JP2000287063A - Image processor and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a quantity of information which capable of multiplexing by providing a detection means that detects the quantity of information by which capable of multiplexing a multiplexer means, on the basis of distribution information of pixel values to the image processor. SOLUTION: A detection section 102 scans received image information, to detect a distribution state of pixel values. A measurement section 103 uses a given multiplexer means to measure the quantity of information which capable of multiplexing, on the basis of the distribution state of the detected pixel values. A display section 104, such as a CRT or an LCD, displays the measured quantity of information which capable of multiplexing. Furthermore, a coding section 105 encodes received additional information. Moreover, an information multiplexer section 106 multiplexes information according to an information multiplexer means. Then in this case, before the multiplexer processing by the multiplexer means, image information is scanned to acquire distribution information of pixel values and the quantity of information which capable of multiplexing by the multiplexer means is detected on the basis of the obtained distribution information of the pixel values.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and method for multiplexing other information with image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various techniques for multiplexing different kinds of information into image information have been proposed as methods for protecting copyrights, preventing counterfeiting of bills, protecting confidential information, and transmitting sounds including characters and voices. Have been.

[0003] For example, Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan 1998 Vol.27 No.5
Various digital watermark technologies are introduced in “Digital Watermark Technology and Its Evaluation Items” on p.483. The method of multiplexing information is roughly divided into a method of inserting information into the frequency domain,
The method can be divided into methods that allow information to enter the real space area. When information is mixed into the frequency space, image information is mainly converted into information in the frequency domain using an FFT or the like, and then multiplexing of information is realized using frequency components and phase components. On the other hand, when information is mixed into the real space area, information multiplexing is realized using the value of the least significant bit and a quantization error.

[0004] Currently, multiplexing of information is mainly intended to protect copyrights of electronic images and the like, and multiplexed data is limited to the name, location, date and time of copyright holder, and the like. Often.

On the other hand, as a method of mixing an image including a text and the like and variable-length heterogeneous information such as voice in the same medium, information description in a margin portion and ink which is clearly different from ink constituting an image are used. There is a method in which a used information description or a code having a shape irrelevant to the image information using ink constituting an image is mixed as information.

[0006]

When information is multiplexed using the frequency domain, the frequency components required for the image differ depending on the image. Therefore, the data of the additional information which can be multiplexed while suppressing the deterioration of the image quality is suppressed. The amount is determined for each target image.
Therefore, when the amount of additional information is large, the frequency domain required for multiplexing increases, and depending on the image, multiplexing of all information may not be possible depending on the image.

Further, when multiplexing information using a real space area, the intrusion of additional information into an area that is easily perceived visually causes deterioration in image quality, and decoding is performed under the influence of surrounding image information. If additional information is embedded in a difficult area, the embedded information cannot be used. In other words, the area where additional information can be inserted is limited, and as a result, the amount of information that can be multiplexed is limited,
It can happen that not all information can be multiplexed.

[0008] Further, a method of describing additional information in a margin portion is not desirable because an area other than an image is required. The method of using a special ink is not desirable because it requires an ink other than the ink for performing normal printing and causes a cost increase.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and method capable of detecting a multiplexable information amount.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and a method thereof capable of determining whether or not multiplexing is possible.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method capable of controlling information multiplexing processing based on the determination result of multiplexing availability.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of controlling the amount of information to be multiplexed to a multiplexable amount.

[0013]

The present invention has the following configuration as one means for achieving the above object.

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is an image processing apparatus having multiplexing means for multiplexing other information with image information, wherein the image information is scanned before the multiplexing processing by the multiplexing means. And a detecting means for detecting the amount of information that can be multiplexed by the multiplexing means based on the obtained pixel value distribution information.

Preferably, further, comparing means for comparing the detected multiplexable information amount with the information amount of the information to be multiplexed, and judging means for judging the possibility of multiplexing based on the comparison result And characterized in that:

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises control means for controlling the multiplexing means based on a result of the judgment by the judgment means.

An image processing apparatus having multiplexing means for multiplexing information encoded by the encoding means with image information, wherein the image information is scanned before the multiplexing processing by the multiplexing means. Obtaining means for obtaining distribution information of pixel values by using the detection means for detecting the amount of information that can be multiplexed by the multiplexing means based on the obtained distribution information of pixel values; And control means for controlling the coding conditions of the coding means based on

An image processing method according to the present invention is a method for multiplexing image information with other information, and scans the image information to obtain distribution information of pixel values before the multiplexing processing. Based on the obtained and obtained pixel value distribution information,
It is characterized in that a multiplexable information amount is detected.

[0019] Preferably, the detected multiplexable information amount is compared with the information amount of the information to be multiplexed.
A multiplexing possibility is determined based on the comparison result.

Preferably, the multiplexing process is controlled based on the determination result.

An image processing method for multiplexing coded information into image information, wherein the image information is scanned and pixel value distribution information is obtained before the multiplexing processing. The amount of multiplexable information is detected based on the distribution information of the pixel values to be obtained, and the coding condition of the coding process is controlled based on the detected amount of multiplexable information.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In each of the following embodiments, the above-described configuration and method for multiplexing heterogeneous information into image information are described.
In addition, a configuration and a method of detecting a multiplexable information amount will be described in detail, but the multiplexing target image information and the multiplexing condition are not limited to the following description,
The present invention is effective for all conditions to which the present invention can be applied.
Further, the added heterogeneous information (hereinafter simply referred to as “additional information”) is not limited to character information such as text and symbols, but also includes information such as sound including sound or image information. Various types of encoding methods can be used for encoding the additional information.

[0024]

First Embodiment [Configuration] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a CPU 10a, a ROM 10b and an R
A control unit including the AM 10c controls the operation and processing of each component described later. In particular, the CPU 10a performs control of multiplexing and related processing, which will be described later, using the RAM 10c as a work memory according to a program stored in the ROM 10b in advance.

Reference numeral 100 denotes an input terminal for image information on which additional information is multiplexed, and 101 denotes an input terminal for additional information.

Reference numeral 102 denotes a detection unit that scans input image information to detect a distribution state of pixel values. 103 denotes a detection unit that can be multiplexed using given multiplexing means based on the distribution state of detected pixel values. A measuring unit 104 for measuring a large amount of information is a display unit such as a CRT or an LCD for displaying the measured amount of multiplexable information.

As the multiplexing means, for example, there is an information adding means for changing the quantization value of the pixel of interest at the time of pseudo gradation processing to give a characteristic to the combination of the quantization values of a plurality of pixels. In the present embodiment, as a simpler specific example, for example, for high-resolution image information binarized by an error diffusion method, as shown in FIG. Use the one that adds information one bit at a time. The on / off of information is represented by the presence / absence of an on signal at a lattice point.

Since the 0% density dots are sparsely scattered in the high density portion of the image binarized by the error diffusion, two or more 0% density dots are rarely arranged continuously. Conversely, since dots having a density of 100% are sparsely scattered in the low-density portion, two or more dots having a density of 100% are rarely arranged continuously. However, in the medium density portion, dots of 100% density and 0% density are both dense, so that dots of the same density may be continuously arranged.
Therefore, the ON signal to be added is represented by a set of four dots with a density of 100% if the average density of the pixel values around the information addition area is low, and a set of four dots with a density of 0% if the average density is high. . However, information is not added to the medium density area where the set of four dot points is less distinctive than the surroundings and information identification is difficult.

Referring back to FIG. 1, reference numeral 105 denotes an encoding unit for encoding the input additional information, which is realized by an encoding method such as Huffman encoding. An information multiplexing unit 106 multiplexes information according to the information multiplexing unit described above.
Reference numeral 107 denotes a terminal for outputting image information in which additional information is multiplexed.

[Processing] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of this embodiment. The size of image information is N × M in the vertical and horizontal directions.
Let it be a pixel.

In step S300, variables i and j and the count value of the multiplexable information amount are initialized. Here, the variable i counts the address (pixel position) in the vertical (row) direction, and the variable j is the address (pixel position) in the horizontal (column) direction.
, And the pixel positions indicated by variables i and j are called the row address and the column address, respectively.

In step S301, it is determined whether or not the row address i is a row having grid points, and in step S302, it is determined whether or not the column address j is a column having grid points. Steps S301 and S3
If it is determined that the pixel is a lattice point in 02, the average density around the lattice point is measured in step S303. Then, step S304
Then, it is determined whether or not the measured average density is a medium density at which information multiplexing cannot be performed. If not, the count value of the multiplexable information amount is incremented at step S305.

If it is determined in step S302 that the column does not have a grid point, if the measured average density is medium density in step S304, or if the processing in step S305 has been completed, the flow advances to step S306. Then, the pixel position to be scanned is moved in the horizontal direction by incrementing the column address j.
Then, in step S307, the column address j and the horizontal size M of the image are set.
If j ≦ M, the process returns to step S302.

If j> M, or step S301
If it is determined in step that the row has no grid point,
In step S308, the row address i is incremented, the column address j is set to zero, and the pixel position to be scanned is moved in the vertical direction. Then, in step S309, the row address i is compared with the vertical size N of the image, and if i ≦ N, the process returns to step S301, and the processes in steps S301 to S309 are repeated.

If it is determined in step S309 that the processing for N rows has been completed, a count value indicating the amount of information that can be multiplexed is displayed in step S310, and the processing ends.

According to the present embodiment, the amount of information that can be multiplexed on an image can be measured in advance before performing the multiplexing process. The target information amount can be obtained, and the creation, selection, and processing of additional information can be efficiently executed.

Although an example in which information is added to grid points in the real space area has been described above, the present embodiment is not limited to this, and the present embodiment is applied to any method of adding information. It is possible.

Also, an example has been described in which multiplexing is realized by adding a signal indicating ON to a high-density portion or a low-density portion. However, the present embodiment is not limited to this. The present embodiment can be applied to the present invention.

[0040]

Second Embodiment Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Note that, in the present embodiment,
Components that are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the second embodiment according to the present invention.

The second embodiment compares the multiplexable information amount measured by the measuring unit 103 with the information amount of the additional information encoded by the encoding unit 105 to determine the possibility of multiplexing. The determination unit 400 is provided. Based on the comparison result of the comparing unit 400, the possibility of multiplexing is displayed on the display unit 104.
In addition to displaying the possibility of multiplexing, it is also effective to display the reason and the like when multiplexing is impossible.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the present embodiment. Steps S300 to S310 are the same as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Is shown.

In step S311, the encoding unit 105 encodes the additional information. In step S312, the amount of information multiplexable by the comparison unit 400 and the amount of information of the encoded additional information are compared to determine the possibility of multiplexing. Is determined, and a display regarding the possibility of multiplexing is made on the display unit 104 in step S313.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which additional information is encoded after detecting and displaying the amount of information that can be multiplexed. However, since the additional information can be encoded independently,
It may be performed before, during or after the detection and display processing of the multiplexable information amount. Also, it is not necessary to display the multiplexable information amount, or it is effective to display the multiplexable information amount according to the result of the multiplexing possibility.

According to the present embodiment, the amount of information that can be multiplexed on an image can be measured in advance before performing the multiplexing process. The target information amount can be obtained, and the creation, selection, and processing of additional information can be efficiently executed.
Furthermore, if the image information to be multiplexed, the additional information, and the encoding conditions are determined, it is possible to determine whether or not multiplexing is possible before the multiplexing process. As a result, when there are a plurality of multiplexing target image information, additional information, encoding conditions, and the like, it is possible to efficiently select a multiplexable combination thereof.

[0047]

Third Embodiment Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. Note that, in the present embodiment,
The same components as those in the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the third embodiment according to the present invention.

In the third embodiment, the comparison unit 400 compares the multiplexable information amount measured by the measurement unit 103 with the information amount of the additional information encoded by the encoding unit 105.
That is, the information multiplexing unit based on the determination result of the possibility of multiplexing.
The multiplexing process executed by 106 is controlled.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the present embodiment. Steps S300 to S313 are the same as those of the second embodiment shown in FIG. Is shown.

After displaying the possibility of multiplexing in step S313, the process branches in step S714 based on the possibility of multiplexing. That is, if multiplexing is not possible, the process ends,
If multiplexing is possible, a multiplexing process from step 315 is performed.

In step S315, variables i and j are initialized. Here, the variable i is a row address counter, and the variable j is a column address counter.

In step S316, it is determined whether or not the row address i is a row having grid points, and in step S317, it is determined whether or not the column address j is a column having grid points. Steps S316 and S3
If it is determined at 17 that it is a grid point, the average density around the grid point is measured at step S318. Then, step S319
Then, it is determined whether or not the measured average density is a medium density at which information multiplexing is impossible.

If the average density is not the middle density, the process branches in step S320 according to the average density. That is, if the average density is high, a set of four dots of 0% density is created in S321 to represent additional information, and if the average density is low, four dots of 100% density are used to represent additional information in S322. Create a set.

If it is determined in step S317 that the column does not have a lattice point, then in step S319, if the measured average density is medium density, or if it is determined in step S321 or S3
When the process in step S22 is completed, the process proceeds to step S323, in which the column address j is incremented and the pixel position to be scanned is moved in the horizontal direction. Then, in step S324, the column address j is compared with the horizontal size M of the image. If j ≦ M, the process returns to step S317.

If j> M, or step S316
If it is determined in step that the row has no grid point,
In step S325, the row address i is incremented and the column address j is set to zero, and the pixel position to be scanned is moved in the vertical direction. Based on the determination in step S326, the above-described step S31 is performed until the relationship between the row address i and the vertical size N of the image becomes i> N.
The processes from S6 to S326 are repeated, and the process ends.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which additional information is encoded after the detection and display of the multiplexable information amount. However, since the additional information can be encoded independently,
It may be performed before, during or after the detection and display processing of the multiplexable information amount. Also, it is not necessary to display the multiplexable information amount, or it is effective to display the multiplexable information amount according to the result of the multiplexing possibility.

According to the present embodiment, in addition to the effects obtained in the first and second embodiments, the possibility of multiplexing and the multiplexing process are performed in series, which is an element of multiplexing. Changes in image information, additional information, coding conditions, and the like are required only when multiplexing is not possible. Therefore, when multiplexing is possible, information multiplexing processing is subsequently performed, so that the work of the operator can be reduced and the multiplexing work of information can be made more efficient. Also, even if multiplexing is not possible, the amount of additional information that can be multiplexed with the currently selected image information is displayed together with the determination result, and the additional information or encoding conditions are changed. It will be a guide when doing.

[0059]

[Fourth Embodiment] An image processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Note that, in the present embodiment,
For configurations substantially similar to the first, second and third embodiments,
The same reference numerals are given and the detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the fourth embodiment according to the present invention.

In the fourth embodiment, an extremely efficient information multiplexing process is realized by reflecting the determination result of the possibility of multiplexing in the coding condition of the additional information.

The information measuring unit 801 measures the information amount of the input additional information. The comparing section 400 outputs a result obtained by comparing the information amount of the additional information obtained from the information amount measuring section 801 with the information amount of the image information obtained from the measuring section 103. The coding condition control unit 803 determines the coding condition of the additional information based on the comparison result of the information amount obtained from the comparing unit 400, and
Set to.

For example, the encoding condition control unit 803 can change the information amount by changing the sampling rate of the sound information. Specifically, by using the ratio between the amount of information that can be multiplexed and the amount of information of the additional information as a scaling factor when changing the sampling rate, it is possible to effectively reflect the encoding condition. However, for example, when the sampling rate of sound information is changed, if the sampling rate is set too low, the information inherent in the additional information may be damaged. Therefore, it is also effective to determine the possibility of multiplexing by making the comparing unit 400 determine the possibility of multiplexing by determining the multiplexable range in advance, and to control the information multiplexing process based on the result of the determination.

After the encoding condition is determined by the encoding condition control unit 803, the encoding unit 105 encodes the additional information according to the set encoding condition, and multiplexes the encoded additional information with the information multiplexing unit 106. To multiplex information.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the present embodiment. Since the processes other than steps S331 and S332 are the same as those of the third embodiment shown in FIG. Only the processing in the vicinity of S332 is shown.

If it is determined in step S314 that multiplexing is possible, in step 331, the encoding condition necessary for encoding the additional information to be multiplexed is determined by the encoding condition control unit. That is, the sampling rate required for encoding the sound information is determined. As described above, the sampling rate is determined by multiplying the ratio of the amount of information that can be multiplexed to image information and the encoded additional information by the sampling rate as a magnification. Then, after the coding condition is determined, the additional information is coded by the coding unit 105 in step S332.

The additional information is not limited to sound information.
Any information can be used, such as image information, which can be irreversibly compressed and whose amount of information can be changed under some conditions.

According to this embodiment, in addition to the effects obtained in the first to third embodiments, the possibility of multiplexing can be expanded by controlling the encoding conditions of the additional information. Work can be made easier. further,
In order to reduce the amount of additional information and perform multiplexing of information,
Multiplexing of information having a large amount of information that cannot be multiplexed as it is can be realized by a single process.

[0069]

[Other Embodiments] The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), and can be applied to a single device (for example, a copying machine). Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and to provide the computer (or the computer) of the system or apparatus It is needless to say that the present invention can also be achieved by a CPU or an MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Also,
When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code.
It is needless to say that a case in which the functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented by performing part or all of the actual processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, the CPU included in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3, 5, 7, and / or 9 described above. Will be.

[0073]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an image processing apparatus and a method thereof capable of detecting a multiplexable information amount.

Further, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus and a method thereof capable of determining whether or not multiplexing is possible.

Further, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus and a method thereof capable of controlling information multiplexing processing based on the determination result of multiplexing availability.

Further, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of controlling the amount of information to be multiplexed to the multiplexable amount.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of multiplexing information into image information.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the first embodiment,

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the second embodiment,

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the third embodiment,

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure according to the fourth embodiment.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B057 AA11 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB08 CB12 CB16 CE08 CH11 DA16 DC32 5C062 AB17 AB23 AB42 AC24 AC25 AC44 AC58 BA00 5C076 AA12 AA14 AA40

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus comprising a multiplexing unit for multiplexing other information with image information, wherein the image information is scanned before pixel data is multiplexed by the multiplexing unit. An image processing apparatus comprising: an acquiring unit that acquires the information; and a detecting unit that detects an amount of information that can be multiplexed by the multiplexing unit based on the obtained pixel value distribution information. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the detected multiplexable information amount.
An image processing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. A comparing means for comparing the detected multiplexable information amount with the information amount of the information to be multiplexed, and a judging means for judging the possibility of multiplexing based on the comparison result. 2. The image processing device according to claim 1, comprising: 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising display means for displaying a result of the determination by said determination means. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a control unit that controls the multiplexing unit based on a result of the determination by the determining unit. 6. An image processing apparatus having multiplexing means for multiplexing information encoded by encoding means into image information, wherein said image information is scanned before multiplexing processing by said multiplexing means. Obtaining means for obtaining pixel value distribution information by means of: detecting means for detecting the amount of information that can be multiplexed by the multiplexing means based on the obtained distribution information of pixel values; Control means for controlling the coding conditions of the coding means based on the image processing apparatus. 7. An image processing method for multiplexing image information with other information, wherein before the multiplexing process, the image information is scanned to obtain pixel value distribution information. An image processing method characterized in that a multiplexable information amount is detected based on the distribution information. 8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising comparing the detected multiplexable information amount with the information amount of the information to be multiplexed, and determining the possibility of multiplexing based on the comparison result. Item 7. The image processing method according to Item 7. 9. The image processing method according to claim 8, further comprising controlling the multiplexing process based on the determination result. 10. An image processing method for multiplexing coded information into image information, comprising: scanning the image information to obtain pixel value distribution information before the multiplexing process; An image processing method comprising: detecting an amount of multiplexable information based on distribution information of pixel values to be obtained; and controlling an encoding condition of the encoding process based on the detected amount of multiplexable information. . 11. A recording medium in which a program code of an image processing method for multiplexing other information with image information is recorded, wherein the program code scans the image information at least before the multiplexing process. A recording medium characterized by having a code of a step of obtaining distribution information of pixel values and a code of a step of detecting a multiplexable information amount based on the obtained distribution information of pixel values. 12. A recording medium on which is recorded a program code of an image processing method for multiplexing coded information into image information, wherein the program code includes at least the image data before the multiplexing process. A code for scanning information to obtain distribution information of pixel values; a code for detecting an amount of multiplexable information based on the obtained distribution information of pixel values; and A code for a step of controlling an encoding condition of the encoding process.