JP5944221B2 - Image processing program, image processing apparatus, and image reading apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing program, an image processing apparatus, and an image reading apparatus, and more particularly to an image processing program and an image processing apparatus that process an image generated by reading an original, and an image reading apparatus that reads an original.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, copying of a document by a copying apparatus or the like is generally performed, and an image generated by reading a document by an image reading apparatus such as a scanner, an image taken by a digital camera, or the like is displayed on a computer or the like. Opportunities for handling information documents as electronic documents are increasing.

  When using an image reading device or the like, it is necessary to place the image reading device on a document table which is a reading surface of these devices. In this case, the corner of the document matches a predetermined position (origin) of the document table. Thus, the document is placed on the reading surface.

  In addition, there is a device provided with an automatic document feeder so that a copying apparatus or an image reading apparatus can easily read a document (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2011-86988 A

  As described above, when an automatic document feeder is not provided in the copying apparatus or the image reading apparatus, or when a document or the like not corresponding to the automatic document feeder is read, the document or the like is placed at a predetermined position on the document table. It was necessary to mount it.

  In addition, when a document or the like is photographed with a digital camera or the like, if the image is not taken while paying attention to the relative position between the document and the camera, the resulting image will be rotated or trimmed when used as an electronic document. It is necessary to perform various image processing such as.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image processing program, an image processing apparatus, and an image reading apparatus that can appropriately image a document placed on an arbitrary position on a document table. .

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an invention according to claim 1 is an image processing program for processing an image generated based on a document, wherein a rectangle in the image is specified based on specification of a document size including unspecified. extracting one side or two sides of the rectangular as part of the outline of a figure, a contour extraction processing of specifying all of the contour lines of the rectangular image containing the extract out sides, the specified in the outline extraction process An outline correction process for correcting the outline of a rectangular figure, an image cutout process for cutting out a rectangular image from the image based on the outline corrected by the outline correction process, and the image cutout process The computer is caused to execute upright correction processing for uprighting the rectangular image.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for processing an image generated based on a document, wherein one of outlines of a rectangular figure in the image is specified based on a specification of a document size including unspecified. Extracting one or two sides of the rectangle as a part, and specifying a contour extracting means for specifying all of the contour lines of the rectangular image including the extracted sides; and a contour line of the rectangular figure specified by the contour extracting means. Contour line correcting means for correcting, image cutting means for cutting out a rectangular image from the image based on the contour line corrected by the contour correcting means, and upright for standing up the rectangular image cut out by the image cutting means And a correction unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading apparatus for generating an image based on a document on a document table, wherein the specification receiving means for receiving specification of a document size and the surface facing the document table are black. A document pressing means for pressing the documents arranged on the document table, an image generating means for optically scanning the document table to generate an image based on the documents arranged on the document table, and the image An image processing unit that performs image processing on the image generated by the generation unit, and the image processing unit is configured to include a non-designated document size that is received by the designation receiving unit . One or two sides of the rectangle are extracted as a part of the contour line of the rectangular figure, and the contour extracting unit that specifies all the contour lines of the rectangular image including the extracted side is specified by the contour extracting unit . the outline of the rectangular shape Correcting contour correcting means, image cutting means for cutting out a rectangular image from the image based on the contour corrected by the contour correcting means, and upright for standing up the rectangular image cut out by the image cutting means And a correction unit.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming unit according to the third aspect, further comprising: an image forming unit that prints an image subjected to the image processing by the image processing unit on a sheet according to a document size received by the designation receiving unit. It is characterized by comprising.

  According to the present invention, even when a document is placed at an arbitrary position on the document table, the document can be imaged according to the size of the document. More specifically, even when an operator places a document on the document table and reads the document without worrying about the position and orientation of the document, the document according to the size of the document. If the document is a standard document, the document is imaged in the corrected size. If the document is an atypical document, the document is imaged in the size of the document.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline of an image processing apparatus. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the image data 4 made into the process target by the image processing apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating an outline extraction process. It is a figure for demonstrating an outline extraction process. It is a figure for demonstrating the example in the case of stopping extraction of an outline.

  Hereinafter, an image processing program, an image processing apparatus, and an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the image processing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 1 acquires image data 4 generated by an image reading apparatus 2 such as a scanner or a photographing apparatus 3 such as a digital camera, and performs image processing on the acquired image data 4. Apply.

  When the image processing apparatus 1 and the image reading apparatus 2 are connected, it is sufficient that the image data 4 generated by the image reading apparatus 2 reading a document can be transferred to the image processing apparatus 1. Connection or network connection by LAN (Local Area Network) or the like can be used.

  In addition, when the image data 4 is transferred from the photographing device 3 to the image processing device 1, various storage media can be used.

  Next, the configuration of the image processing apparatus 1 will be described. The image processing apparatus 1 is realized by operating an information processing apparatus such as a general-purpose computer according to an image processing program, and the configuration thereof is, for example, as shown in FIG.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the image processing apparatus 1 includes an arithmetic unit 10, a storage unit 11, a temporary storage unit 12, an external device connection unit 13, a storage device connection unit 14, a storage device 15, an input device connection unit 16, and an input device. 17, a display device connection unit 18, and a display device 19.

  The arithmetic unit 10 performs arithmetic processing and corresponds to, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The storage unit 11 stores information and the like, and corresponds to a memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a nonvolatile memory (Nonvolatile Memory), for example. The temporary storage unit 12 temporarily stores information and the like, and corresponds to a memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), for example. The external device connection unit 13 serves as an interface for connecting the image reading device 2 and the storage medium, and is, for example, a USB interface. The storage device connection unit 14 is an interface for connecting the storage device 15. The storage device 15 stores information and corresponds to, for example, a magnetic disk. The input device connection unit 16 is an interface for connecting the input device 17. The input device 17 inputs information and the like and corresponds to a keyboard, a pointing device, and the like. The display device connection unit 18 is an interface for connecting the display device 19. The display device 20 displays information and the like, and corresponds to a monitor display or the like.

  Subsequently, a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 1.

  As shown in the figure, the image processing apparatus 1 includes an image acquisition unit 100, a pre-processing unit 101, a size designation receiving unit 102, a rectangle extraction processing unit 103, an image cut-out processing unit 104, an upright correction processing unit 105, a conversion Each functional unit such as the processing unit 106 is included. In addition, the rectangle extraction processing unit 103 includes functional units such as a contour extraction processing unit 130 and a contour correction processing unit 131.

  Each of these functional units is realized by operating an information processing apparatus such as a computer according to an image processing program. The image processing program can be recorded on a recording medium and distributed, or can be distributed by communication using a network or the like.

  The image acquisition unit 100 operates the image reading device 2 to acquire the image data 4 or reads out the image data 4 from a storage medium or the like. The image data 4 received via a LAN or the like and stored in the storage device 15. The image data 4 is acquired as a processing target.

  The preprocessing unit 101 duplicates the image data 4 acquired by the image acquisition unit 100.

  The size designation receiving unit 102 receives the size designation of the image to be extracted input from the input device 17. The size designations to be accepted are the names of standard sizes such as “A4”, “A5”, and “B5”, the names and orientations of standard sizes such as “A4 portrait” and “A4 landscape”, the lengths of length and width, This is a parameter that can specify the size of the image to be extracted, such as the length of one of the vertical and horizontal and the ratio of the vertical and horizontal, and accepts any of these designations. Of course, the types of parameters that can be accepted can be determined at the time of design, etc., and all types of parameters may be accepted, and any one type or a plurality of types of parameters may be accepted. Also good. Even when the size designation receiving unit 102 does not accept the size designation of the image to be extracted, the image processing apparatus 1 can operate.

  The rectangle extraction processing unit 103 extracts a rectangular image to be extracted from the image data copied by the preprocessing unit 101.

  The contour extraction processing unit 130 extracts a contour line in the image from the image data copied by the preprocessing unit 101. Further, the contour extraction processing unit 130 extracts a part of the contour line, so that the image is copied from the image data copied by the preprocessing unit 101 based on the size designation of the image to be extracted received by the size designation receiving unit 102. When it becomes possible to specify the inside contour line, the subsequent contour line extraction is stopped.

  The contour correction processing unit 131 corrects the figure surrounded by the contour line extracted by the contour extraction processing unit 130 based on the size designation received by the size designation receiving unit 102. Even when the size designation receiving unit 102 does not accept the size designation, if the figure surrounded by the contour extracted by the contour extraction processing unit 130 is close to the standard size, for example, within a predetermined threshold value The figure can be corrected to a standard size. Of course, when the size designation accepting unit 102 does not accept the size designation, the correction can be made not to be performed, and these determinations can be made according to the determination at the time of design or the registered setting. .

  The image cutout processing unit 104 converts the original image that is the original of the image copied by the preprocessing unit 101, that is, the rectangular outline extracted by the rectangular extraction processing unit 103 from the image data 4 acquired by the image acquisition unit 100. Therefore, the partial image is cut out.

  The upright correction processing unit 105 corrects the partial image cut out by the image cutout processing unit 104 so that the partial image stands upright.

  The conversion processing unit 106 converts the partial image corrected by the upright correction processing unit 105 into a format designated in advance, and stores the result in the storage device 15 as a file. Further, based on a file stored in the storage device 15, a partial image may be printed out from an image forming apparatus such as a printer connected to the external device connection unit 13.

  Next, details of processing by each functional unit of the image processing apparatus 1 will be described together with a flow of image processing by the image processing apparatus 1.

  First, the image data 4 to be processed by the image processing apparatus 1 will be described. When the image reading device 2 reads the document and generates the image data 4, the document 40 is placed at an arbitrary position on the document table (glass table) 20 of the image reading device 2, as shown in FIG. . Since the position on which the document 40 is placed is arbitrary, the origin 21 that has been conventionally used for document alignment may be ignored.

  The image reading device 2 that generates the image data 4 has at least a surface 23 facing the document table 20 in a specific color, for example, the document table cover 22 that plays a role of pressing the document 40 when reading the document 40. The configuration is black. The specific color may be another color as long as it is different from the background color of the document 40.

  As a result of reading the document 40 by the image reading apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 4A, the image data 4 becomes data indicating an image as shown in FIG. 4B.

  In addition, instead of using the image reading apparatus 2 whose surface 23 facing the original table 20 of the original table cover 23 is a specific color, a general image reading apparatus is used, and the original is placed on the original table of the image reading apparatus. The image data 4 can also be generated by operating the image reading apparatus with a sheet of a specific color larger than the original on the sheet.

  On the other hand, when the image data 4 is generated by the photographing device 3 such as a digital camera, a sheet of a specific color such as black is placed on a desk or the like, a document is placed on the sheet, and this is photographed. Image data 4 showing an image as shown in FIG. 4B can be generated by photographing with the apparatus 3. Of course, similar image data 4 can also be generated by pasting a sheet of a specific color such as black and a document on a wall or the like and photographing it.

  Subsequently, the preprocessing unit 101 performs preprocessing on the image data 4 acquired by the image acquisition unit 100. The preprocessing performed by the preprocessing unit 101 is processing for copying the image data 4 acquired by the image acquisition unit 100. Hereinafter, for convenience, the image data 4 acquired by the image acquisition unit 100 is referred to as an original image, and the image copied by the preprocessing unit 101 is referred to as a duplicate image.

  Next, the rectangle extraction processing unit 103 performs a rectangle extraction process for extracting a rectangular portion from the duplicate image with respect to the duplicate image copied by the pre-processing unit 101.

  In the rectangle extraction process, first, a process of extracting a rectangular outline extracted by the outline extraction processing unit 130 is performed. Prior to the contour extraction, the contour extraction processing unit 130 first converts the duplicate image into a binary image in which each pixel is represented by 1 bit. Then, the contour extraction processing unit 130 performs an outer frame removal process for removing the outer frame from the binarized duplicate image. The outer frame is a white frame generated by a frame erasing function or the like of the image reading device 2, and the outer frame removing process converts each pixel of the white frame into a black pixel. Subsequently, the contour extraction processing unit 130 creates a rectangular contour corresponding to the contour of the document 40 existing in the image, that is, a contour of a white pixel block, from the duplicate image subjected to the outer frame removal processing. To extract.

  Here, the outline extraction process will be described. 5 and 6 are diagrams for explaining the contour line extraction processing. Here, it is assumed that the duplicate image subjected to the contour line extraction process is an 8 × 8 pixel shown in FIG. 5A and includes one white pixel block. In FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the shaded squares indicate black pixels, and the other squares indicate white pixels. In addition, what draws a circle in a square indicates a pixel extracted as a contour line.

  In the contour line extraction processing, the contour extraction processing unit 130 first confirms the presence or absence of white pixels by raster scanning, that is, white pixels from the upper left pixel P11 to the pixel P12 in FIG. If there is no white pixel up to the pixel P18, the presence or absence of a white pixel is similarly confirmed from the pixel P21 in the next stage. As a result, since the pixel P25 is a white pixel, tracking of the contour line is started with the pixel P25 as a starting point.

  In the tracking of the contour line, eight pixels around the pixel to be processed are sequentially checked in the counterclockwise direction. When the processing target is the pixel P25, white pixels are confirmed starting from a pixel P34 that is adjacent in the counterclockwise direction from the pixel P24 that was the processing target immediately before, among the eight surrounding pixels (FIG. 5 ( b)). Then, the pixel first confirmed to be a white pixel, in this case, the pixel P34 is set as the traveling direction of the contour line.

  Subsequently, with the pixel P34 as a processing target, a white pixel is confirmed starting from a pixel P24 adjacent in the counterclockwise direction from the pixel P25 that was the processing target immediately before the pixel P34 (FIG. 5C). )reference). In this case, it is confirmed whether or not the pixel is a white pixel in the order of the pixel P24, the pixel P23, the pixel P33, and the pixel P43, and the pixel P43 that is first confirmed to be a white pixel is set as the traveling direction of the contour line.

  Then, the same processing is performed, and the direction of travel of the contour line in the pixel P43 is the pixel P52 (see FIG. 5D), the direction of travel of the contour line in the pixel P52 is the pixel P62 (see FIG. 5E), and the pixel P62. The contour line is traced such that the direction of travel of the contour line in FIG. 6 is the pixel P73 (see FIG. 6A) and the direction of travel of the contour line in the pixel P73 is the pixel P74 (see FIG. 6B). When the pixel specified as the line traveling direction becomes the starting pixel P25, the tracking of the contour line is terminated (see FIG. 6C).

  By the way, as described above, the contour extraction processing unit 130 can identify the entire contour line based on the size designation of the image to be extracted received by the size designation receiving unit 102 by extracting a part of the contour line. If it becomes, the subsequent contour line extraction is stopped.

  Here, an example in which the extraction of the contour line is stopped will be described. For example, when extracting a contour line as shown in FIG. 7A, the size designation received by the size designation receiving unit 102 is a name of a standard size such as “A4”, “A5”, “B5”, “A4” If the name and orientation of a standard size such as “vertical”, “A4 horizontal”, or any of the lengths in the vertical and horizontal directions, one side of the rectangle is extracted as shown in FIG. Stop contour extraction at the stage. This is because both the length of the long side and the length of the short side of the rectangle can be specified by the size-designated parameter. In addition, when the size designation received by the size designation receiving unit 102 is one of the vertical and horizontal lengths and the vertical / horizontal ratio, the length of one side of the rectangle shown in FIG. 7B is specified. Even when the length coincides with the length, the extraction of the contour line is stopped when one side of the rectangle is extracted.

  When the size designation accepted by the size designation accepting unit 102 is other than the above, or when the size designation accepting unit 102 does not accept the size designation, two sides of the rectangle are extracted as shown in FIG. At this stage, the contour line extraction is stopped.

  When the image data 4 is taken by the photographing apparatus 3, even if the size designation received by the size designation receiving unit 102 is “A4” or the like, the rectangle in the image data 4 is the original size. Since it does not always exist, the extraction of the contour line may be stopped when two sides of the rectangle are extracted.

  Next, the contour correction processing unit 131 performs contour correction processing on the contour line extracted by the contour extraction processing unit 130.

  The contour correction processing unit 131 performs linearization processing on the contour line extracted by the contour extraction processing unit 130. Specifically, when a pixel of a specific color such as black remains on or in the vicinity of the contour line, a process of converting the color of the pixel into the background color of the document is performed.

  It should be noted that the contour correction processing unit 131 displays an image when the size designation received by the size designation accepting unit 102 is different from the size of the rectangle, for example, when the image data 4 is taken by the photographing apparatus 3. An enlargement / reduction process may be performed on the.

  When the rectangle extraction processing by the rectangle extraction processing unit 103 ends, the image cutout processing unit 104 cuts out a portion corresponding to the rectangular image extracted by the rectangle extraction processing unit 103 from the original image (image data 4) as a partial image.

  Subsequently, the upright correction processing unit 105 performs an upright correction process on the partial image cut out by the image cutout processing unit 104. This upright correction process is a process of rotating the partial image so that the long side or the short side of the rectangle is in the horizontal direction. Whether the long side or the short side is matched in the horizontal direction is determined according to a predetermined setting. The size designation received by the size designation receiving unit 102 is “A4 portrait”, “A4 landscape”. If the name and orientation of a standard size such as ”or any of the lengths of the vertical and horizontal sides, either the long side or the short side matches the horizontal direction according to the size specification. Apply rotation processing.

  Finally, the conversion processing unit 106 converts the image that has been subjected to the upright correction processing by the upright correction processing unit 105 into a specified image file format, and stores the result in the storage device 15.

  As described above, the image processing apparatus 1 is realized by operating an information processing apparatus such as a general-purpose computer in accordance with an image processing program, but a similar program, that is, each of the units shown in FIG. A program that realizes the functional unit is operated by the image processing unit of the image reading apparatus, so that the image reading apparatus having the function of the image processing apparatus 1 described above can be realized. In this case, it is necessary to perform an operation such as overlaying a sheet of a specific color on the original by setting the original table cover of the image reading apparatus to a specific color such as black or changing to an arbitrary color. Also disappear.

  Similarly, a program that realizes each functional unit shown in FIG. 3 is operated by the image processing unit of the copying apparatus, so that a copying apparatus having the functions of the image processing apparatus 1 described above can be realized. In this case, it is necessary to perform an operation such as overlaying a sheet of a specific color on the original by setting the original table cover of the copying apparatus to a specific color such as black or changing to an arbitrary color. Disappear.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image processing apparatus 2 Image reader 3 Imaging device 10 Arithmetic unit 11 Storage unit 12 Temporary storage unit 13 External device connection unit 14 Storage device connection unit 15 Storage device 16 Input device connection unit 17 Input device 18 Display device connection unit 19 Display device 20 Document Plate 21 Origin 22 Document Plate Cover 23 Surface of Document Plate Cover Relative to Document Plate 40 Document 100 Image Acquisition Unit 101 Pre-Processing Unit 102 Size Specification Accepting Unit 103 Rectangular Extraction Processing Unit 104 Image Extraction Processing Unit 105 Upright Correction Processing Unit 106 conversion processing unit 130 contour extraction processing unit 131 contour correction processing unit P11 to P74 pixels

Claims (4)

An image processing program for processing an image generated based on a document,
One or two sides of the rectangle are extracted as a part of the outline of the rectangular figure in the image based on the specification of the document size including unspecified, and the outline of the rectangle image including the extracted side is extracted. Contour extraction processing to identify all ,
An outline correction process for correcting an outline of the rectangular figure identified by the outline extraction process;
An image cutout process for cutting out a rectangular image from the image based on the contour line corrected by the contour line correction process;
An image processing program for causing a computer to execute upright correction processing for erecting a rectangular image cut out by the image cutting processing. An image processing apparatus that processes an image generated based on a document,
One or two sides of the rectangle are extracted as a part of the outline of the rectangular figure in the image based on the specification of the document size including unspecified, and the outline of the rectangle image including the extracted side is extracted. Contour extraction means for specifying the whole ;
Contour correcting means for correcting the contour of the rectangular figure specified by the contour extracting means;
Image cutting means for cutting out a rectangular image from the image based on the contour line corrected by the contour line correcting means;
An image processing apparatus comprising: an upright correction unit configured to erect a rectangular image cut out by the image cutout unit. An image reading apparatus that generates an image based on a document on a document table,
A designation accepting means for accepting designation of a document size ;
A document pressing means for pressing the documents arranged on the document table, the surface facing the document table being black;
Image generating means for optically scanning the document table and generating an image based on the documents arranged on the document table;
Image processing means for performing image processing on the image generated by the image generation means,
The image processing means includes
One or two sides of the rectangle are extracted as a part of the outline of the rectangular figure in the image based on the specification of the document size including the undesignated accepted by the designation accepting means, and includes the extracted sides Contour extracting means for specifying all the contour lines of the rectangular image ;
Contour correcting means for correcting the contour of the rectangular figure specified by the contour extracting means;
Image cutting means for cutting out a rectangular image from the image based on the contour line corrected by the contour line correcting means;
An image reading apparatus comprising: an erecting correction unit that erects the rectangular image cut out by the image cutting unit. 4. The image reading apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an image forming unit that prints an image subjected to image processing by the image processing unit on a sheet corresponding to a document size received by the designation receiving unit. .

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