Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Character or font
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-08
2003-03-04
Wallerson, Mark (Department: 2622)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Character or font
C358S001900, C345S551000, C345S563000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06529284
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of printing systems, more particularly to the compilation of pixelated images for printing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Printing technology is undergoing a revolution as the inexpensive computational power developed for the desktop computer market is applied to the printing industry. Paralleling this growth are the skyrocketing expectations of consumers. While just a few short years ago the goal was to find an acceptable replacement for typewritten text, now the demand is for photographic quality reproduction of both scanned images and computer-generated graphics. Meeting this demand required a significant increase in the resolution of the printed images—both spatial resolution and color depth—that demanded the application of massive amounts of processing power and memory.
While image quality continues to increase, consumers continue to demand higher and higher print speeds from today's desktop printers. This expectation also leads to greater demands on the throughput of the print engine's processor. Thus, there is a need in the art for systems and methods to increase the efficiency and throughput of print engines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Objects and advantages will be obvious, and will in part appear hereinafter and will be accomplished by the present invention which provides a method and system of efficiently rendering masks/bitmap fonts. The method comprises the steps of providing an n-bit mask, using the n-bit mask to address a lookup table, and reading an expanded mask from the lookup table. The lookup mask is comprised of m*n bits, each bit in a sequential group of m bits in the expanded mask corresponding to a bit in the n-bit mask. Typically each of the n bits in the original mask is replicated m times, but alternate embodiments replicate the logical inverse of the original bit m times.
According to another embodiment of the disclosed invention, a processor for rendering data into a printer buffer is disclosed. The processor comprises a memory lookup table for receiving an input mask and outputting an expanded mask, and at least one ALU for merging said expanded mask with a screened band buffer.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6100905 (2000-08-01), Sidwell
Easwar Venkat V.
Ganapathy Praveen K.
Brady III Wade James
Brill Charles A.
Lamb Twyler
Telecky , Jr. Frederick J.
Texas Instruments Incorporated
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