IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, APPARATUS, PROGRAM, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for highly accurately separating and detecting dots embedded in an image and in its background. SOLUTION: A contraction processing section 43 of an image processing apparatus 50 replaces values of each pixel of multi-value data 21 including dots in a document image and its background, with values toward background pixels from a median of a plurality of pixel values comprising a concerned pixel and its surrounding pixels and outputs contraction image data 23. An expansion processing section 44 replaces values of each pixel of the contraction image data 23 with values toward document image pixels from a median of the pixel values comprising a concerned pixel and its surrounding pixels, and outputs expansion image data 25. Background dots in the contraction image data 23 become the same values as the background and vanish. Since the vanished dots no longer return even when expansion processing is applied to the background, the dots of the document image and the background are certainly separated and detected. COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT