Extracting marker-outlined free-form areas of a document

1. A method for extracting and printing a selected area of a document, comprising:

receiving an image to select the area for printing;

extracting parameters of an outline drawn with a specific colored ink around the selected area, including determining a variance in color of the outline and contour information of the outline;

storing one or more of the extracted parameters to create an outline mask to identify the selected area enclosed within the outline; and

retrieving the selected area within the outline by performing outline removal using the outline mask and printing the selected area.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the image comprising receiving the document as an image.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including using the contour information and the variance to create an outline mask.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received image is stored as a matrix of RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color space values, which is converted and stored as a first version representing the RGB matrix as HSV color space values.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, obtaining area of the original image within the outline by performing a bitwise logical-AND operation between a version of stored physical document and the pixels of a template.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the variance in color of the outline further includes determining a lower range HSV value (lr) and upper range of HSV values (ur) based on color information of the outline.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating the outline mask by drawing of the contour on a first template using the contour points and connecting the contours points with color information of the outline and processing a series of bitwise AND/OR/NOT operations on intermediate versions of the document and pixels of a template.

8. A system for extracting and printing a selected area of a document, comprising a processor and memory configured to perform:

a reader for receiving an image to select the area to be printed;

extracting an outline drawn with a specific colored ink around the selected area, wherein the extracting the outline includes determining, by the processor, a variance in color of the outline and contour information of the outline;

storing one or more parameters from the extracting the outline to create an outline mask; and

retrieving the required selected area by performing outline removal using the outline mask and

printing the required selected area.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the reader receiving the image comprising receiving the document as an image.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the received image is stored in the memory as a matrix of RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color space values, which is converted and stored as a first version representing the RGB matrix as HSV color space values.

11. The system of claim 10 , further comprising extracting area of the original image within the outline by performing a bitwise logical-AND operation by the processor between a version of stored physical document and pixels of a template.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the extracting of the variance in color of the outline by the processor further includes determining a lower range HSV value (lr) and upper range of HSV values (ur) based on color information of the outline.

13. The system of claim 8 , further comprising extracting the outline mask by a drawing of the contour on a first template using the contour points and connecting the contour points with color information of the outline and performing a series of bitwise AND/OR/NOT operations on intermediate versions of the document and pixels of a template.

14. A device for extracting and printing a selected area of a document, comprising:

an image receiving device that receives a document with a selected area for printing area inside an outline;

a memory storing the received document and an intermediate version of the document thereof;

a user input receiving an input identifying a specified color ink which is used for outlining the selected area; and

a processing unit executing commands for identifying one or more parameters of the outline, extracting the area within the outline using the one or more parameters by creating an outline mask and printing the selected area, wherein the processing unit executing commands for identifying one or more parameters of the outline further determines a variance in color of the outline.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the image receiving device comprising receiving the document as an image.

16. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor unit executing commands for identifying one or more parameters of the outline further identifies one or more contours of the outline.

17. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor unit executing command to store the received image as a matrix of RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color space values, which is converted and stored as a first version representing the RGB matrix as HSV color space values.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the processor unit executing command extracting area of the original image within the outline by performing a bitwise logical-AND operation between a version of stored physical document and pixels of a template.

19. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor unit executing commands to determine the variance in color of the outline further identifies a lower range HSV value (lr) and upper range of HSV values (ur) based on color information of the outline.

20. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor unit executing command to extract the outline mask by drawing of the contour on a first template using the contour points and connecting the contours points with color information of the outline and executing a series of bitwise AND/OR/NOT operations on intermediate versions of the document and pixels of a template.