Patent ID: 8300928

Claim:
A method for automatically locating a signature field in a target region of a digital image captured by a barcode reader, the target region having boundaries defined by multiple graphical delimiters in the digital image, the method, comprising: adjusting image quality of the digital image by performing the following steps: (i) generating a binary-colored image from the digital image, wherein the binary-colored image comprises black pixels and white pixels; and (ii) performing de-speckling to reduce noise by converting at least one speckle pixel in the binary-colored image to at least one white pixel; generating a search pattern comprising multiple search locations that spatially correspond with pixels in the digital image; determining a color of multiple search pixels in the binary-colored image that correspond or substantially correspond in location to the multiple search locations; identifying at least one black pixel in the multiple search pixels as a candidate pixel that is a part of one of multiple graphical delimiters; analyzing colors of neighboring pixels of the candidate pixel to compute a weight value of the candidate pixel; and saving the candidate pixel as a located graphical delimiter of multiple graphical delimiters if the weight value of the candidate pixel exceeds or approximates a weight threshold.