Nec Corporation

Yasuharu Itamoto

Masato Iwakawa

Katsuhiko Kondo

A multi color image of a total of a sheet of paper is read by a color scanner and a designated color image consisting of a designated color component is extracted from the multi color image by a designated color filter, blocks having the designated color are extracted by summarizing in blocks a plurality of pixels constituting the designated color image by a designated color block extracting unit, meanwhile, the multi color image is converted into a monochromatic image by a monochromatic processing unit, at least one of monochromatic blocks are extracted by summarizing in blocks a plurality of pixels constituting the monochromatic image by a monochromatic block extracting unit and an area in which characters, for example the postal code and the mail address, that are objects of reading on the sheets of paper are described, are determined based on the blocks having the designated color and the monochromatic blocks by a reading area determining unit.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yasuharu Itamoto