JP2004178513A - Image processor, image processing method and image processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a specific color (for example, a color which is difficult for a person with color perception deficiency to discriminate) in display data so that it is easy to be discriminated from other colors. <P>SOLUTION: This invention is provided with: a display data classification part 1 which receives the display data 11 and classifies the display data 11 into those which are to be color/shape converted and those which are not to be color/shape converted; conversion tables (a color/dot shape conversion table 2, a color/line shape conversion table 4, a color/surface shape conversion table 6) which store predetermined correspondence between colors and shapes; color/shape conversion parts (a color/dot shape conversion part 3, a color/linear shape conversion part 5, a color/surface shape conversion part 7) which converts the colors of the display data which are classified by the display data classification part 1 into those which are to be color/shape converted into the prescribed shapes by using the conversion table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing program mainly intended for color-blind persons (color-blindness (color blindness), color-blind persons, etc.).
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, displays capable of displaying colors have been used not only for display devices provided in personal computers and workstations, but also for devices such as facsimile machines, mobile phones, and portable information terminals.
[0003]
Color information from these color displays may be difficult for a color-blind person such as color blindness or color blindness to identify, which hinders information recognition. For example, the conventional color display systems for color vision impaired persons disclosed in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 convert a display color that is difficult for a color vision impaired person to identify to another display color.
[0004]
Further, in Patent Document 3, it is important that the image data portion such as a photograph is displayed in a display color that is close to the color of a real object, so that it is displayed without color conversion. ing.
[0005]
In any case, in the invention described in the above-mentioned patent document, a display color that is difficult for a person with color vision impairment to identify is converted into another display color. For example, suppose red is converted to blue and blue-green is converted to purple for the purpose of making it easier for a person with red vision impairment. Then, if the converted blue or purple color originally has a blue or purple portion in the original image, the difference between them becomes inconsistent, the discrimination of the display color is not improved, and the user is confused.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-8-16129 [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-175050 [Patent Document 3]
JP-A-2002-55671
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in the conventional image display device for a color-blind person, when a display color that is difficult to identify is converted into another easily-viewable display color, when a color that is substantially the same as the color that originally exists is selected, the display color is changed. A problem arises in that confusion arises in the discriminability of the information. Further, in the conventional image display device for the color blind person, there is clearly a sense of incongruity when used by ordinary people, and it is very difficult to share the color blind person with ordinary people.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. That is, the present invention provides a display data classifying means for inputting display data and classifying the display data to be subjected to color / shape conversion and those not to be converted, and a conversion for storing correspondence between a predetermined color and shape. An image processing apparatus comprising: a table; and a color / shape conversion unit that converts a color of display data classified into a color / shape converted by the display data classification unit into a predetermined shape using a conversion table.
[0009]
Further, the present invention provides a step of inputting display data and classifying the display data to be subjected to color / shape conversion and those not to be subjected to color / shape conversion; To a predetermined shape using a conversion table indicating the correspondence between a predetermined color and a shape.
[0010]
The present invention also provides a step of inputting display data and classifying the display data to be subjected to color / shape conversion and those not to be subjected to color / shape conversion; Is converted into a predetermined shape by a conversion table indicating a correspondence between a predetermined color and a shape.
[0011]
In the present invention, since the color of the display data, which is determined to perform the color / shape conversion, is converted into the predetermined shape by the predetermined conversion table, the color of the display data corresponds to the color. It can be converted into a predetermined shape and displayed.
[0012]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a color display system as an example of an image processing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[0013]
That is, the color display system receives the display data 11 and classifies the display data 11 into those which are to be subjected to color / shape conversion and those which are not. Conversion tables indicating the correspondence (color / point shape conversion table 2, color / line shape conversion table 4, color / surface shape conversion table 6), and displays classified by the display data classifying unit 1 among those subjected to color / shape conversion A color / shape conversion unit (color / point shape conversion unit 3, color / line shape conversion unit 5, color / surface shape conversion unit 7) for converting the colors of data 13, 15, 17 into a predetermined shape by the conversion table; It has.
[0014]
Among them, the display data classifying unit 1 converts the display data 11 into display data 12 without color / shape conversion, display data 13 with color / point shape conversion, display data 15 with color / line shape conversion, and color / surface conversion. It is classified into display data 17 to be converted in shape.
[0015]
In addition, the color / point shape conversion table 2 stores a table for converting a display color of a point shape which is difficult to visually recognize and which forms the input display data 11 into a shape such as a circle or a square. FIGS. 2A and 2B show an example of the color / point shape conversion table 2. FIG. 2A shows an example of the table, and FIG. 2B shows an example of the point shape. The correspondence between the color and the point shape may be set by each user.
[0016]
In addition, the color / line shape conversion table 4 stores a table for converting a display color of a specific line shape that is hardly perceived as a color constituting the input display data 11 into a shape such as a dashed line. FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing an example of the color / line shape conversion table 4. FIG. 3A shows an example of the table, and FIG. 3B shows an example of the line shape. Note that the correspondence between the color and the line shape may be set by each user.
[0017]
In addition, the color / surface shape conversion table 6 stores a table for converting a display color of a specific surface shape, which is difficult to see color, constituting the input display data 11 into a shape such as a halftone dot. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the color / surface shape conversion table 6. Note that the correspondence between the color and the surface shape may be set by each user.
[0018]
The color / point shape conversion unit 3 converts a display color, which is difficult for a user with color vision impairment, to a point shape based on the color / point shape conversion table 2 while keeping the color as it is, and displays the converted display. The data 14 is output.
[0019]
Based on the color / line shape conversion table 4, the color / line shape conversion unit 5 converts a display color, which is difficult for a user with color vision impairment to identify, into a line shape without changing the color, and displays the converted display. The data 16 is output.
[0020]
The color / plane shape conversion unit 7 converts a display color that is difficult for a user with color vision impairment to identify, based on the color / plane shape conversion table 6, into a plane shape without changing the color, and displays the converted display. The data 18 is output.
[0021]
Further, the display data classification unit 1 of the color display system includes a path for outputting the display data 12 determined not to be subjected to the color / shape conversion as it is, and transmits the display data 12 to the display data synthesis unit 8 via this path. Have passed.
[0022]
The display data synthesizing unit 8 converts the display data 14 output from the color / point shape conversion unit 3 with the converted display data 14 and the color / line shape conversion unit 5 together with the display data 12 that is not converted and output directly from the display data classification unit 1. And the converted display data 18 output from the color / surface shape converter 7 are obtained and synthesized, and video display data 19 is generated. The video display data 19 is sent to the color display 9, where it is displayed.
[0023]
With such a color display system, the display data 11 is converted into a shape corresponding to a predetermined color and output, and, for example, even if there is a display color that is difficult to identify for a color-blind person. In addition, the color information and the shape corresponding to the color can be displayed so as to be easily distinguished from other colors.
[0024]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the image processing method according to the present embodiment. In this image processing method, the flow of processing uses the above-described image processing apparatus (the color display system shown in FIG. 1).
[0025]
First, in step ST1, the display data 11 of an image is input to the display data classification unit 1, and the display data classification unit 1 reads the input display data 11.
[0026]
Next, in step ST2, the display data classification unit 1 detects the tag of the image file by a program and determines whether or not the image is in a photographic format. If the image file is in photographic format, the process proceeds to step ST10.
[0027]
If the image file is not in photographic format, the process proceeds to step ST3, and it is similarly determined whether or not the image file is a moving image. If the image file is a moving image, the process proceeds to step ST10.
[0028]
Here, when the display data 11 is in a photographic format or a moving image, it may be easier to see the image reproducibility rather than performing the color / shape conversion. In the case of, steps ST2 and ST3 are provided in order to display the image as it is without performing color / shape conversion.
[0029]
If the image file is not in the moving image format, the process proceeds to step ST4, and it is determined whether or not there is a point-shaped object in the image file by examining each pixel by image processing. The determination as to whether or not there is a point shape is, for example, in the case of bitmap data, the point shape is determined when the number of pixels of the same color within a certain range is equal to or less than a certain number. When the display data is code data, the determination is made based on whether the display data is code data representing a point.
[0030]
If it is determined that there is a point-shaped object, the process proceeds to step ST5, and the point-shaped object is converted into a point shape such as a square or a circle according to the color according to the color / point shape conversion table. Next, the process proceeds to step ST10.
[0031]
In step ST4, when it is determined that there is no point-shaped object in the image file, the process proceeds to step ST6, and similarly, it is determined whether or not there is a linear object in the image file for each pixel by image processing. It is determined by this. The determination as to whether or not there is a line shape is made, for example, in the case of bitmap data, when the number of consecutive pixels of the same color within a certain range is equal to or greater than a certain number. If the display data is code data, the determination is made based on whether the display data is a code representing a line segment.
[0032]
If it is determined that there is a linear object, the process proceeds to ST7, and converts the linear object into a linear shape such as a straight line or a dashed line according to the color according to the color / linear shape conversion table. Next, the process proceeds to step ST10.
[0033]
If it is determined in step ST6 that there is no linear object in the image file, the process proceeds to step ST8, and similarly, it is determined whether or not there is a planar object in the image file for each pixel by image processing. It is determined by this. The determination as to whether or not there is a surface shape is made, for example, in the case of data in a bitmap format, when the range of pixels of the same color within a certain range is more than a certain range. If the display data is code data, the determination is made based on whether or not the data is a code representing a surface.
[0034]
If it is determined that there is a plane-shaped object, the process proceeds to ST9, and the plane-shaped object is converted to a plane shape such as a diagonally oblique line to the right or a 20% halftone dot according to the color according to the color. I do. Next, the process proceeds to step ST10.
[0035]
If the classification and the color / shape conversion processing of the display data 11 have been completed in step ST10, all the processing shown in FIG. 5 is completed.
[0036]
The display data synthesizing unit 8 includes the display data 12 output from the display data classifying unit 1 without color / shape conversion, the shape-converted display data 14 output from the color / point shape conversion 3, and the color / line shape conversion 5 Is combined with the shape-converted display data 18 output from the color / surface shape converter 7 and converted into video display data 19. The color display 9 inputs and displays the video display data 19 output from the display data synthesizing unit 4.
[0037]
As described above, according to the first embodiment, the color / shape conversion is performed according to the type of the display data 11, that is, according to the object of the image. Color can be identified. In addition, an image in which reproducibility is important, such as a photograph, can be displayed without any conversion by displaying the image without any conversion, without discomfort with the normal visual sense of a color vision impaired person.
[0038]
Further, in the present embodiment, the contents of the color / point shape conversion table, the color / line shape conversion table, and the color / surface shape conversion table can be determined by themselves, so that conversion that is easy for the user to use becomes possible.
[0039]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the image processing method shown in FIG. 5 is that the color / point shape conversion in step ST5, the color / line shape conversion in step ST7 shown in FIG. 5, and the color / surface shape conversion in step ST9 shown in FIG. While the original color is left in the shape after the shape conversion, in the processing shown in FIG. 6, the color of the shape is changed to a single black color after each conversion, or the original color is left in the shape after the shape conversion. This is to allow the user to select whether or not.
[0040]
That is, the processes in steps ST1 to ST9 are the same as those in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, and it is determined whether or not a single black color is selected in step ST11 after each of the processes in steps ST5, ST7, and ST9. If a single black color has been selected, the process proceeds to step ST12, where black is selected, and data after each shape conversion is generated as single-black data.
[0041]
On the other hand, if the single black color is not selected, the process skips step ST12 and proceeds to step ST13. Step ST13 is the same as step ST10 shown in FIG.
[0042]
According to such a process, the display color can be converted into a shape and then expressed in a single black color by the user's selection. Therefore, for example, even when the display screen is printed and a black-and-white copy is taken, the original color can be obtained. Thus, there is an effect that the information is not lost.
[0043]
As a result, when a plurality of color originals are copied, black and white copying can be completed, and the effect of reducing the copy cost for the user can be obtained. In addition, this effect can be enjoyed by users with color vision impairment and ordinary users in the same manner.
[0044]
The color display system described in the above embodiment can be applied not only to a personal computer and a workstation, but also to a mobile phone, a portable information terminal, and the like. Further, an image processing program can be configured by realizing the steps of each image processing method by program processing.
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, color display data is converted into a shape such as a screen, a dashed line, or a square mark according to the shape of the image object, so that the user with color vision impairment can be identified. It becomes possible to display easily. Further, according to the present invention, since it can be used without discomfort by ordinary people, there is also an effect that a person with color vision impairment and an ordinary person can share and use.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color / point shape conversion table.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color / line shape conversion table.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color / surface shape conversion table.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method according to the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method according to a second embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: Display data classification unit, 2: Color / point shape conversion table, 3: Color / point shape conversion unit, 4: Color / line shape conversion table, 5: Color / line shape conversion unit, 6: Color / surface shape conversion Table, 7: color / surface shape conversion unit, 8: display data synthesis unit, 9: color display

Claims (6)

Display data classification means for inputting display data and classifying the display data to be subjected to color / shape conversion and not to be converted;
A conversion table that stores a correspondence between a predetermined color and a shape,
An image processing apparatus comprising: a color / shape conversion unit that converts a color of display data classified into a color / shape converted by the display data classification unit into a predetermined shape by the conversion table. Display data which is input into the display data and is classified into display data which is not subjected to color / shape conversion, display data which undergoes color / point shape conversion, display data which undergoes color / line shape conversion, and display data which undergoes color / surface shape conversion Classification means;
A color / point shape conversion table that stores predetermined point shape data, a color / line shape conversion table that stores line shape data, a color / surface shape conversion table that stores surface shape data,
Among the display data classified by the display data classification means, the display color which is difficult for a user with color vision impairment to identify is determined by using the shape data stored in the various color / shape conversion tables. A color / shape conversion unit that converts the display data into a shape that can be identified by the color / shape conversion, and outputs the display data after the color / shape conversion;
A display data synthesizing unit for synthesizing display data which is not color / shape-converted classified by the display data classification means and color-converted display data output by the color / shape converting unit, and converting the display data into video display data;
An image processing apparatus comprising: a color display that displays the video display data converted by the display data synthesis unit on a screen. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The shape data of the predetermined color / point shape conversion table, the color / line shape conversion table, and the color / surface shape conversion table may be converted in shape while retaining the color of the original image, or may be changed to black only. An image processing apparatus comprising: a switching unit for determining whether to perform shape conversion. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
An image processing apparatus comprising: a path that does not perform conversion by the color / shape conversion unit when the display data is photographic image data and moving image data. Inputting the display data and classifying the display data to be subjected to color / shape conversion and not to be converted;
Converting a color of the display data classified into a color / shape to be converted in the above-described process into a predetermined shape by a conversion table indicating a correspondence between a predetermined color and a shape. Processing method. Inputting the display data, and classifying the display data to be subjected to color / shape conversion and not to be converted;
Converting a color of the display data classified into a color / shape to be converted in the step to a predetermined shape by a conversion table indicating a correspondence between a predetermined color and a shape. Processing program.

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