Patent ID: 8059895
Filing Date: 2011-11-15
Classification: G06F,H04N

Abstract:
1. An image processing apparatus which embeds information by changing a character spacing in a document image, the apparatus comprising: discrimination means for discriminating a text area in the document image; circumscribed rectangle extraction means for extracting a circumscribed rectangle of each character in the text area discriminated by said discrimination means; determination means for determining, based on a position and size of each extracted circumscribed rectangle, whether a portion having a character spacing smaller than a threshold exists; reduction means for, in a portion determined by said determination means to have a character spacing smaller than the threshold, reducing a size of a character in at least a character arrangement direction so as to set the character spacing to be not smaller than the threshold; and character position changing means for changing, in accordance with information to be embedded, a position of a character in a portion determined by said determination means not to have a character spacing smaller than the threshold, and a position of a character reduced by said reduction means.