Patent ID: 6560361
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A computer-implemented method for converting a pixmap representing a drawing into a set of vectors representing the drawing, comprising the steps of:(a) forming closed loops of vectors corresponding to boundaries between edge and non-edge pixels in the pixmap; (b) identifying each closed loop as defining an outer perimeter or as defining a hole associated with some particular outer perimeter; (c) for each outer perimeter, identifying as an ink art region an area defined by the outer perimeter minus any areas defined by any holes associated with the outer perimeter; (d) creating a color art graph of vectors by creating connected color art vectors within the ink art region, the color art graph extending substantially to all extrema of the ink art region and separately enclosing all holes within the ink art region; (e) smoothing one of the closed loops; and (f) wherein the step of smoothing is done by moving points of the closed loop vectors toward a weighted average of their positions and their neighboring points' positions.