Patent US5514739A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US6344901B1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6344901B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for using a rasterizer and a print engine of incompatible bit-depth representation
Assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
•
Filing: 1998-10-19
•
Granted: 2002-02-05
•
Expires: 2018-10-19
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus to integrate a uniform bit-depth rasterizer and a non-uniform bit-depth print engine is disclosed. When using the non-uniform bit-depth print engine to print uniform bit-depth pixel data, undesirable printout due to incompatibility of the different bit-depths will result. Prior to forwarding of pixel data to the print engine, pixel data is linearized and halftoned. According to the preferred embodiment, to accomplish integration of the uniform bit-depth rasterizer and the non-uniform bit-depth print engine, some linearized components are scaled prior to halftoning. After halftoning, an appropriate number of most significant bits are discarded from the components which are scaled earlier to obtain effectively a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data.
Inventors
- 👤 Tan Lian Chye Simon
- 👤 Chua Wei Wei Wilson
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 12:18
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/46; H04N1/64; H04N1/648
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
145 words
A method for printing an image defined by an input pixel data in a printing subsystem, the printing subsystem having a print engine which has a plurality of colored components of non-uniform bit-depths and a rasterizer which generates pixel data at a uniform output bit-depth, the method comprising the steps of: scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to a colored component whose bit-depth does not match the output bit-depth; correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with the print engine; halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a halftoned pixel data having the uniform output bit-depth; and extracting appropriate bits in the colored component in the uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data to produce a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data for use with the non-uniform bit-depth print engine.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
145 words
A method for printing an image defined by an input pixel data in a printing subsystem, the printing subsystem having a print engine which has a plurality of colored components of non-uniform bit-depths and a rasterizer which generates pixel data at a uniform output bit-depth, the method comprising the steps of: scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to a colored component whose bit-depth does not match the output bit-depth; correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with the print engine; halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a halftoned pixel data having the uniform output bit-depth; and extracting appropriate bits in the colored component in the uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data to produce a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data for use with the non-uniform bit-depth print engine.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
47 words
A printing method according to claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform bit-depth print engine comprises M-bit CMY components and a N-bit K component and wherein the step of scaling values comprises multiplying values of the component lookup table by: 2 N - 1 2 M - 1
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
A printing method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of extracting appropriate bits comprises truncating the (M−N) most significant bits from the K component values of the uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
129 words
A printing subsystem for printing an image defined by pixel data on a printer that has a print engine having a plurality of colored components of non-uniform bit-depths, the printing subsystem comprising: means for scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to a colored component whose bit-depth does not match the output bit-depth; means for correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with the print engine; means for halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data; and means for extracting appropriate bits in the colored component in the halftoned pixel data to produce a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data for use with the non-uniform bit-depth print engine.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
129 words
A printing subsystem for printing an image defined by pixel data on a printer that has a print engine having a plurality of colored components of non-uniform bit-depths, the printing subsystem comprising: means for scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to a colored component whose bit-depth does not match the output bit-depth; means for correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with the print engine; means for halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data; and means for extracting appropriate bits in the colored component in the halftoned pixel data to produce a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data for use with the non-uniform bit-depth print engine.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
164 words
A program storage device readable by a computing device, tangibly embodying a program of instructions, executable by the computing device to perform the method for printing an image defined by an input pixel data in a printing subsystem, the printing subsystem having a print engine which has a plurality of colored components of non-uniform bit-depths and a rasterizer which generates pixel data at a uniform output bit-depth, the method comprising: scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to a colored component whose bit-depth does not match the output bit-depth; correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with the print engine; halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a halftoned pixel data having the uniform output bit-depth; and extracting appropriate bits in the colored component in the uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data to produce a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data for use with the non-uniform bit-depth print engine.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
164 words
A program storage device readable by a computing device, tangibly embodying a program of instructions, executable by the computing device to perform the method for printing an image defined by an input pixel data in a printing subsystem, the printing subsystem having a print engine which has a plurality of colored components of non-uniform bit-depths and a rasterizer which generates pixel data at a uniform output bit-depth, the method comprising: scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to a colored component whose bit-depth does not match the output bit-depth; correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with the print engine; halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a halftoned pixel data having the uniform output bit-depth; and extracting appropriate bits in the colored component in the uniform bit-depth halftoned pixel data to produce a non-uniform bit-depth pixel data for use with the non-uniform bit-depth print engine.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
105 words
A method for changing a first bit-depth of a colored component of at least one pixel of an input pixel data defining an image to a second bit-depth, the method comprising: scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to the colored component; correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component by using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with a print engine; halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a halftoned pixel data; and extracting appropriate bits of the colored component in the halftoned pixel data to obtain the colored component at the second bit-depth.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
105 words
A method for changing a first bit-depth of a colored component of at least one pixel of an input pixel data defining an image to a second bit-depth, the method comprising: scaling values of a component lookup table corresponding to the colored component; correcting values in the input pixel data corresponding to the colored component by using the scaled component lookup table to cater to printing non-linearity associated with a print engine; halftoning the corrected pixel data to produce a halftoned pixel data; and extracting appropriate bits of the colored component in the halftoned pixel data to obtain the colored component at the second bit-depth.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
45 words
A method according to claim 6 , wherein the first bit-depth is M bits and the second bit-depth is N bits and wherein the step of scaling values comprises multiplying values of the component lookup table by: 2 N - 1 2 M - 1
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 7 , wherein the colored component is a K component in the input pixel data having pixel values comprising CMYK components at the first bit-depth.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-02-04 | 2005-08-06 | 2006-02-05 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-02-04 | 2009-08-06 | 2010-02-05 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-02-04 | 2013-08-06 | 2014-02-05 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |