Patent ID: 8520951

Claim:
An image processing method, comprising the steps of: an image inputting step for inputting an object image of a vectorization process; a core line extracting step for extracting a core line of the object image of the vectorization process; a line width estimating step for computing an original line width for every pixel of the core line acquired in said core line extracting step; a judging step for judging whether there is an indication of an equal-width line or of a surface figure by using the line width value for every pixel of the core line acquired in said line width estimating step, for every section delimiting the core line acquired in said core line extracting step between two points of intersections and endpoints; a separating step for extracting, based on the core line in the section judged in said judging step as having an indication of the equal-width line and the core line in the section judged in said judging step as having an indication of the surface figure as well as the object image of the vectorization process, a surface image formed of a partial image corresponding to the surface figure in the object image of the vectorization process by excluding a partial image corresponding to the equal-width line; and a function approximation step for performing function approximation on each core line in the section judged as having an indication of the equal-width line in said judging step and an outline of the surface image extracted in said separating step.