Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for determining the directional orientation of a document image based upon the location of detected punctuation marks within the document image

US6011877A · kind A · utility

21Cited by
12References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 9, 1996
Grant dateJan 4, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 9, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06V30/10
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes an image reading device which extracts character images from an original document image read by an image reader. The reading device further extracts an area of predetermined size including a single character from the extracted character images, and detects punctuation marks among characters included in the respective extracted areas based on a distribution of image elements in the respective extracted area so as to discriminate the directional orientation of the character image based on a position of punctuation marks. Alternatively, the reading device detects the presence of white space in the extracted character images so as to discriminate the directional orientation of the character images based on a distribution of the detected white space.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.