1, 0-1 = 0, 0-0 = 0. Image subtraction has a different result value from AND operation or OR subtraction of an image.

In the thinning / thickening processing unit 401, the noise of the subtraction result image 412 is removed from the subtraction result image 412 to remove the noise generated at the outline boundary of the frame line and the character. Output.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a pre-print image. The pre-print image 500 generated by the form creation software is stored in the pre-print image storage unit 309. In this example of a color form, pre-printing is performed by border lines 501 and 502 and underline 50.
And 3. The planets 501 and 502 are red frames, and the underline 503 is also red. In the method of generating the pre-printed image, a pixel corresponding to a red pixel having the same color as the seal is generated as an effective pixel (black) and a pixel having a color other than that is generated as an invalid pixel (white). As an example of another color form, a border line other than red may exist on the form,
As the pre-print image, a pre-print portion having a color that is not the same color as the seal can be stored as an invalid pixel (white that is the same as the background).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the pre-print image removing unit 310. With respect to the input red pixel data 320, the image geometric distortion detection unit 600 performs position shift, inclination,
A geometric distortion such as a magnification shift is detected, and the image geometric distortion correction unit 601 corrects the distortion. Then, the image subtraction unit 602 subtracts the pre-printed image 321 from the image after the distortion correction, and outputs the subtracted image as the red seal candidate image 322. The image subtraction unit 602 is the image subtraction unit 4 of FIG.
Same function as 00.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which it is automatically determined whether an input image is a genuine color form or a black and white form copied by black-and-white copying or the like which may be forged. Here, a configuration example of the color / monochrome determination unit 113 will be described. The color component image data of the three primary colors collected by the color sensor 700 is converted into binary data of each color component by the binarizing units 701, 702, and 703 for each color component. The image is stored in the binary image storage unit 705 and the green component binary image storage unit 706. Then, the pixel saturation detection unit 707
, The color coordinates of the pixels having a color are detected using the color component binary images 710, 711, and 712 as input, the pixel corresponding to the color pixel is enabled (for example, black), and the other pixels are disabled ( A colored image 713 (for example, white) is output. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a method of detecting image saturation. A table indicated by 800 is a table showing values of input binary image of each component and distinction between chromatic / achromatic colors determined as output. The value of the input red component binary image 710 corresponds to row 801 and the value of the blue component binary image 711 corresponds to row 8
02, and the green component binary image 712 corresponds to the row 803. When the cases are classified according to the possible values of the respective component images, as shown in a column 810 of the table, the cases are divided into eight cases from 811 to 818. Output state is line 804
It is a distinction between colored and achromatic. 821, 813, 814, 815, 816,
817, and there are two cases of achromatic color, 811 and 818, as indicated by 820 and 822. The form coloring determination unit 708 determines that a colored form has been input if there are many colored pixels, that is, effective pixels, in the colored image 713. If there are no or few valid pixels, it is assumed that black and white paper has been input. The warning information generation unit 709 generates warning information for notifying the operator according to the output result of the form color determination unit. Normal confirmation of the operator is performed quickly on a monochrome screen, and if warning information is generated,
The display on the screen is switched from monochrome to color according to the warning information so that the operator can confirm that the black and white paper has been input. It is easy for the operator to display the image in color and confirm that it is black and white paper.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of a color form reading apparatus for extracting a seal portion from a color index image. Color component image data of three primary colors, which is output data of the color sensor 900, is input to the color lookup table generation unit 901 and is temporarily stored and held in the color image storage unit 903. The color lookup generation unit 901 has conventionally known a generation method thereof. For example, the color lookup generation unit 901 generates an appearance frequency distribution of pixels in a color component space of three primary colors while scanning the entire surface of a color image. The value of each component of the three primary colors having the maximum value in the frequency distribution is set as a representative color. The selected representative colors are registered in the color lookup table storage unit 902. The number of representative colors, that is, the number of colors can be set in advance.
Six colors, 64 colors, 16 colors, etc. can be adopted. FIG.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a color lookup table and a specific color index table. Color lookup table 1
000 holds the value of the red component shown by 1002, the value of the blue component shown by 1003, and the value of the green component shown by 1004 corresponding to each index 1010, 1012 to 1015, as shown in the column of the index 1001. I do.
After the scanning of the image is completed and the representative colors are set in the color lookup table storage unit, while sequentially reading out the respective color components from the color image storage unit 903 which has been temporarily stored, the index image conversion unit 904 sets each pixel in Is converted to a representative color represented by an index. At this time, the representative color closest to the color of the pixel is selected.
Then, the index image storage unit 905 stores the image converted to the representative color. The specific index image extraction unit 906 detects pixels of the same color as the seal. At this time, a set of indices having the same color as that of the seal as the specific color and the specific color as the representative color is obtained by searching the previously set color lookup table. 1 in FIG.
The obtained representative color, that is, the index, is stored in the specific color index table 020. In this example, the number 1021 of iondexes of the same color as the specific color is three, and three indices N1, N2, and N3 indicated by 1022, 1023, and 1024 are obtained as specific indexes. The output of the specific index image extraction unit 906 is such that a pixel having a specific color is an effective pixel (for example, black), and a pixel having another color is an invalid pixel (for example, white).
It is a specific color image of a value. In the pre-print removal unit 908, the pre-print image stored in the pre-print storage unit 907 is
It is removed from the specific color image. Then, the presence / absence of a seal is determined by the seal leak determining unit 909 from the image after the pre-print removal. Note that the pre-print storage unit 907, the pre-print removal unit 908, and the imprint leakage determination unit 909 correspond to 309, 3
The configuration may be the same as 10, 311.

FIG. 11 shows a specific index image extracting section 90.
6 is a flowchart showing a processing process of No. 6; In step 1100, the color lookup table 1000 is input, and in step 1101, a specific color index table 1020 is generated. A set of indices having the same color as that of the seal as the specific color and the specific color as the representative color is obtained by searching the previously set color lookup table 1000. Next, the process proceeds to a process of generating a binary specific color image.
First, in step 1102, the vertical direction of the index image is scanned. Further, in step 1103, the horizontal direction of the index image is scanned. While repeating the above scanning,
Step 1104 is performed. First, Step 1
At 104, the data of the corresponding pixel is read from the index image. Then, in step 1105, the pixel value,
That is, the index is the specific index table 102
It is determined whether it is included in 0. If it is included in the specific index table, step 110
In step 6, the pixel position of the specific color image is set to an effective pixel, for example, the value is set to 1. On the other hand, if it is not included in the specific index table, the corresponding pixel position of the specific color image is set to an invalid pixel, for example, a value of 0 in step 1107. This series of processing is repeated to generate a specific color image.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram for explaining another embodiment of a color form reading apparatus for extracting an imprint portion from a color index image, and is a diagram for explaining a method of generating an index image in synchronization with scanning. In the color component image data of the three primary colors, which is output data of the color sensor 1400, each pixel is converted into a representative color represented by an index in an index image conversion unit 1404. At this time, the color lookup table is set in advance according to the type of the form. The color lookup table selection unit 1401 selects a color lookup table corresponding to the form type 1410 from the format information table 1402. Note that a color lookup table for a plurality of form types is registered in the format information table 1402 in advance. The selected color lookup table is registered in the color lookup table storage unit 1403. Each color component is input to the index image conversion unit 1404 in synchronization with scanning. The index image storage unit 1405 stores the image converted to the representative color. The specific index image extraction unit 1406 detects pixels of the same color as the seal. At this time, a set of indices having the same color as that of the seal as the specific color and the specific color as the representative color is obtained by searching the previously set color lookup table. Specific index image extraction unit 1406
The output of a pixel having a specific color is an effective pixel (for example, black),
This is a binary specific color image in which pixels having other colors are regarded as invalid pixels (for example, white). Pre-print removal unit 1408
Then, the pre-print image stored in the pre-print storage unit 1407 is removed from the specific color image. Then, the presence / absence of a seal is determined by the seal leak determining unit 1409 from the image after the pre-print removal.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment for detecting leakage of an imprint within a predetermined range using a blue component image. Of the three primary color components obtained from the color sensor 1200, the image data of the blue component is converted into a black and white binary image by the binarization unit 1201 and stored in the blue component binary image storage unit 1202. The partial image extraction unit 1203 cuts out a partial image of a predetermined area. Then, the image feature extracting unit 1204 extracts an image feature from the partial image. As the image feature, for example, the number of black pixels or the size of a block of black pixels may be used. In the seal leak determination unit 1205, based on the feature amount,
Detects the presence or absence of the seal. For example, if the number of black pixels detected as the image feature amount is smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that there is no seal.

FIG. 13 is a view for explaining the detection of the omission of a seal for a form in which a seal is made at a predetermined position in a color form. Reference numeral 1300 denotes a blue component binary image of a color form.
Red frame lines 1301, 1303, and 1305 are preprinted and are black. Character strings 1302, 1 in the frame
304 is printed or entered. The red seal is a black seal 1306. The seal 1306 exists at a predetermined position of the form 1 image 300. Therefore, an area 1307 indicated by a dotted line is set, and a partial image is cut out. 132
Reference numeral 0 denotes an image obtained as a result of extracting the seal image, which can be generated by cutting out and pasting the partial image indicated by 1321.

FIG. 15 shows a display method for confirming the presence / absence of an imprint on a screen, in which the display color of the red imprinted portion is changed from the display color of the red preprinted portion to emphasize the display color. FIG. As shown in the color form 1500, the seal 1505 is red, and the preprinted portion is multicolored and has red frames 1501 and 1503. In addition, black entry characters 1502 and 1504 exist. Note that in this example, the background 1506 is white, but is not necessarily limited to the color. In another example of a form, there is a form including a red print character and a red underline. 1510 shows an example of a screen for confirming the seal. The stamped portion 1513 is displayed in green, and the characters 1511 and 1512 are displayed in brown. In addition, the red frame line of the preprinted portion becomes white and has been removed. The display screen is provided with scroll bars 1520 and 1521 for moving images for display. In this way, by displaying the stamped portion on the screen with a different display color from the other portions, the stamped portion can be emphasized.

FIG. 16 shows the display colors of the pre-printed portion.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a combining method of changing the display color of an imprinted portion and highlighting it. First, in step 1600, a composite color image for screen display is initialized. And step 160
Step 1 sets a composite color table. As shown in FIG. 17, the composite color table includes a pre-print portion 1701 and an imprint portion 1.
703, For the valid and invalid pixels of the entry portion 1702,
The display color of the composite image is set in advance as indicated by 1704, and the set colors 1710, 1711, 1712, 17
13, 1714, 1715, 1716, and 1717 are held in a table format. For example, as shown in 1711,
A green display color is set for a pixel in which the seal portion is valid and the other portions are invalid. In addition, as shown in 1713, white is set for pixels in which the pre-print portion is valid, and the same color as the background color 1710 is set. Note that, for example, setting the preprinted portion to blue can be easily realized by changing the table. Then
In step 1602, a pre-print image is input. In step 1603, a binary image of the entry part is input. The entry portion binary image can be extracted by, for example, setting the entry color of the specific color index shown in FIG. 9 and removing the preprint image. Further, the input portion binary image can also be obtained by subtracting the pre-print image and the stamp extraction image from the blue component binary image. In step 1604, a stamped binary image is input. Then, in step 1605, the image is scanned in the vertical direction, in step 1606, the image is scanned in the horizontal direction, and the processing after step 1607 is repeated to generate a composite color image. First, in step 1607, the pixel value of the preprinted image is input, and in step 1608, the pixel value of the filled-in binary image is input.
At 09, the pixel value of the stamped-part binary image is input. Then, in step 1610, based on the above three types of pixel values,
The contents of the composite color table 1700 are accessed, and the composite color read in step 1611 is set for the pixel of the composite color image.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the stamped portion can be extracted from the color form including the preprinted portion of the same color as the stamped color, so that it is possible to assist the operator in confirming the stamping omission.

Further, according to the present invention, since a stamp at an arbitrary position can be extracted, the operation of setting the coordinates of the stamp position as format information in advance can be omitted.

Further, for a form to be stamped at a fixed position, the stamp leakage is automatically determined, so that the operator can omit the operation of confirming the stamp leakage, and the work efficiency can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically determine whether an input image is a genuine form or a form that may be counterfeited by black-and-white copying or the like based on saturation. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the authenticity determination work of the form by the operator.

According to the present invention, since the color lookup table including the representative color is provided as the format information, the identification number of the form is read, and the corresponding format information is selected and set. In contrast, an index image composed of representative colors can be collected at high speed, and the image input time can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, since the extracted stamped portion and other portions can be displayed in a superimposed manner on the screen by changing the display color, the stamped portion is displayed in an emphasized manner. However, the work of confirming the imprint leakage through the screen becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a color form reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating extraction of a stamp partial image from a color form to be processed;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of an imprint detection unit 112.

FIG. 4 shows one configuration example of a red pixel extraction unit 308.

FIG. 5 is an example of a pre-print image.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a pre-print image removing unit 310.

FIG. 7 shows whether the input image is a genuine color form
This is an embodiment in which it is automatically determined whether the document is a black-and-white document that may be counterfeited and is copied by monochrome copying or the like.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method of detecting image saturation.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of a color form reading apparatus that extracts a seal portion from a color index image.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a color lookup table and a specific color index table.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a specific index image extracting unit 906.

FIG. 12 is an example of detecting leakage of an imprint within a predetermined range using a blue component image.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating detection of a seal omission in a form in which a seal is placed at a predetermined position in a color form.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram illustrating another embodiment of a color form reading apparatus that extracts a stamp portion from a color index image, and illustrates a method of generating an index image in synchronization with scanning.

FIG. 15 is a view for explaining a screen display method in which, on a display screen for confirming the presence or absence of an imprint on the screen, a display color of a red preprinted portion is changed and highlighted with respect to a display color of a red preprinted portion. It is.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a combining method in which a display color of an imprinted portion is changed and highlighted with respect to a display color of a pre-printed portion.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a composite color table.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: color form reading unit, 112: seal detection unit
116: stamped color display unit, 305: red component binary image storage unit, 308: red pixel extraction unit, 310: pre-print image removal unit, 400: image subtraction unit, 707: pixel saturation detection unit, 906: specific index Image extraction unit, 1204 ...
Image feature extraction unit, 1401 ... Color lookup table selection unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Shinjo 1-280 Higashi-Koikekubo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Inside the Hitachi, Ltd. Central Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Kazuki Nakajima 1-280 Higashi-Koikekubo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Hitachi, Ltd. Central Research Laboratory F-term (reference)

Claims (7)

[Claims] A first means for extracting a partial image of a predetermined area from a collected form image in a form reading apparatus provided with a color scanner for collecting one or more color component images of three primary color component images; Second means for generating a binary image composed of red pixels from the partial image;
Third means for removing the preprinted image from the binary image composed of the red pixels and extracting the stamped portion, and fourth means for displaying the extracted binary image of the stamped portion on the screen by changing the display color. A color form comprising: determining whether or not a red seal is stamped in a predetermined area of the form; determining whether or not the seal is imprinted; and displaying the image of the seal portion and the image of the peripheral portion for confirmation and correction. Reader. 2. A form reading apparatus provided with a color scanner for collecting one or more color component images of three primary color component images, wherein a black-and-white image or a color image is obtained from a color component image collected from the entire surface or a part of the form surface. First means for determining any of the images, and second means for displaying the form image in color on the screen and displaying a warning on the screen when the image is determined to be a black and white image. A color document reading apparatus, which detects that a genuine document has not been input and that a paper copied or forged in black and white has been input. A second means for generating a binary image of a red component; a means for generating a binary image of a blue component; and a second component for generating a binary image of the red component from the binary image of the blue component. Means for subtracting an image and means for performing thinning processing and thickening processing on the subtraction result image, extracting a set of red pixels, and having a different value between the pixel where the red pixel exists and the other pixels. A color form reading apparatus for generating a value image. 4. A means for generating a preprinted binary image comprising an element having designated color information as an attribute from form data generated by form creation software, and Means are provided for correcting the geometric distortion of the subtracted binary image with reference to the preprinted binary image, and for subtracting the preprinted binary image from the subtracted binary image after distortion correction. A color form reading apparatus for extracting only a red stamped part from a color form having a red preprinted part. 5. A form reading apparatus provided with a color scanner for sampling color component images of three primary colors, wherein a color lookup table composed of representative colors is held for the color component images of three primary colors, and the contents of the color lookup table are stored. Means for switching and setting each form type as format information, means for holding index data of the color look-up table from the input color component image data as a form color index image in synchronization with the reading scan of the scanner, Means for selecting a plurality of indices indicating a specific color range from the indices, and means for generating a binary image composed of a pixel having any one of the indices as pixel data and other pixels Extracting a set of pixels of a specific color as a binary image Error document reading device. 6. A form reading device provided with a color scanner for collecting one or more color component images of three primary color component images, means for generating a binary image of a blue component, and a binary image of the blue component. A means for extracting a partial image of a predetermined area from the image, a means for extracting appearance characteristics of black and white pixels from the partial image, and a seal indicating whether or not a red seal is stamped on a predetermined area of the form based on the characteristic amount. An apparatus for reading a color document, comprising: means for judging leakage of an imprint; and fifth means for displaying a color component image of the predetermined area on a screen in color for confirmation and correction. 7. In reading a color form, a binary image of each color component is generated from a color component image of three primary colors, and a stamped portion is formed by image operation of the color component binary image and a preset pre-print image. A binary image and a binary image of an entry portion are extracted, and an image obtained by superimposing the binary image of the stamp portion, the binary portion of the entry portion, and the pre-printed image in different display colors is combined and displayed on a screen in color. A method of displaying an image centered on the seal detection portion on a screen and scrolling and displaying an image of a peripheral portion of the seal portion.