FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and a storage medium that extract additional information embedded in a print image.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Japanese Patent No. 4645758 discloses a technique which embeds additional information (electronic watermark information) in image data of an image captured by an electronic camera and detects the additional information from the image data having the additional information embedded therein using a computer for image processing.

In a case where the additional information is embedded, it is preferable that the additional information is embedded by a modulation of color such that the additional information is hardly visually recognized. In a case where the image in which the additional information has been embedded by the modulation of color is printed, the printed image is captured by an information processing apparatus, such as a camera-equipped portable terminal, and the additional information is extracted from the captured image, there is a concern that the color of the captured image will be changed by the information processing apparatus. Specifically, in a case where the information processing apparatus adjusts the white balance of the captured image according to a capturing environment (imaging environment), the color of the captured image is changed by the adjustment value. The same problem occurs in a case where an auto white balance adjustment function that automatically adjusts the white balance according to the capturing environment is used. In a case where the color of the captured image is changed, there is a concern that the additional information embedded by the modulation of color will not be extracted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and a storage medium that can accurately extract additional information from a captured image in which the additional information has been embedded by a modulation of color.

In the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing unit configured to capture an image including an embedded image that is printed on the basis of image data in which at least a color component has been modulated according to additional information;

an adjustment unit configured to adjust a white balance of the image captured by the image capturing unit on the basis of an adjustment value associated with the embedded image; and

a processing unit configured to process image data of the image captured by the image capturing unit whose white balance has been adjusted by the adjustment unit to read the additional information in the image captured by the image capturing unit.

In the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing unit configured to capture an image including an embedded image that is printed on the basis of image data in which at least a color component has been modulated according to additional information;

a light source configured to illuminate the image captured by the image capturing unit;

an adjustment unit configured to adjust a white balance of the image captured by the image capturing unit, the adjustment unit having an auto white balance adjustment function that automatically adjusts a white balance according to a capturing environment of the image capturing unit; and

a processing unit configured to process image data of the image captured by the image capturing unit whose white balance has been adjusted by the adjustment unit to read the additional information in the image captured by the image capturing unit,

wherein the adjustment unit adjusts a white balance of the embedded image captured by the image capturing unit on the basis of an adjustment value corresponding to a color temperature of the light source, without using the auto white balance adjustment function.

In the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system comprising:

the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention; and

a forming apparatus that makes a printed matter in which the embedded image has been printed.

In the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method comprising:

a step of capturing an image including an embedded image that is printed on the basis of image data in which at least a color component has been modulated according to additional information;

a step of adjusting a white balance of the image captured by the capturing step on the basis of an adjustment value associated with the embedded image; and

a step of processing image data of the image captured by the capturing step whose white balance has been adjusted by the adjusting step, and reading the additional information in the image captured by the capturing step.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program which causes a computer to execute an information processing method, the information processing method comprising:

a step of capturing an image including an embedded image that is printed on the basis of image data in which at least a color component has been modulated according to additional information;

a step of adjusting a white balance of the image captured by the capturing step on the basis of an adjustment value associated with the embedded image; and

a step of processing image data of the image captured by the capturing step whose white balance has been adjusted by the adjusting step, and reading the additional information in the image captured by the capturing step.

According to the present invention, an image in which additional information has been embedded by a modulation color is captured and white balance of the captured image is optimally adjusted on the basis of an adjustment value associated with the image in which the additional information has been embedded. Therefore, it is possible to extract the additional information with high accuracy.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

