Patent ID: 6738517
Filing Date: 2004-05-18
Classification: G06K,G06T,H04N

Abstract:
A document image segmentation method for matching a plurality of templates with a received image from an image source comprising:(a) receiving an image comprised of a bitmap of image data; (b) generating a two-dimensional window, the two-dimensional window having a plurality image data values, each image data value being associated with a pixel location in the first two-dimensional window; (c) determining a representative gray scale value for the two-dimensional window; (d) determining, a plurality of looseness intervals, each looseness interval being a difference between the determined representative gray scale value of the two-dimensional window and a target representative gray scale value, the target representative gray scale value being associated with one template of a plurality of templates; (e) comparing the determined looseness intervals to a threshold looseness interval, the threshold looseness interval being a maximum allowable value for the determined looseness interval that indicates a loose match; (f) determining, based upon the comparison between the determined looseness intervals and the threshold looseness interval, which template of the plurality of templates loosely matches the two-dimensional window of image data values, the loosely matched template being a template wherein the determined looseness interval associated therewith is equal to a non-zero value and the threshold looseness interval is equal to a non-zero value, an exactly matched template being a template wherein the associated determined looseness interval is equal to a zero value and the threshold looseness interval is equal to a zero value; and (g) outputting an identifier associated with the loosely matched template such that the identifier indicates an image classification value, the classification value being associated with an image processing operation.