Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
165 words
A halftone dot pattern constructing system comprising : a measuring device for measuring printer intensity levels of a printing device output in response to selected gray scale commands; an interpolator for interpolating the measured printer intensity levels into a best fit smooth curve of measured intensity values versus the input commands; a mapping means for generating a set of halftone intensity values which correspond to the best fit smooth curve; a dot area parameter calculator for calculating parameters of a halftone dot pattern for each intensity value of the set of halftone intensity values, where each intensity value is represented by a halftone cell defining one halftone dot of the halftone dot pattern; a gray value calculator for determining a value for each position within each of the halftone cells based on the parameters calculated; a look-up table memory for storing each of the values; and the printing device receiving the values from the look-up table to control intensity levels during a subsequent printing operation.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 1 further including: a position scanner for scanning through a plurality of scan positions in each halftone cell along a scan angle direction.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
82 words
The system of claim 2 further including a measurement processor for calculating an edge distance, based on the dot parameters, from each scan position to a nearest edge of the halftone dot of the corresponding halftone cell in the scan angle direction and for calculating an edge angle from the scan angle direction to the nearest edge and wherein the gray value calculator combines at least the edge distance and the edge angle to produce the gray value for each scan position.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
96 words
A halftone dot pattern printing system comprising: an image input device for inputting a series of intensity levels; a screen counter for providing a series of scan positions within a halftone cell for each intensity level; an address generator for converting each scan position and the intensity level of the corresponding halftone cell into a look-up table address; a look-up table is addressed by the look-up table address to retrieve a corresponding gray value; and, a controller for controlling a printer in accordance with each retrieved gray value to cause a corresponding spot to be printed.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
144 words
The system of claim 4, further including: a memory for storing a family of halftone cells, each halftone cell having a characteristic intensity level; an interpolator for interpolating measured printer intensity levels into a best fit curve; a mapping means for mapping the family of halftone cells to a corresponding printer intensity level based on the best fit curve; a position scanner for indexing a scan position through each of the halftone cells; a measurement processor for determining a dot pattern intensity characteristic for each indexed scan position; a gray value calculator for calculating a gray value in accordance with the dot pattern intensity characteristic for each scan position of each of the family of halftone cells, the gray values being initially loaded into the look-up table each at an address corresponding to the scan position and the intensity level of the halftone cell.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system of claim 5, wherein the mapping means is connected with the interpolator for determining a linear tone reproduction relationship between the printer intensity levels and the intensity levels of the family of halftone cells.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
178 words
A method for constructing a halftone dot pattern for a printing device, the halftone dot pattern including a family of halftone cells defining a corresponding family of intensity levels over a halftone intensity range, the printing device producing a plurality of printer intensity levels, the method comprising: (a) measuring the plurality of printer intensity levels of the printing device; (b) interpolating the printer intensity levels into a best fit smooth curve; (c) generating a set of halftone intensity values which correspond linearly to the printer intensity levels based on the best fit smooth curve; (d) calculating parameters of a predetermined halftone dot pattern for each intensity value of the set of halftone intensity values, where each intensity value is represented by a halftone cell defining one halftone dot of the predetermined halftone dot pattern; (e) determining a gray value for each position in each of the halftone cells based on the parameters calculated; (f) storing each of the gray values in a look-up table; and (g) outputting the gray value from the look-up table to the printing device.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
59 words
The method of claim 7, wherein step (e) includes: (e1) traversing through a plurality of scan positions of a first halftone cell of the halftone dot pattern in a scan angle direction, the first halftone cell representing a first halftone intensity value within the set of halftone intensity values; and, (e2) determining the gray value at each scan position.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
116 words
The method of claim 8, wherein step (e) further includes: (e3) calculating an edge distance from each scan position to a nearest edge of the halftone dot defined by the halftone cell for a corresponding intensity value in the scan angle direction; (e4) calculating an edge angle from the scan angle direction to the nearest edge; (e5) combining at least the edge distance and the edge angle to produce the gray value for the scan position; and, (e6) the storing including storing the gray value in the look-up table at an address location, which address location is a combination of a coordinate of the corresponding scan position and the corresponding intensity level of the halftone cell.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
106 words
A method of halftone dot pattern printing comprising: (j) storing a family of halftone dot patterns; (k) printing a selected portion of the family of halftone dot patterns with a selected printing device; (l) determining an intensity level for each printed dot pattern of the family; (m) dividing each dot pattern into a preselected array of scan positions; (n) for each scan position of each dot pattern, determining a corresponding value; (o) loading each gray value into a look-up table; (p) in subsequent printing operations, the look-up table is addressed by (i) a corresponding scan position and (ii) the intensity level of the corresponding dot pattern.