Integrated color detection and color pixel counting for billing

摘要

Disclosed herein are a method and an image processing apparatus implementing the method for color pixel counting in documents by integrating color detection and counting. The method determines if pixels are neutral (e.g., gray) or non-neutral (i.e., color). Windows are used to analyze the pixels. For each window, a number of pixels with at least one color plane ON are counted, as well as a number of ON pixels in each color plane. The windows are determined to be neutral or color. A billable count of color pixels is determined based on the neutrality of the windows. Based on the billable count of color pixels, a bill for outputting the document is determined.

主权项

1. A processor-implemented method for color pixel counting in documents for billing comprising at least one page using an image processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus comprising at least one processor for processing documents containing image data comprising a plurality of pixels, the method comprising the following acts implemented by the at least one processor:
receiving image data of a document comprising a plurality of pixels; determining a billable count of color pixels in the received image data by establishing windows in the image data comprising M rows and N columns of pixels, and, for each window:
calculating an area coverage of color pixels by (a) counting a first count of color pixels, the counting of the first count comprising counting each color pixel in the window once, wherein each pixel has at least one color plane ON;performing color detection by (b) counting, for each separate color plane in the window, a second count of color pixels, the counting of the second count comprising individually counting a number of ON pixels in that color plane;a total of the second counts of color pixels being different than the first count of color pixels for the window;determining if the window is color or neutral based on at least the second counts, andif the window is determined as color, adding the first count to the billable count of color pixels,else, adding the first count to a neutral pixel count.