Color image processing apparatus

Claim 2

A color image processing apparatus which converts n-level image pixels of a first geometric area of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising: first multi-valuing means for generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels in the first geometric area of the image; second multi-valuing means for forming a signal representative of a pixel density for at least one sub-color component, in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image; color masking means for mask correcting the main-color-component signal generated by said first multi-valuing means for the first geometric area of the image based on the pixel density representative signal formed by said second multi-valuing means; and image forming means for forming an image based on the mask corrected image on a medium.

Claim 3

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first region contains only a pixel of interest.

Claim 4

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second multi-valuing means further comprises: first means for calculating sums of pixels for respective sub-color components located in the second geometric area; and second means for calculating average densities of the second geometric area for respective ones of said sub-color components based on the sums of the pixels obtained by said first means for calculating.

Claim 5

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the main-color component signal obtained by said first multi-valuing means is X, average-density signals for sub-color-components are Y and Z, respectively and the main-color-component signal after correction is D, said masking means corrects the main-color-component signal as follows: D=a.sub.P1 X+a.sub.P2 b.sub.c Y+a.sub.P3 b.sub.c Z where a P1 , a P2 and a P3 represent predetermined coefficients and b c represents a correction coefficient.

Claim 6

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first multivaluing means provides the m-level signal by way of a network.

Claim 7

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said color component signal includes three primary color components.

Claim 8

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming means applies signals corrected by said masking means to a printer.

Claim 9

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said printer is an ink jet printer.

Claim 10

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said ink jet printer is a bubble jet printer.

Claim 11

A color image processing apparatus which converts n-level image pixels of a first geometric area of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising: first multi-valuing means for generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels located in the first geometric area of the image; second multi-valuing means for forming signals representing respective pixel densities for sub-color components in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image; color masking means for mask correcting the main-color-component signal generated by said first multivaluing means for the first geometric area of the image based on the pixel density representative signals formed by said second multi-valuing means; binarizing means for binarizing the main-color-component signal corrected by said masking means using a density storage type method; and image forming means for forming an image based on the binarized signal on a medium.

Claim 12

A color image processing apparatus which converts n-level image pixels of a first geometric area of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising: first multi-valuing means for generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels located in the first geometric area of the image; second multi-valuing means for forming signals representing respective pixel densities for sub-color components in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image; color masking means for mask correcting the main-color-component signal generated by said first multivaluing means for the first geometric area of the image based on the pixel density representative signals formed by said second multi-valuing means; binarizing means for binarizing the main-color-component signal corrected by said masking means using a density storage type method; and image forming means for forming an image based on the binarized signal on a medium.

Claim 13

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the first geometric area contains only a pixel of interest.

Claim 14

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said second multi-valuing means further comprises: first means for calculating a respective sum of pixels for each of said sub-color components located in the second geometric area; and second means for calculating a respective average density of the second geometric area for each of said sub-color components based on the sums obtained by said first means for calculating.

Claim 15

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, when the main-color-component signal obtained by said first multi-valuing means is X, average-density signals for said sub-color components are Y and Z, respectively, and the main-color-component signal after correction is D, said masking means corrects the main-color-component signal as follows: D=A.sub.P1 X+a.sub.P2 Y+a.sub.P3 Z where a P1 , a P2 and a P3 represent predetermined coefficients.

Claim 16

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said first multi-valuing means inputs said n-level signal by way of a network.

Claim 17

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said color component signals include three primary color components.

Claim 18

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said image forming means applies the binarized signals to a printer.

Claim 19

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said printer is an ink jet printer.

Claim 20

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said ink jet printer is a bubble jet printer.

Claim 21

A color image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting a plurality of m-level color component signals of an image; generating an n-level color component signal for a main color component signal (n>m) from the input plurality of m-level color component signals of a first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; forming an n-level color component signal with respect to a sub-color component other than the main color component by using signals of pixels in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; and performing color masking correction on the generated n-level color component signal for the main color component signal of the first geometric area of the image by using the formed sub-color signal; and forming an image based on the mask corrected image on a medium.

Claim 22

A color image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting a plurality of m-level color component signals of an image; generating an n-level color component signal for a main color component signal (n>m) from the input plurality of m-level color component signals of a first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; forming an n-level color component signal with respect to a sub-color component other than the main color component by using signals of pixels in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; and performing color masking correction on the generated n-level color component signal for the main color component signal of the first geometric area of the image by using the formed sub-color signal; and forming an image based on the mask corrected image on a medium.

Claim 23

A color image processing method according to claim 19, wherein the color component signal includes signals for three primary color components.

Claim 24

A color image processing method according to claim 19, wherein the m-level color component signal is a 1-bit signaL.

Claim 25

A color image processing method according to claim 19, wherein the n-level color component signal is an 8-bit signal.

Claim 26

A color image processing method that converts n-level image pixels of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising the steps of: generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels in a first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; forming signals representing respective pixel densities for sub-color components in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; color masking-correcting the generated main-color-component signal of the first geometric area of the image by mask correcting based on the formed pixel density representing signals for the sub-color components; and forming an image based on the mask corrected image on a medium.

Claim 27

A color image processing method that converts n-level image pixels of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising the steps of: generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels in a first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; forming signals representing respective pixel densities for sub-color components in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; color masking-correcting the generated main-color-component signal of the first geometric area of the image by mask correcting based on the formed pixel density representing signals for the sub-color components; and forming an image based on the mask corrected image on a medium.

Claim 28

A color processing method according to claim 23, wherein the first geometric area contains only a single pixel.

Claim 29

A color processing method according to claim 23, wherein, when the main color component signal is X, average-density signals for sub-color component are Y and Z, respectively, represented by an average density taken over a predetermined number of pixels, and the main-color-component signal after correction is D, the main color component signal is corrected as follows: D=a.sub.P1 X+a.sub.P2 b.sub.c Y+a.sub.P3 b.sub.c Z where a P1 , a P2 and a P3 represent predetermined coefficients and b c represents a correction coefficient.

Claim 30

A color image processing method according to claim 23, wherein the m-level signal is provided by way of a network.

Claim 31

A color image processing method according to claim 23, wherein the color component signals include signals for three primary color components.

Claim 32

A color image processing method that converts n-level image pixels of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising the steps of: generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels located in a first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; forming, by multi-valuing, signals representing respective pixel densities for sub-color components in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image; color masking-correcting the generated main-color-component signal of the first geometric area of the image by mask correcting based on the formed pixel density representative signals for the sub-color components; binarizing the color mask corrected main-color-component signal of the image using a density storage type method; and forming an image based on the binarized signal on a medium.

Claim 33

A color image processing method that converts n-level image pixels of an image into m-level image pixels (n<m), comprising the steps of: generating an m-level main-color-component signal based on an n-level signal representing a main color component of pixels located in a first geometric area of the image by multi-valuing; forming, by multi-valuing, signals representing respective pixel densities for sub-color components in a second geometric area of the image having a greater number of pixels than the first geometric area of the image; color masking-correcting the generated main-color-component signal of the first geometric area of the image by mask correcting based on the formed pixel density representative signals for the sub-color components; binarizing the color mask corrected main-color-component signal of the image using a density storage type method; and forming an image based on the binarized signal on a medium.

Claim 34

A color image processing method according to claim 28, wherein first geometric area contains only a single pixel.

Claim 35

A color image processing method according to claim 28, wherein, when the main-color-component signal is X, average-density signals for sub-color-components are Y and Z, respectively, represented by an average density taken over a predetermined number of pixels, and the main-color-component signal after correction is D, the main-color-component signal is corrected as follows: D=a.sub.P1 +a.sub.P2 Y+a.sub.P3 Z where a P1 , a P2 , and a P3 represents predetermined coefficients.

Claim 36

A color image processing method according to claim 28, wherein the n-level signal is input by way of a network.

Claim 37

A color image processing method according to claim 28, wherein the color component signal includes signals for three primary color components.

Claim 38

A color image processing apparatus, comprising: input means for inputting n-level color image data; converting means for converting the n-level color image data into m-level color image data; correcting means for correcting the m-level color image data (m>n); binarizing means for binarizing the corrected color image data by using a density-storage type binarizing method; and image forming means for forming an image based on the binarized color image data on a medium.

Claim 39

A color image processing apparatus, comprising: input means for inputting n-level color image data; converting means for converting the n-level color image data into m-level color image data; correcting means for correcting the m-level color image data (m>n); binarizing means for binarizing the corrected color image data by using a density-storage type binarizing method; and image forming means for forming an image based on the binarized color image data on a medium.

Claim 40

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the n-level color image data is binary data representing a color image.

Claim 41

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the correcting means performs a masking processing.

Claim 42

A color image processing apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said image forming means is a bubble jet printer.

Claim 43

A color image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting n-level color image data; converting the n-level color image data into m-level color image data; correcting the m-level color image data; binarizing the corrected color image data by using a density-storage type binarizing method; and forming an image based on the binarized color image data on a medium.

Claim 44

A color image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting n-level color image data; converting the n-level color image data into m-level color image data; correcting the m-level color image data; binarizing the corrected color image data by using a density-storage type binarizing method; and forming an image based on the binarized color image data on a medium.