Patent ID: 8270663
Filing Date: 2012-09-18
Classification: G06T,H04N

Abstract:
1. A watermarked information embedding apparatus which inputs an image having picture elements and embeds watermarked information in the input image, comprising: picture element determining means which determines whether it is a picture element constituting part of a background image for each of the picture elements which constitute the input image; background picture element removing means which removes all of background picture elements determined as picture elements constituting the background image by the picture element determining means; and watermarked information embedding means which embeds the watermarked information in an image constituted by picture elements from which the background picture elements have been removed by the background picture element removing means, wherein an aggregation of picture elements which constitute the input image forms dots, wherein the picture element determining means classifies picture elements constituting dots smaller than a predetermined size as picture elements which are to be removed as candidates for the background picture and which belong to a foreground image, wherein the picture element determining means also classifies dots based on their shapes and designates dots with predetermined shapes as candidates for the background picture, wherein the picture element determining means also calculates cycles of dots based on their positions and removes picture elements for which cycles have not been successfully calculated as candidates for the background picture, classifying them as at least a part of the foreground image, wherein the picture element determining means also designates picture element remaining as candidates for the background picture as picture elements of the background picture, and wherein the background picture element removing means estimates a position of each background dot and determines whether the background dot should be entirely or partially removed, based on the shape, the cycle and the phase of the respective background dot, when the respective background dot is superposed on at least one of a plurality of picture elements constituting a character, a sign or a ruled line of the input image.