US6683702B1 — Compact-dot reproduction of scanned halftone scre…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 120 words

A method of processing a document including a halftoned region therein, comprising: scanning said document to generate scanned image data, said scanned image data comprising a digitized representation of said document, and applying a compact rendering process to a target pixel within said scanned image data, said target pixel corresponding to a pixel within said halftoned region, said compact rendering process including: positioning an observation window about said target pixel, said observation window comprising a pixel neighboring the target pixel; analyzing said neighboring pixel to determine a difference between said target pixel and said neighboring pixel; selecting a fill-order based upon a result of said analyzing step; and generating a high addressability pixel as a function of said selected fill-order.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 120 words

A method of processing a document including a halftoned region therein, comprising: scanning said document to generate scanned image data, said scanned image data comprising a digitized representation of said document, and applying a compact rendering process to a target pixel within said scanned image data, said target pixel corresponding to a pixel within said halftoned region, said compact rendering process including: positioning an observation window about said target pixel, said observation window comprising a pixel neighboring the target pixel; analyzing said neighboring pixel to determine a difference between said target pixel and said neighboring pixel; selecting a fill-order based upon a result of said analyzing step; and generating a high addressability pixel as a function of said selected fill-order.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of selecting a fill-order identifies a rendering pattern that tills high addressability pixel events from a darker pixel towards a lighter pixel.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying said compact rendering process to a second target pixel within said scanned image data, wherein said second target pixel corresponds to a text/line art region.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 35 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of generating a high addressability pixel is accomplished as a function of said selected fill-order and the value of said target pixel and marking process characteristics.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising diffusing an error resulting from said step of generating a high addressability pixel.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method of claim 5 , wherein said step of diffusing an error comprises: determining a quantization error; and distributing the quantization error to a number of pixels within said scanned video image data.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 61 words

The method of claim 6 , wherein said step of determining a quantization error comprises: comparing the gray level of the target pixel with the gray level of the high addressability pixel; and generating a rendering error signal that is measure of a difference between the output density of the target pixel and the output density of the high addressability pixel.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 6 , wherein said step of distributing the quantization error distributes a weighted portion of the quantization error to a preselected number pixels within said scanned video image data.

Claim 10

Independent Claim 145 words

A system for reproducing a document, comprising: a scanner for generating a digitized representation of said document, said digitized representation comprising a plurality of multi-bit pixels; a segmentation circuit coupled to receive said digitized representation from said scanner, said segmentation circuit classifying a pixel into at least one of a plurality of image classes; and an image processing circuit coupled to receive said digitized representation from said scanner and responsive to said segmentation circuit, said image processing circuit rendering a target pixel as a high addressability pixel, said image processing circuit including a tagging processor for generating a rendering tag for said target pixel based upon a difference between the value of said target pixel and the value of a first pixel adjacent said target pixel; and a rendering processor responsive to said rendering tag to convert said target pixel to said high addressability pixel.

Claim 11

Independent Claim 145 words

A system for reproducing a document, comprising: a scanner for generating a digitized representation of said document, said digitized representation comprising a plurality of multi-bit pixels; a segmentation circuit coupled to receive said digitized representation from said scanner, said segmentation circuit classifying a pixel into at least one of a plurality of image classes; and an image processing circuit coupled to receive said digitized representation from said scanner and responsive to said segmentation circuit, said image processing circuit rendering a target pixel as a high addressability pixel, said image processing circuit including a tagging processor for generating a rendering tag for said target pixel based upon a difference between the value of said target pixel and the value of a first pixel adjacent said target pixel; and a rendering processor responsive to said rendering tag to convert said target pixel to said high addressability pixel.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 34 words

The system of claim 9 , wherein said rendering tag is further based upon a difference between the value of said target pixel and the value of a second pixel adjacent said target pixel.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 27 words

The system of claim 9 , wherein said tagging processor generates a rendering tag identifying a fill-order that attempts to reproduce an edge with said target pixel.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 42 words

The system of claim 9 , wherein said rendering processor converts said target pixel into a high addressability pixel as a function of said rendering tag and the value of said target pixel and the value of one or more neighboring pixels.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 36 words

The system of claim 9 , wherein said rendering processor converts said target pixel into a high addressability pixel as a function of said rendering tag, the value of said target pixel and marking process characteristics.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 42 words

The system of claim 9 , wherein said compact rendering module further comprises a diffusion processor, coupled to said rendering processor, said diffusion processor determining a quantization error and distributing said quantization error to a number pixels within said multi-bit image data.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 28 words

The system of claim 14 , wherein said diffusion processor distributes a weighted portion of said quantization error to a preselected number pixels within said multi-bit image data.

Claim 18

Independent Claim 94 words

A method of processing image data, comprising: scanning a document including a halftoned region therein to obtain scanned image data representative of said document; and applying a compact rendering process to a target pixel within the scanned image data, the target pixel corresponding to a pixel within the halftoned region, the compact rendering process including: determining a difference between the target pixel and at least one neighboring pixel; identifying a fill-order for the target pixel using a result of the determining step; and generating a high addressability pixel as a function of the fill-order.

Claim 19

Independent Claim 94 words

A method of processing image data, comprising: scanning a document including a halftoned region therein to obtain scanned image data representative of said document; and applying a compact rendering process to a target pixel within the scanned image data, the target pixel corresponding to a pixel within the halftoned region, the compact rendering process including: determining a difference between the target pixel and at least one neighboring pixel; identifying a fill-order for the target pixel using a result of the determining step; and generating a high addressability pixel as a function of the fill-order.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of identifying a fill-order identifies a rendering pattern that fills high addressability pixel events from a darker pixel towards a lighter pixel.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 17 , further comprising diffusing an error resulting from the step of generating a high addressability pixel.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 36 words

The method of claim 16 , further comprising applying the compact rendering process to a second target pixel, wherein the second target pixel is selected from the scanned image data corresponding to a text/line art region.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2007-01-26	2007-07-28	2008-01-27	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2011-01-26	2011-07-28	2012-01-27	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2015-01-26	2015-07-28	2016-01-27	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Compact-dot reproduction of scanned halftone screens

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