The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 22, 2001
Weidong Gong, Ibaraki-ken, JP;
Masato Nakajima, Ibaraki-ken, JP;
Riso Kagaku Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The types of pixels of an image made up of a plurality of pixels arranged in a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction are distinguished. The image is divided into a plurality of blocks each substantially larger than a visually distinguishable size, properties of the images in the blocks representing the probability that the image is a binary image are detected, probability that the image in each block is a binary image is determined on the basis of the detected properties of the image in the block, and the blocks are divided into a binary image block, a tone image block, and an indeterminate image block according to the probability that the image is a binary image. The pixels in the blocks which are determined to be a binary image block are all determined to be pixels of a binary image while the pixels in the blocks which are determined to be a tone image block are all determined to be pixels of a tone image. Then a pixel-by-pixel determination is carried out on the blocks, which are determined to be an indeterminate image block by the block-by-block determination, in which properties of each of the pixels in each of the indeterminate blocks representing the probability that the pixel is of a binary image are detected, and whether the pixel is a pixel of a binary image is determined on the basis of the detected properties.