automatic interpretation processing operations , such as character recognition , require a binary image of information - bearing image elements and a background . digital image data produced by scanning a color - containing document frequently contain many different colors so that a division into information - bearing image elements and background is not evident . the invention divides connected components in the digital image into background and other connected components , whereafter the other connected components are allocated , in accordance with a predetermined criterion , either to the background or to a foreground . the foreground connected components are combined into information elements suitable for the automatic interpretation processing . the division into information - bearing image elements and background can be preceded by a color quantisation processing of the digital image data .