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US5614937A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Method for high resolution printing

Assignee: Texas Instruments Inc
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Filing: 1995-06-07
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Granted: 1997-03-25
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Expires: 2015-06-07
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Abstract

Abstract Higher quality printing is difficult in implementation in spatial light modulator printers. The two major problems are accomplishing gray scale within the line time constraints, and eliminating staircasing artifacts within the images printed (81). It can be improved by using an alternate way of resetting cells on the spatial light modulator when data is being loaded onto the cells, timing delay (86), horizontal offset (84), and differently sized pixels (80, 82).

Inventors

  • 👤 William E. Nelson

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 15:50
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/40; H04N1/40025; H04N1/40031; G; G06; G06K; G06K15/00; B; B41; B41J; B41J2/00; B41J2/435; B41J2/465; B41J2/52; G06K15/02; G06K15/12; G06K15/1238; G06K15/1257; H04N1/00002; H04N1/00007; H04N1/00015; H04N1/00026; H04N1/00031; H04N1/00047; H04N1/0005; H04N1/00063; H04N1/00071; H04N1/00082; H04N1/04; H04N1/19; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/04; H04N2201/0402; H04N2201/0458

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 3
Claim 1
Independent Claim 183 words
A method of high resolution printing, comprising: a. receiving image data at a processor; b. using said processor to analyze said image data such that said processor determines operation of a spatial light modulator comprised of an array of elements having a standard size arranged generally in rows and columns to print a resulting image most accurately representing said image data; and c. selectively operating said elements of said spatial light modulator wherein said operating further comprises: i. delaying activation of certain ones of said elements with the image data thereby controlling vertical placement of an image of said element on said resulting image to achieve finer vertical control over print images; ii. activating a predetermined area of said array, wherein said predetermined area has rows horizontally offset from other of said rows thereby horizontally offsetting pixel images in said resulting image allowing pixel images to shift horizontally to achieve finer horizontal control over said resulting image; and iii. using elements with sizes corresponding to fractions of said standard size allowing smaller pixel images to achieve finer control over filling in print image.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 183 words
A method of high resolution printing, comprising: a. receiving image data at a processor; b. using said processor to analyze said image data such that said processor determines operation of a spatial light modulator comprised of an array of elements having a standard size arranged generally in rows and columns to print a resulting image most accurately representing said image data; and c. selectively operating said elements of said spatial light modulator wherein said operating further comprises: i. delaying activation of certain ones of said elements with the image data thereby controlling vertical placement of an image of said element on said resulting image to achieve finer vertical control over print images; ii. activating a predetermined area of said array, wherein said predetermined area has rows horizontally offset from other of said rows thereby horizontally offsetting pixel images in said resulting image allowing pixel images to shift horizontally to achieve finer horizontal control over said resulting image; and iii. using elements with sizes corresponding to fractions of said standard size allowing smaller pixel images to achieve finer control over filling in print image.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 20 words
The method of claim 1 wherein said operating step also includes operating said spatial light modulator to achieve gray scale.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2000-03-24 2000-09-23 2001-03-25 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2004-03-24 2004-09-23 2005-03-25 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2008-03-24 2008-09-23 2009-03-25 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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