Automatic perspective correction of manuscript images

Abstract

Frequently, images of rare documents must be taken under strict time constraints, when a chance opportunity arises, and with equipment that is less than ideally suited for precise digitization. This can often result in uncalibrated images whose contents are nonetheless qualitatively useful. Due to the logistics of document imaging, perspective distortion is a common artifact which can manifest itself in images taken under these constrained circumstances. We propose an automated approach for correcting this perspective distortion, even for uncalibrated images of documents with irregular page edges containing no regular text. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.