JP2015139061A - Image processing apparatus, control method of the same, and image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology enabling the projection of a user interface with high operability on the periphery of a document.SOLUTION: There is provided an image processing apparatus to which an imaging device that photographs a subject and its peripheral area and a projection device that projects an image on the subject or its peripheral area are connected, the image processing apparatus acquiring the projection position of the image projected by the projection device, and eliminating the influence of the image projected at the projection position from the image photographed by the imaging device, so as to determine the characteristics of the subject.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for projecting projection content such as operation buttons around a document.

  There has been proposed an image reading apparatus that acquires image data by photographing a document on a document table from above (or obliquely above) using a photographing unit such as a camera or a scanner. In addition, an apparatus has been proposed in which information useful to the user is projected onto a shooting target area on the document table by a projection unit such as a projector, and a virtual operation button is projected within the area. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a user can instruct photographing with respect to an operation button displayed by projection by bringing a finger or the tip of a pen close to the operation button.

  However, when projecting projection information such as information and operation buttons on the shooting target area, there is a possibility that the projection content and the document overlap. In that case, the readability of both the original and the projected content may be significantly reduced. Therefore, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique in which a photographing unit detects a blank area without characters or images and projects content on the blank area.

  On the other hand, even when content is projected onto a margin area outside the document frame or within the document, the projected content may appear in the captured image. That is, when shooting is performed with projection content such as operation buttons projected, projection content not included in the original document is included in the shot image. Therefore, for example, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for controlling the display so that projection content is not displayed while shooting is performed, that is, the projection itself is stopped, or the whole image is projected. It is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-168949 JP 2005-236878 A JP 2006-184333 A

  However, for example, when the technique as described in Patent Document 3 described above is used, it is necessary to constantly monitor the state on the document table. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly or frequently perform the non-display of the projection content, and readability is increased. And the design is impaired. Even in a configuration in which the projected content is hidden only when the state of the document table changes, in addition to placing and removing the document, the movement of the user's hand and the document The display is hidden every time the content is moved or projected. That is, the display of the projected content is unexpectedly disappeared at a timing not intended by the user. In this case, for the user, the readability and operability of the projection content such as the operation buttons are remarkably lowered, and the design of the projection content is also deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of suitably projecting a user interface with high operability around a document.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an image processing apparatus in which an imaging device that captures an object and its surrounding area and a projection apparatus that projects an image onto the object or its surrounding area are connected, and the projection position of the image projected by the projection apparatus Acquisition means for acquiring the image, and determination means for determining the characteristics of the subject based on the image captured by the imaging device and the projection position acquired by the acquisition means. The characteristics of the subject are determined by removing the influence of the image projected on the projection position by the projection device from the image photographed by the photographing device.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique that enables a user interface with high operability to be suitably projected on the periphery of a document.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the image processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. 3 is an operation flowchart of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the information and operation button which are displayed by projection (1st Embodiment). 4 is a detailed flowchart of color / monochrome attribute determination (first embodiment). It is an operation | movement flowchart of the image processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. 5 is a detailed flowchart of document type determination. It is a figure which shows the information and operation button which are displayed by projection (2nd Embodiment). 14 is an operation flowchart of the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment. It is a figure which shows the information and operation button which are displayed by projection (3rd Embodiment). It is a detailed flowchart of document size detection. It is a figure explaining the vertical width and horizontal width obtained by the process of document size detection. It is a detailed flowchart of color / monochrome attribute determination (4th Embodiment).

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

(First embodiment)
As a first embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, an image processing system including an image reading apparatus will be described below as an example. In particular, it is included in an electrophotographic multi-function peripheral that reads an image from above (or obliquely above) a paper document that is a subject placed on a document table and projects a user interface onto the document table and the paper document. An image reading apparatus will be described.

  Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to a multi-function peripheral and can be applied to any apparatus having a function including image reading. For example, the present invention can be applied to a copy function, a FAX function, and a single function document reader that performs only image reading and digitization of read image data. Further, the object of image reading is not limited to a paper document, but can be applied to a document other than paper or a three-dimensional object.

  In the following description, a configuration for switching the projection content according to the document placed by the user will be described. For example, in the first embodiment, when a monochrome document composed of only achromatic colors is placed, only the operation button for starting monochrome copying is displayed. On the other hand, when a color document including chromatic colors is placed, both color copy start and monochrome copy start operation buttons are displayed.

<Device configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image reading apparatus 100 that is an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. The image reading apparatus 100 includes an imaging unit 101, a projection unit 102, a determination unit 103, a main control unit 111, and a storage unit 112. Note that the photographing unit 101 and the projection unit 102 may be external devices of the image reading apparatus 100, as long as they can be connected to each other.

  The imaging unit 101 is a functional unit that captures an image of a document and inputs it as electronic image data. The projection unit 102 is a functional unit that projects projection content. The determination unit 103 is a functional unit that determines the characteristics of the document. In the first embodiment, the determination unit 103 determines whether the document is a color document or a monochrome document. The main control unit 111 controls the entire image reading apparatus 100. The storage unit 112 stores projection content and image data and associated information.

  The information display to the user is realized by the main control unit 111 controlling the projection unit 112 to project the information display to the user. In addition, command reception from the user is realized by the main control unit 111 controlling the photographing unit 101 to photograph a user operation (hand, finger, or pen movement) and recognizing a predetermined command.

<Operation of the device>
FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the terms “preliminary shooting” and “main shooting” mean shooting defined as follows.

Preliminary shooting: shooting to acquire an image of a document that is executed without depending on the user's operation and used as reference data for various determinations (in this case, determination of color / monochrome attributes of the document). Main shooting: user Shooting to acquire an image of a document that is executed at the timing determined by the operation of, and that will be used for copy output after performing image processing

  For example, an image acquired by actual shooting has higher resolution and higher quality than an image acquired by preliminary shooting. Further, unlike the main shooting, the preliminary shooting is performed intermittently or continuously. Note that, for example, preliminary shooting may be executed as moving image shooting, and each frame image in the moving image may be used.

  In FIG. 2, steps S201 to S204 are preliminary shooting operations 250 related to preliminary shooting, and steps S205 to S209 are main shooting operations 251 related to main shooting. As described above, the preliminary photographing operation 250 repeats the operation constantly while waiting for an operation not to perform the main photographing operation, and the main photographing operation 251 is executed only when there is an operation instructing the user to copy.

  In step S <b> 201, the photographing unit 101 performs preliminary photographing of a document to be image-read regardless of a user operation. The object to be photographed is the document placed on the document table and its peripheral area. Note that, when the projection by the projection unit 102 is performed on the document or its peripheral area, the projection content may be included in the preliminary captured image. The acquired preliminary captured image is stored in the storage unit 112. Further, when a preliminary image that is older than the preliminary image is already stored in the storage unit 112, the older one may be deleted.

  In step S202, the determination unit 103 refers to the preliminary captured image stored in the storage unit 112, and the document is a color document including a color object or a monochrome document composed of only monochrome objects. Determine whether. The determination result is stored in the storage unit 112.

  FIG. 4 is a detailed flowchart of the color / monochrome attribute determination (S202).

  In step S401, the main control unit 111 acquires the projection coordinates (projection position) of the projection content stored in the storage unit 112 in the coordinate system of the preliminary captured image. That is, in the coordinate system of the projection content, the coordinates at which an empty non-white object is displayed are acquired and converted to the coordinate system of the preliminary captured image. The converted coordinate group is listed as information indicating at which position in the preliminary photographed image the projected content is reflected, and is stored in the storage unit 112.

  Steps S <b> 402 to S <b> 404 are loop processing performed for all pixels of the preliminary captured image. When the process is completed for all the pixels in the preliminary photographed image, the process exits the loop and proceeds to step S405.

  In step S402, the determination unit 103 determines whether the pixel of interest is a pixel that includes projection content. That is, a list of the coordinates of the projection content acquired in step S401 is read from the storage unit 112, and it is determined whether or not the coordinates of the pixel of interest match. If they match, the process proceeds to the next loop, and if there is no match, the process proceeds to step S403. This process is a process for removing the influence of the image of the projected projection content. This is because when the coordinates match (that is, within the projection area of the projection content), the target pixel is not suitable for determining the color / monochrome attribute of the document.

  That is, when the projected content is projected in the margin, the target pixel has color information based on the projected content that is not related to the attributes of the document. In addition, when the projected content is projected on the document, the pixel of interest has color information related to both the attribute of the document and the projected content, which may cause erroneous determination. is there. Therefore, the projection image area of the projection content is removed from the image area of the preliminary captured image.

  In step S403, the determination unit 103 determines whether the target pixel is a color pixel or a monochrome pixel. There are various techniques for performing color determination. For example, when the pixel values are converted to the Lab color space and a and b representing the hue are less than a predetermined value, the monochrome pixels and a and b There is a method of determining that the pixel is a color pixel when is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. If it is determined that the pixel is a color pixel, the process proceeds to step S404. If it is determined that the pixel is a monochrome pixel, the process proceeds to the next loop.

  In step S404, the determination unit 103 counts the number of pixels that have been color determined in the preliminary captured image. That is, since the target pixel has been color-determined, it is incremented (added by 1) to the count value stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S405, the determination unit 103 performs threshold value determination of the count value. That is, if the count value of the color pixels in the preliminary photographed image is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S406, and if it is less than the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S407.

  In steps S <b> 406 and S <b> 407, the determination unit 103 stores the determination result of the color / monochrome attribute in the storage unit 112. That is, in step S406, the document is stored in the storage unit 112 as having the color attribute, and in step S407, the document is stored in the storage unit 112 as having the monochrome attribute.

  In step S <b> 408, the main control unit 111 clears the count value stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S203, the projection unit 102 projects the projection content (such as operation buttons) corresponding to the determination result of the color / monochrome attribute in S202 on the document or the periphery thereof. In addition, the main control unit 111 stores the projection content projected by the projection unit 102 in the storage unit 112.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplarily showing information displayed by projection and operation buttons. Specifically, a state in which information (information providing image) and operation buttons (operation interface image) are displayed in each case where the document has a color attribute and the document has a monochrome attribute is illustrated.

  That is, the projection unit 102 refers to the determination result of the color / monochrome attribute stored in the storage unit 112. If the document 301 is a document having a color attribute, information indicating that the document 301 is a document having a color attribute is projected and displayed as an information display 302 as shown in FIG. Further, both an operation button 303 for starting color copying and an operation button 304 for starting monochrome copying are projected and displayed together. On the other hand, if the document 311 has a monochrome attribute, information indicating that the document 311 is a document having a monochrome attribute is projected and displayed as an information display 312 as shown in FIG. An operation button 313 for starting monochrome copying is also projected and displayed.

  In step S204, the main control unit 111 determines whether there is an instruction to execute copying from the user. For example, the main control unit 111 makes a determination based on a pre-captured image stored in the storage unit 112 using a technique described in Patent Document 1 or the like. Of course, a specific determination method is arbitrary, and for example, a determination may be made based on an operation through another operation unit (not shown) or a photographed image by another sensor or another imaging unit. If there is no instruction, the process proceeds to step S201, and the preliminary photographing operation is repeated. If there is an instruction, the process shifts to the actual photographing operation. That is, when the user operates the color start button, the process proceeds to step S205, and when the user operates the monochrome start button, the process proceeds to step S207.

  In step S <b> 205, the projection unit 102 controls to stop the projection itself or to project a white image as a whole, and the photographing unit 101 performs the main photographing of the document. The actual captured image is stored in the storage unit 112. Thereafter, in step S206, the main control unit 111 performs image processing for color copy, and an output unit (not shown) prints and discharges a color copy obtained by copying a document. When completed, the process proceeds to step S209.

  In step S207, the photographing unit 101 performs a main photographing of a document. After the captured image is stored in the storage unit 112, in step S208, the main control unit 111 performs image processing for monochrome copying, and an output unit (not shown) prints and discharges a monochrome copy obtained by copying the document. When completed, the process proceeds to step S209.

  In step S209, the main control unit 111 determines whether there is an instruction to end the process from the user. If there is no instruction to end, the process proceeds to step S201, and the preliminary photographing operation is repeated. When there is an instruction to end, all processing is ended.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, when the image of the projection content is included in the pre-captured image in the flow of the pre-photographing operation 250, the color / monochrome attribute is excluded by excluding the image area of the projection content. Make a decision. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately determine the color / monochrome attribute of the document, and it is possible to more appropriately perform adaptive user interface projection based on the determination result. That is, based on the determination result, it is possible to adaptively present the document characteristics and provide operation buttons to the user, and to provide a user interface with high operability.

  For example, by adaptively presenting document characteristics and providing operation buttons, the user can intuitively recognize selectable operations and costs associated with the execution of the operations. Further, for example, even when the user replaces or additionally places a document, it is possible to immediately reflect the result in the user interface without having to interrupt the display by projection.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment, a mode in which the document type (character document, photo document, mixed document) is determined in the preliminary shooting operation will be described. That is, the difference from the first embodiment is that the document type is determined instead of the color / monochrome attribute determination of the document. Since the apparatus configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment (FIG. 1), description thereof is omitted.

<Operation of the device>
FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. In the first embodiment (FIG. 2), the document type determination is performed in step S502, the projection content of the projection content is different in step S503, and the automatic processing is performed according to the document type determination result in the main photographing operation 551. It is different in that it is selected and executed.

  Details of the operation in step S502 will be described later with reference to FIG. In the following description, the document type is described as being classified into three attributes of “character document”, “photo document”, and “mixed document” defined as follows. However, the classification is not limited to this, and other document types may be specified and applied.

Text manuscript: A manuscript whose contents consist only of characters Photo manuscript: A manuscript whose contents consist only of photos and images Mixed manuscript: A manuscript where characters, pictures and images are mixed

  FIG. 6 is a detailed flowchart of document type determination. Since it is similar to the color / monochrome attribute determination flow (FIG. 4) of the first embodiment, the following description will focus on different points.

  In step S601, the same processing as in step S401 is performed. In step S602, the determination unit 103 determines whether the target pixel is a pixel including the projection content. That is, a list of coordinates of the projection content acquired in step S601 is read from the storage unit 112, and it is determined whether or not the coordinates of the pixel of interest match. If it is determined that it is within the coordinates of the projection content, the next pixel is looped as the target pixel, whereas if it is determined that it is outside the coordinates of the projection content, the process proceeds to step S603. This process is a process for removing the influence of the image of the projected projection content.

  In step S603, the determination unit 103 performs attribute determination for each pixel. At this time, it is also determined whether the target pixel is a white pixel (that is, whether it is a pixel that is not an object such as a character or a photograph). In other words, whether the pixel of interest is part of a character (character judgment), part of a photograph (photo judgment), or does not belong to any of them by a generally known image area separation technique Judging. For example, character determination is performed using edge extraction processing, and photo determination is performed by performing pattern matching with a halftone dot pattern. Note that pixel attribute determination is not limited to the above-described method, and other determination methods may be used.

  If it is determined that the image is a photo, the process advances to step S604, and the determination unit 103 increments the count value of the pixel determined as a photo. On the other hand, when it determines with it being a character, it progresses to S605 and the determination part 103 increments the count value of the pixel by which the character determination was carried out. If it is determined that the image does not belong to either a character or a photograph, the next pixel is looped as a target pixel without counting.

  In step S <b> 606, the determination unit 103 comprehensively determines a document type that is the entire document using the count value for character determination and the count value for photo determination. For example, if the character determination count value is equal to or greater than a first threshold value and the photo determination count value is less than the second threshold value, the character document is determined. If the count value for character determination is less than the first threshold and the count value for photo determination is equal to or greater than the second threshold, it is determined that the document is a photo original. Otherwise, it is determined as a mixed document. The document type determination result is stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S503, the projection unit 102 projects the projection content corresponding to the document type determination result in S502 onto the document or its periphery. In addition, the main control unit 111 stores the projection content projected by the projection unit 102 in the storage unit 112.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram exemplarily showing information displayed by projection and operation buttons (projection contents). FIG. 7 exemplarily shows information and operation buttons projected when it is determined that the document is a mixed document.

  That is, the projection unit 102 refers to the document type determination result stored in the storage unit 112. Then, the document type associated with the document 701 is projected as document type information 702. Also, processing mode information 703 indicating that the processing mode suitable for the document type is automatically set is projected. Although it is assumed that the processing mode information 703 is automatically set according to the document type determination result, the user can change the setting to any mode via the display screen.

  In steps S505 to S512 in the main photographing operation 551, image processing is performed according to each processing mode corresponding to the document type. For example, in the case of text manuscript processing, a process for achieving a sharp image quality is performed. In the case of a photo manuscript process, a process for achieving a smooth image quality is performed. If it is a mixed document process, an intermediate image process is performed, or a different image process is executed for each region.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, in the flow of the preliminary shooting operation 550, when the image of the projection content is included in the preliminary shooting image, the document type is determined by excluding the image area of the projection content. Do. As a result, the document type can be accurately determined, and adaptive information can be provided based on the determination result. In other words, based on the determination result, it is possible to present the document type and provide information on the image processing to be applied to the user.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment, a mode in which the presence / absence of a document on the document table and the size detection (hereinafter referred to as document size detection) is executed in the preliminary photographing operation will be described. That is, it differs from the above-described embodiment in that document size detection is performed instead of determination of document content (color / monochrome attributes and document type). Since the apparatus configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment (FIG. 1), description thereof is omitted.

<Operation of the device>
FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment. Steps S801 to S805 are preliminary shooting operations 850 related to preliminary shooting, and steps S806 to S808 are main shooting operations 851 related to main shooting. That is, the preliminary shooting operation is constantly repeated during an operation that does not perform the main shooting operation, and the main shooting operation is executed only when there is an operation instructing the user to copy.

  In step S <b> 801, the photographing unit 101 performs preliminary photographing of a document table that is an image reading target regardless of a user operation. When the projection by the projection unit 102 is performed on the document, the projection content may be included in the preliminary captured image. The acquired preliminary captured image is stored in the storage unit 112. Further, when a preliminary image that is older than the preliminary image is already stored in the storage unit 112, the older one may be deleted.

  In step S <b> 802, the determination unit 103 refers to the preliminary captured image stored in the storage unit 112 and executes document size detection processing. Specifically, it is determined whether or not a document exists on the document table, and if so, what size the document is. The processing result is stored in the storage unit 112.

  FIG. 10 is a detailed flowchart of document size detection (S802).

  In step S <b> 1001, the main control unit 111 acquires the projection coordinates of the projection content stored in the storage unit 112 in the coordinate system of the preliminary captured image. That is, in the coordinate system of the projection content, the coordinates at which an empty non-white object is displayed are acquired and converted to the coordinate system of the preliminary captured image. The converted coordinate group is listed as information indicating at which position in the preliminary photographed image the projected content is reflected, and is stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S <b> 1002, the main control unit 111 acquires coordinates including at least one of a document and projection content from the preliminary captured image. That is, the acquired coordinates correspond to all areas in the preliminary photographed image where the document table is not shown. Since these coordinates are the coordinate system of the preliminary photographed image, they are listed as they are and stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S1003, the determination unit 103 detects the vertical width and horizontal width of the document. That is, the coordinate list of the projection content obtained in step S1001 is removed from the coordinate list obtained in step S1002, and the maximum coordinate difference in the remaining coordinate list is calculated for the vertical and horizontal axes.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the vertical width and horizontal width obtained by the document size detection process. In FIG. 11, it is assumed that projection content representing operation buttons and projection content in the form of brackets are projected outside the corners of the document. When the maximum coordinate difference is obtained from the coordinate list obtained in step S1001, the maximum vertical width / horizontal width (indicated by dotted lines) including the projection content is detected, and the vertical width 1101 and the horizontal width 1102 are obtained. On the other hand, in the processing described with reference to FIG. 10, the vertical width 1103 and the horizontal width 1104 are obtained after the projection content is removed, so that the accurate vertical width and horizontal width of the document can be obtained. When there is no remaining coordinate list or the number of coordinates on the list is less than a certain threshold, it is determined that no document is placed on the document table.

  In step S <b> 1004, the determination unit 103 stores the document size detection result in the storage unit 112. That is, the presence / absence of a document and the size of the document are stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S803, the projection unit 102 refers to the document size detection result stored in the storage unit 112 and projects the projection content corresponding to the document size onto the document table.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram exemplarily showing information and operation buttons displayed by projection. Specifically, it is a diagram exemplarily showing a state in which information and operation buttons are displayed when a document is not placed and when a document is placed. As shown in FIG. 9A, if no document is placed, information 901 indicating that there is no document is displayed, and a button 902 for starting copying is also hidden or grayed out (cannot be selected). Display). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9B, when a document 903 is placed, information 904 about the document size and information 905 linked thereto are displayed, and an operation button 906 for starting copying is displayed. The projection content projected by the projection unit 102 is stored in the storage unit 112 simultaneously with the projection.

  In step S <b> 804, the main control unit 111 calls and determines information related to the presence / absence of a document from the storage unit 112. If the document is not placed, the process proceeds to step S801, and the preliminary photographing operation is repeated. If a document is placed, the process proceeds to step S805.

  In step S805, the main control unit 111 determines whether there is an instruction to execute copying from the user. If there is no instruction, the process proceeds to step S801, and the preliminary shooting operation is repeated. If there is an instruction, the process shifts to the actual photographing operation. That is, when the user operates the operation button 906, the process proceeds to step S806.

  In step S806, the projection unit 102 controls to stop the projection itself or to project an entirely white image, and the photographing unit 101 performs the main photographing of the document. The actual captured image is stored in the storage unit 112. Thereafter, in step S807, the main control unit 111 performs image processing (enlargement / reduction processing or the like) according to the document size, and an output unit (not shown) prints and discharges a color copy obtained by copying the document. When completed, the process proceeds to step S808.

  In step S808, the main control unit 111 determines whether there is an instruction to end the process from the user. If there is no instruction, the process proceeds to step S801, and the preliminary shooting operation is repeated. If there is an instruction, all processing is terminated.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, in the flow of the preliminary shooting operation 850, when the image of the projection content is included in the preliminary shot image, the size of the document is detected by excluding the area of the projection content image. Do. As a result, it is possible to accurately detect the size of the document, and it is possible to provide adaptive information based on the determination result. In other words, based on the determination result, it is possible to present the size of the original and provide information on the applied image processing to the user.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the fourth embodiment, for example, an image reading apparatus that can cope with a case where a color logo is printed at one point on a monochrome printed document will be described. In the image reading apparatus according to the first embodiment, when a color operation button is projected on such a logo area of the document, it cannot be correctly determined. That is, although such a manuscript should have a color attribute, the logo display area, which is the only color object, is excluded in the determination of the color / monochrome attribute. It will be judged. Since the apparatus configuration and the overall operation flow are the same as those in the first embodiment (FIGS. 1 and 2), description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 12 is a detailed flowchart of color / monochrome attribute determination in the fourth embodiment.

  In step S1201, the main control unit 111 acquires the coordinates of the projection content stored in the storage unit 112. That is, in the coordinate system of the projection content, the coordinates at which an empty non-white object is displayed are acquired and converted to the coordinate system of the preliminary captured image. The converted coordinate group is listed as information indicating at which position in the preliminary photographed image the projected content is reflected, and is stored in the storage unit 112. At this time, the signal value (for example, RGB value) of the projection content is also stored in the storage unit 112 in association with the coordinates.

  Steps S <b> 1202 to S <b> 1205 are loop processes performed on all pixels of the preliminary captured image. When the processing is completed for all pixels, the process exits the loop and proceeds to step S1206.

  In step S1202, the determination unit 103 determines whether the target pixel is a pixel including the projection content. That is, a list of coordinates of the projection content acquired in step S1201 is read from the storage unit 112, and it is determined whether or not the coordinates of the pixel of interest match. If they match, the process proceeds to step S1203. If there is no match, the process proceeds to step S1204.

  In step S1203, the determination unit 103 subtracts the signal value of the contribution due to the projection content by the projection unit 102 from the signal value of the target pixel. For this process, an existing process relating to white balance can be applied. That is, the original color of the projection target is determined from the color rendering properties of the light source, and the signal value of the target pixel under white light is calculated. The calculated signal value is stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S1204, the determination unit 103 determines whether the pixel is a color pixel or a monochrome pixel. If it is determined that the pixel is a color pixel, the process proceeds to step S1205. If it is determined that the pixel is a monochrome pixel, the process proceeds to the next loop.

  In step S1205, the determination unit 103 counts the number of pixels that have been color determined in the preliminary captured image. That is, when the color of the pixel is determined, the count value stored in the storage unit 112 is incremented.

  In step S1206, the determination unit 103 performs threshold value determination of the count value. That is, if the count value of the color pixels in the preliminary photographed image is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S1207, and if it is less than the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S1208.

  In steps S1207 and S1208, the determination unit 103 stores the determination result of the color / monochrome attribute in the storage unit 112. That is, in step S1207, information indicating that the document has a color attribute is stored in the storage unit 112. On the other hand, in step S1208, information indicating that the document has a monochrome attribute is stored in the storage unit 112.

  In step S1209, the main control unit 111 clears the count value stored in the storage unit 112.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, when the image of the projection content is included in the preliminary captured image in the flow of the preliminary shooting operation 250, the color / monochrome attribute is considered in consideration of the signal value of the image of the projection content. Judgment is made. As a result, the color / monochrome attribute of the document can be determined with higher accuracy.

(Other examples)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (11)

An image processing apparatus in which a photographing device that photographs a subject and its peripheral region and a projection device that projects an image on the subject or its peripheral region are connected,
Obtaining means for obtaining a projection position of an image projected by the projection device;
Determination means for determining characteristics of the subject based on an image photographed by the photographing apparatus and the projection position obtained by the obtaining means;
Have
The image processing apparatus, wherein the determination unit determines the characteristics of the subject by removing the influence of the image projected on the projection position by the projection apparatus from the image captured by the imaging apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the characteristics of the subject based on an image obtained by removing an image area at the projection position from an image captured by the imaging apparatus. The determination means determines the characteristics of the subject based on an image obtained by subtracting a signal value corresponding to the contribution of the predetermined image from a signal value of each pixel included in an image captured by the imaging device. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The characteristic of the subject determined by the determining means is a color / monochrome attribute indicating whether the subject is a chromatic color or an achromatic color. The image processing apparatus described. The characteristics of the subject determined by the determining means include any one of a character original composed only of characters, a photo original composed only of photographs / images, and a mixed original composed of characters and photographs / images. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is a document type indicating whether or not the document exists. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the subject determined by the determination unit is a size of the subject. 7. The predetermined image includes at least one of an information providing image for providing information to a user and an operation interface image for receiving an operation from the user. The image processing apparatus described. The image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the information providing image includes an image indicating information on the subject. A control method of an image processing apparatus in which an imaging device that images a subject and its peripheral region and a projection device that projects an image on the subject or its peripheral region are connected,
An acquisition step of acquiring a projection position of an image projected by the projection device;
A determination step of determining characteristics of the subject based on an image captured by the imaging device and the projection position acquired in the acquisition step;
Including
An image processing apparatus control method, wherein in the determination step, the influence of an image projected on the projection position is removed from an image captured by the imaging apparatus, and the characteristics of the subject are determined. Photographing means for photographing the subject and the surrounding area;
Projecting means for projecting an image onto the subject or its peripheral area;
Obtaining means for obtaining a projection position of an image projected by the projection means;
Determination means for determining characteristics of the subject based on the image photographed by the photographing means and the projection position obtained by the obtaining means;
Have
The image processing system characterized in that the determination unit determines the characteristics of the subject by removing the influence of the image projected on the projection position from the image captured by the imaging unit.   The program for functioning a computer as each means of the image processing apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 8.

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