Patent ID: 7386171

Claim:
A segmented layered image system, comprising: a mask separator adapted to assign pixels of a document image into at least one of a foreground and a background, the assignment information stored in a binary mask; a connected component identifier adapted to identify connected components in or intersecting a region surrounding a pixel; a connected component analyzer adapted to determine a quantity of connected components in or intersecting the region surrounding the pixel by maintaining an identity of substantially all the quantity of connected components and a relative quantity of each connected component in the region surrounding the pixel; an activity detector that provides an activity map output based, at least in part, upon the quantity of connected components in or intersecting the region; and, an image processor that assigns the pixel to one of the background or the foreground based at least in part upon activity map output; wherein said activity detector identifies bounding boxes of the connected components, said bounding boxes are enlarged and creates a derivate image of the enlarged bounding boxes; and wherein the image processor assigns to the foreground based at least in part upon a determination that the quantity of connected components exceeds a first threshold, and assigns the pixel to the background based at least in part upon a determination that the quantity of connected components is less than a second threshold.