Patent ID: 6826305
Filing Date: 2004-11-30
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A method of text label identification comprising the steps of:identifying individual components of a digital image; examining each component to determine whether or not the component is a text component and identifying each text component, including the substeps of excluding very large components from consideration; examining selected characteristics of each component remaining under consideration to determine whether they fall within limits established for the characteristics and excluding components for which the selected characteristics fall outside of the limits; excluding components which are too small and too far away from other components to be text; and designating the remaining components as text; wherein establishing the limits for each characteristic includes the substeps of creating a histogram for the characteristic; identifying a dominant peak of the histogram; locating a lower limit at a valley below the dominant peak; and locating an upper limit at a valley above the dominant peak; performing connected component analysis on each text component to produce grouped text components; and comparing each grouped text component against predetermined criteria to determine whether the grouped text component is a label and identifying each grouped text component meeting the criteria as a label.