Patent ID: 7016536
Filing Date: 2006-03-21
Classification: G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for producing a cleaned-up digital image of a document including essential data images and undesired noise images, comprising: (a) digitally scanning the document to produce a first digital representation of the data images and the noise images; (b) performing a first object grabbing operation on the first digital representation to identify all object images thereof; (c) determining a skew angle of a straight line having a predetermined relationship to some objects representative of the essential data images and de-skewing the document by rotating the first digital representation by an amount equal to the magnitude of the skew angle to provide a de-skewed first digital representation; (d) performing a second object grabbing operation on the de-skewed first digital representation to create an object list of all object images of the de-skewed first digital representation; (e) identifying a portion of the de-skewed first digital representation corresponding to a picture region of the document; (f) producing a reduced-resolution representation of the de-skewed first digital representation and performing a second object grabbing operation on the reduced-resolution representation; (g) identifying objects of the reduced-resolution representation representing essential data areas of the document; and (h) constructing the cleaned-up digital image of the document by performing a logical ANDing operation between the picture region and the data areas with the de-skewed first digital representation to eliminate all objects outside of the picture region and the data areas to provide the cleaned-up digital image.