Image processing apparatus and computer readable medium storing image processing program

Abstract

An image processing apparatus includes: a first positioning part that performs positioning between a first original image and a second original image which is obtained after execution of additional entry, with respect to an entire original; a first extraction part that extracts difference information between the first original image and the second original image subjected to the positioning by the first positioning part; a second positioning part that locally performs positioning between the first original image and the second original image based on the difference information extracted by the first extraction part; and a second extraction part that extracts additional entry information from the second original image between the first original image and the second original image subjected to the positioning by the second positioning part.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the system configuration of an image processing system to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a more particular configuration of the image processing system including an image processing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional construction of the image processing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a first example of position/skew correction processing;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of additional entry information extraction processing;

FIGS. 6A to 6C illustrate a particular example of the additional entry information extraction processing;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a particular example of the position/skew correction processing;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are explanatory diagrams of moving directions of a second image within a first image;

FIG. 9 illustrates a particular example (1) of a second example of the position/skew correction processing;

FIG. 10 illustrates a particular example (2) of the second example of the position/skew correction processing;

FIG. 11 illustrates a particular example (3) of the second example of the position/skew correction processing;

FIG. 12 illustrates a first image (A) and a second image (B) at a maximum matching level, and a positional relation when the second image (B) is shifted upward, downward, leftward and rightward by one pixel;

FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram of maximum matching position estimation processing when m(−1)>m(1) holds;

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram of the maximum matching position estimation processing when m(−1)<m(1) holds;

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of the maximum matching position estimation processing using a parabola;

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate a particular example of an entry-unadded image and an entry-added image, respectively;

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a problem in the simple subtraction; and

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of another problem in the expansion subtraction.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising: a first positioning part that performs positioning between a first original image and a second original image which is obtained after execution of additional entry, with respect to an entire original;a first extraction part that extracts difference information between the first original image and the second original image subjected to the positioning by the first positioning part;a second positioning part that locally performs positioning between the first original image and the second original image based on the difference information extracted by the first extraction part; anda second extraction part that extracts additional entry information from the second original image between the first original image and the second original image subjected to the positioning by the second positioning part.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an area division part that performs area division on the first original image and the second original image based on the difference information extracted by the first extraction part, wherein the second positioning part performs the positioning by area divided by the area division part.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an integration processing part that integrates difference extracted pixels deemed to belong to the same area into an integrated area, based on difference extracted pixels extracted by the first extraction part, wherein the area division part performs the area division on the first original image and the second original image based on a result of integration processing by the integration processing part.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the integration processing part obtains a distance between the difference extracted pixels, and when the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, integrates the difference extracted pixels into an integrated area.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the integration processing part generates figures in a predetermined size with the difference extracted pixels as centers, and when the figures are overlapped with each other, integrates the pixels into an integrated area.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the integration processing part classifies the difference extracted pixels into connected pixel groups then obtains a substantially circumscribed rectangle by connected pixel group, and expands the circumscribed rectangle by a predetermined size, and when the expanded circumscribed rectangles are overlapped with each other, integrates the rectangles into an integrated area.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the integration processing part judges connected pixel groups including the difference extracted pixels in the second original image subjected to the positioning by the first positioning part, and integrates the difference extracted pixels belonging to the same connected pixel group into an integrated area.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the area division part performs the area division on the first original image based on the area division in the second original image.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a size of the area division in the first original image is greater than a size of area division in the second original image, and the second positioning part moves the divided area in the second original image within the divided area in the first original image thereby obtains a matching point between images of the both divided areas.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the size of the area division in the second original image is greater than the size of the area division in the first original image, and the second positioning part moves the divided area in the first original image within the divided area in the second original image thereby obtains a position at a high matching level between images of the both divided areas.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the second positioning part shifts the divided area in the second original image or the first original image in a direction where the matching level is high, and when the matching level in the direction becomes low, determines a position before shift as a matching position.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the second positioning part estimates a position at a highest matching level using a position at a high matching level and matching levels in the position and peripheral positions.

13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second extraction parts perform processing to subtract an image, obtained by expanding ON pixels of the first original image, from the second original image, and a size of expansion of the second extraction part is equal to or smaller than a size of expansion of the first extraction part.

14. A computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for image processing, the process comprising: performing positioning between a first original image before execution of additional entry and a second original image after the execution of the additional entry, with respect to an entire original;extracting difference information by comparing the first original image with the second original image subjected to the positioning;locally performing positioning between the first original image and the second original image based on the extracted difference information; andextracting additional entry information from the second original image by comparing the first original image with the second original image subjected to the positioning.

15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second positioning part shifts the divided area in the second original image or the first original image in a direction where the matching level is high, and when the matching level in the direction becomes low, determines a position before shift as a matching position.