Oc&eacute;-technologies B.v.

Hubertus Marie Jozeph Matheus Boesten

Wilhelmus Johannes Couwenberg

Quantization of the colors in a digital image within a color space is achieved by successively dividing the colour space into a number of compartments in a number of steps, each compartment containing a subset of the colors of the image. Each step comprises: determining the variance in a predetermined number of directions, of the set of colors in a compartment, the variance being calculated by determining a covariance matrix which describes the colors of the set of colors in the compartment and calculating from the values of the variance of the set in the relevant directions, and dividing the compartment into two new compartments on the basis of the largest variance found. Such a method is further refined by subjecting the resulting sets of colors to a predetermined test and, on the basis of the results of that test, recombining sets, and also the compartments corresponding to the recombined sets. This quantization is intended as preparation of the digital image data for an interpretation processing operation, such as OCR or lay-out analysis. A corresponding apparatus and software are also disclosed.

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Melick, Netherlands

Hubertus Marie Jozeph Matheus Boesten