Patent ID: 7085437

Claim:
A document modification apparatus for modifying image data read by image input means, comprising: region extracting means for extracting a plurality of regions from the image data, each region being a unit to be modified; region selection means for selecting target regions to be modified from the plurality of regions through an operator; modification specifying means for specifying kinds of the modifications for the target regions selected by the region selection means through the operator; and modification image making means for making a modified image, based on the kinds of the modifications, in the regions in the image data selected by the region selection means, specified by the modification specifying means; wherein the region extracting means extracts rectangle regions as the target regions to be modified, and the region extracting means comprises a first judgment means for judging whether an attribute of the rectangle region is one of a “character” and “ruled-line,” and “others,” projection means for taking a projection data in vertical and horizontal directions of the rectangle region of the image data, and a second judgment means for judging whether the attribute of the rectangle region, whose attribute has been judged by the first judgment means as “others,” is one of a “table,” a “photograph,” and a “frame” according to a number of peaks detected from the projection data, operation of the second judgment means being based on whether the first judgment means identifies the attribute as “others.”