Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Attribute control
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-12
2001-07-24
Lee, Thomas D. (Department: 2724)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Attribute control
C382S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06266153
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to modifying an appearance of an image formed by an image forming device. More particularly, this invention is directed to a method and apparatus for detecting embedded pixels of an image and altering the level of such detected embedded pixels when forming a hard copy of the image.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,666,470 to Parker and 5,687,297 to Coonan et al., each co-owned by the assignee of this application and each incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, are directed to image forming systems that allow the appearance of a printed copy of an image to be tuned. Particularly, the various definitions and image appearance tuning systems and methods set forth in the incorporated '470 and '297 patents are specifically incorporated herein.
In particular, each of these patents is directed to an image forming device that forms an image based on a bitmap, i.e., a one-bit-depth image data map, or a bytemap i.e., a multi-bit-depth image data map. The appearance tuning systems of these patents apply morphological filters to the bitmap or bytemap to determine which pixels of the bitmap or bytemap require appearance tuning. In particular, the appearance tuning systems disclosed in these patents apply predefined templates to the bitmap or bytemap and scan the templates on a pixel-by-pixel basis over the bitmap or bytemap. Each template defines a different pattern of image data values for a center pixel of interest and one or more adjacent, or “neighboring,” pixels of the bitmap or bytemap. If the center pixel of interest and its neighboring pixels do not match any of the predetermined templates, the appearance of the center pixel of interest is not altered. Otherwise, depending on which of the predetermined templates is matched by the center pixel of interest and its neighboring pixels, the appearance of the center pixel of interest is altered to tune the overall appearance of the image to be formed.
In particular, the '470 patent is directed to dilation or erosion of the image data value of the pixel of interest to smooth the transition from neighboring black pixels to neighboring white pixels. In particular, dilation refers to increasing the density of the pixel of interest, i.e., making the pixel of interest darker. In contrast, erosion refers to decreasing the density of the pixel of interest, i.e., making the pixel of interest lighter. The '297 patent also modifies the image data value of the pixel of interest to increase or decrease its image data value based on the image data values of its neighboring pixels. In general, the '297 patent differs from the '470 patent primarily in the set of predetermined templates that are used in the template matching or morphological filtering operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Because both the '470 patent and the '297 patent are directed to appearance tuning, the appearance tuning systems disclosed in these patents are unconcerned with situations where the pixel of interest and the neighboring pixels to the pixel of interest all have the same image data value. That is, if the pixel of interest and the neighboring pixels are not in a region of the image where the image data values are changing, the '470 and '297 patents indicate there is no need to tune the appearance of the image.
However, images often contain large regions where the image density values of the pixels is constant. For example, in the image
100
shown in
FIG. 1
, two portions
110
and
120
define large regions of very dense pixels. For example, in a bitmap, the pixels of the regions
110
and
120
would be black pixels. In a bytemap, such as a grayscale bytemap printed on a monochrome image forming device or a single color separation layer of a full color image forming device, the regions
110
and
120
could be black or very dark gray or dense regions of a color separation layer.
In a finalized image that is to be used for its intended purposes, it is necessary that the regions
110
and
120
be completely filled in. However, this consumes a great deal of toner or ink. Using such large amounts of toner or ink is environmentally detrimental for a number of reasons. First, the toner or ink is consumed much more rapidly, requiring removal and disposal of the toner or ink cartridge. Even if the toner or ink cartridge is recycled, consuming more toner or ink cartridges than is necessary is nonetheless environmentally detrimental.
Second, even if the image recording medium, such as paper, on which the image is formed is itself ultimately recycled, part of the recycling process requires removing the toner from the recycled paper. Thus, even if the toner or ink is not wasted, it must still ultimately be disposed of Finally, during creation of the image, and for many uses of the image, it is not necessary to completely fill in the regions
110
and
120
with the ink or toner. Rather, for many proofing and functional uses of the image
100
, all that is necessary is to know the location of the regions
110
and
120
. Thus, when forming the image
110
for such proofing or functional uses, consuming the toner or ink to completely fill in the regions
110
and
120
essentially wastes the toner or ink. This wasted toner or ink both must be disposed of when the image recording medium carrying the image
100
is recycled, and causes the toner or ink cartridges to be consumed faster than necessary, as described above.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to be able to form the image
100
without filling in the regions
110
and
120
with ink, while maintaining the outlines
112
and
122
of the regions
110
and
120
. In particular, the portions
114
and
124
of the regions
110
and
120
of the image
100
are “embedded” regions. By reducing the image data values of the pixels in these embedded regions
114
and
124
, i.e., by making the pixels of these embedded regions
114
and
124
lighter, it is possible to reduce the consumption of the toner or ink. In particular, according to one embodiment of this invention, “embedded” pixels are center pixels which are surrounded by the immediately adjacent above and below and left and right pixels having the same image data value as the center pixel.
Thus, this invention provides a method and apparatus that identifies embedded pixels within a bitmap or bytemap image.
This invention further provides a method and apparatus that alters, in response to downloadable output values, identified embedded pixels.
This invention also provides a method and apparatus that produces an image in which essentially all print information is retained by removing embedded pixels while leaving outlining pixels unchanged.
This invention also provides a method and apparatus that include a user-specifiable low-toner consumption mode for generating a bitmap or bytemap image using an image forming device.
This invention additionally provides a method and apparatus that produces an image that replaces embedded pixel regions with outline regions suitable for proof printing and functional copying.
The system and method of this invention includes providing an image forming device with one or more embedded pixel templates for identifying embedded pixels. The method and apparatus of this invention scan an input bitmap or bytemap image on a pixel-by-pixel basis using the embedded pixel templates to locate embedded pixels. The method and apparatus of this invention reduce the density of the image data value of each such embedded pixel. This reduces the required toner to print that embedded pixel.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in or are apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3597071 (1971-08-01), Jones
patent: 4544264 (1985-10-01), Bassetti et al.
patent: 4558370 (1985-12-01), Mitchell et al.
patent: 4625222 (1986-11-01), Bassetti et al.
patent: 4675733 (1987-06-01), Tanimoto
patent: 4821107 (1989-04-01), Naito et al.
pat
Davidson Dona
Davidson Michael L.
Hawkins Brian C.
Brinich Stephen
Davidson Dona
Lee Thomas D.
Oliff & Berridge PLC.
Xerox Corporation
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