Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Controller
Reexamination Certificate
1997-04-10
2001-07-10
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Controller
C347S005000, C358S462000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257693
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a method of automatically optimizing the controllable parameters related to producing printed material on a hardcopy output device, and such a device implementing this method.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The term “hardcopy output device” includes a variety of printers and plotters, including those using thermal inkjet and electrophotographic technologies to apply an image to a hardcopy medium, such as paper, transparencies, foils, and the like.
Most earlier hardcopy print devices have parameters that balance the competing requirements of throughput, typically measured in pages per minute, and the print quality of the hardcopy output. These parameters also control the rendering of the document into both the graphics format and hardware configuration of the particular device. However, the optimum settings for these parameters often varies for different types of documents. For example, documents with only black ink text have a different set of optimum parameters than documents with colored images or business graphics.
Most hardcopy print devices have a variety of mechanical print modes and rendering or halftoning options that affect the throughput and output quality. This is especially true for current color printers based on inkjet technology. These modes are often under the user's direct control, or they are set to default values calculated to provide only adequate quality output and throughput for the overall image. In this default mode, the earlier devices typically had parameters selected to optimize the most typical type of document they produced, while delivering only acceptable results when printing other types of documents.
When under user control, in theory, the operator optimizes the printing parameters through trial and error. While an experienced operator may eventually determine the relationships between each printing parameter and its effects on the various types of outputs, this rarely happens. Most operators never master an understanding of the complex relationship between the numerous controllable printing parameters and the quality of the output. Indeed, only experts experienced in the rendering and printing technology of a particular hardcopy device have a good chance of selecting the optimum printing parameters, but this task is quite labor intensive.
Moreover, in the vast majority of earlier color matching techniques, it was impossible to vary the print mode settings on a page by page basis, or for different elements on a single page. Thus, the physical capabilities of hardcopy print devices are rarely exercised by the vast majority of operators. As a result, often the printed output is of far lower quality, and with less throughput, then could have been achieved under optimal operating conditions.
For example, consider a sheet containing text, a business chart, and a photographic image. When color matching was optimized for the photograph, the business chart suffered a loss of vivid color graphics. If instead, the color settings for the page were adjusted to deliver a brighter, more saturated graphic, then the photographic image lost its lifelike appearance. Thus, for the main stream operator using the earlier hardcopy devices, optimal hardcopy results were rarely if ever achieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided of controlling the printing of a hardcopy using a hardcopy printing device having print characteristics. The method includes the steps of supplying a printing medium to a printing device and instructing the printing device to print a selected image having plural elements on the medium. In a distinguishing step, each element is distinguished, and in response to this distinguishing step, an adjusting step adjusts the instructing step. In an illustrated embodiment, the image elements may be distinguished as being either textual, grayscale only, color graphic or photographic images, with the instructing step being adjusted to generate a hardcopy output having crisp, clear text and grayscale images, sharp, vivid color graphics, and lifelike photographic images.
According to another aspect of the present invention a hardcopy print device is provided for implementing such a method. In an illustrated embodiment, the hardcopy print device comprises an inkjet printer.
An object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and hardcopy print device that are easy to operate, and which use the full color mixing and matching capabilities of the print device to provide an optimal hardcopy output.
Another object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide a color hardcopy which is more vibrant, clear, and pleasing to the eye than that obtainable with earlier systems.
An additional object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and hardcopy print device that discriminates between various types of printed images, such as textual, grayscale only, color graphic and photographic images, and which selects black and color inks in mixtures to yield a preferred color reproduction which is pleasing to the eye, although not necessarily matching the color displayed on an associated computer monitor.
A further object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved method of balancing the color requirements for different components of a selected image on a component by component basis, using computer software with minimal operator input.
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Allen William J.
Hickman Mark S.
Miller Steven O.
Wetchler David M.
Hewlett--Packard Company
Hsieh Shih-Wen
Le N.
Martin Flory L.
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