Patent ID: 6178270
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A method for selecting text and image data from documents with an image processing system in which images of documents are captured by an image capture device having a field of view, comprising the steps of:(a) displaying an image captured by the image capture device; the displayed image containing text matter being defined by one of grayscale image data and color image data;(b) receiving a first user input defining both a start of a selection and a first position within the displayed image;(c) responsive to said step (b), freezing the displayed image to define a frozen displayed image;(d) determining a skew angle .theta. of the text matter with respect to the field of view of the image capture device;(e) receiving a second user input defining both an end of the selection and a second position within the displayed image; the second user input defining a final user input;(f) determining, using the skew angle .theta. determined in said step (d), a selection element; the selection element having a position, a shape and dimensions that are, at least, dependent upon the first position; and (g) displaying the selection element superimposed on the frozen displayed image;wherein step (f) further comprises the steps of:selecting a word of the text matter within the displayed image; said step (f) determining the selection element to include a selection block overlaying the word;(f1) determining a word separation value (S.sub.w).sub.min from measured values of separation between adjacent pairs of characters in the text matter; and(f2) determining dimensions of the selection block in a direction of flow of the text matter as a function of the word separation value (S.sub.w).sub.min determined in said step (f1).