Segmentation of images of stained papers based on distance perception

A new approach to segment images of historical documents that are in stained paper is presented herein. Due to their characteristics, these images are very difficult to segment, especially in documents with high illumination variance along the image, non-uniform degradation and the presence of smudges or smears. We propose herein the decreasing of the foreground information (the ink) by simulating the information we perceive when we go far from the document image. As we stand back, the text tends to disappear remaining just the main colors from the background. The method is very efficient in documents with several types of degradation although it is not suitable for small noises.