Image capturing apparatus and method for correcting captured image

Abstract

A calligraphy/drawing camera image-captures a document and sends a resultant captured image to a personal computer (S 101 ). The personal computer applies various image processes such as correction of various deformations including a trapezoidal deformation based on image information obtained from the captured image, a rotation process, a cut out process, etc. to the captured image (S 102 to S 104 ). The personal computer sends the processed image to a projector (S 105 ). The projector projects the processed image on a screen (S 106 ). Since the captured image is corrected based on the image information obtained from the captured image, not only correction of a trapezoidal deformation but also various other corrections can be done on the captured image.

1 . An image capturing apparatus comprising:
 a document table adapted to have a written material placed thereon;   an image capturing section which captures an image of the written material;   an obtaining section which obtains image information from the captured image, the image information including four lines located closest to four circumferential sides, respectively, of the captured image; and   a correction section which corrects distortion of an image region corresponding to the written material within the captured image based on the image information, the correction of the distortion comprising deforming the image region into a rectangular shape.   
   
   
       2 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the image information obtained by the obtaining section includes intersections of the four lines. 
   
   
       3 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the correction of the distortion by the correction section comprises altering an aspect ratio of the image region based on the image information. 
   
   
       4 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a projection section which projects an image corrected by the correction section. 
   
   
       5 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the correction section comprises a determination section which determines an orientation of the written material of which the image is captured, based on the image information. 
   
   
       6 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the image information includes character recognition information; and
 wherein the determination section determines the orientation of the written material by rotating at least the image region corresponding to the written material by an angle a plurality of times, and by identifying an angle at which it is possible to recognize characters in the image region corresponding to the written material.   
   
   
       7 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the correction section corrects an inclination of the captured image. 
   
   
       8 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the image information includes marginal distribution information of the image region corresponding to the written material;
 wherein the correction section comprises an inclination angle obtaining section which obtains an inclination angle of the captured image based on a plurality of marginal distributions obtained along different directions in the image region corresponding to the written material; and   wherein the correction section corrects the inclination of the captured image based on the inclination angle obtained by the inclination angle obtaining section.   
   
   
       9 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a cutting-out section which cuts out the image region corresponding to the written material after the captured image is corrected by said correction section. 
   
   
       10 . The image capturing apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a designation reception section which receives, from a user, designation of a region to be cut out when from the captured image after the captured image is corrected by the correction section; and   a cutting-out section which cuts out the designated region from the captured image after being the captured image is corrected.   
   
   
       11 . A method for correcting a captured image, for a captured image projection apparatus which projects a captured image, which is obtained by capturing an image of a written material, on a screen, the method comprising:
 selecting four lines located closest to four circumferential sides, respectively, of the captured image; and   correcting the captured image based on the selected plurality of lines.   
   
   
       12 . A computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program stored thereon that is executable a computer that is included in a captured image projection apparatus which projects a captured image, which is obtained by capturing an image of a written material, on a screen, wherein the program is executable by the computer to control the computer to function as:
 a selection section which selects four lines located closest to four circumferential sides, respectively, of the captured image; and   a correction section which corrects the captured image based on the selected plurality of lines.