Image analysis – Image sensing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-08
2002-03-12
Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2624)
Image analysis
Image sensing
C358S520000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06356672
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to improvements in document scanning for photocopiers, scanners, and other image reproducing systems, and specifically to a method of refining color registration within the final image.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Scanners generally capture color images using three sensors: red(R), green(G), and blue(B). For most desktop scanners, this is accomplished by a 3-row CCD sensor. Each row is offset in the slow-scan direction (or called sub-direction, the direction of scan bar movement) by a few scanlines, and each row is responsible for capturing only one color. Each row is also slightly offset in the fast-scan direction due to manufacturing misalignment, i.e., the manufacturing process must, of necessity, set tolerance levels that are less than perfect. The captured data are recombined digitally to form a red-green-blue (RGB) image. Because the 3 rows of the CCD are separated in the slow scan direction, the recombined RGB planes of the image do not align perfectly. This misalignment in color channels is referred to as a color mis-registration and it results in color fringes about black text, and reduced sharpness. In order to avoid these scanning artifacts, sophisticated algorithms and circuitry are needed to correct this color registration problem. For example, some systems have special hardware to segment the black text from others, and a special algorithm is employed to reduce the color fringe artifacts caused by color registration. This increases the number of gates required in the image processing ASIC, and thus increases the cost of the system.
There are many other approaches to reduce color mis-registration in the patent literature. Some employ mechanical or optical means to reduce the amount of color mis-registration. Some employ software algorithms to detect the color registration error and correct it in software.
Color registration has always been a problem in color image capture, both for color scanners and for color cameras. Because the sensitivity and spatial bandwidth of human vision for luminance is much higher than that for chrominance, it is intuitive to devise some scheme to capture luminance and chrominance separately. R. W. G. Hunt described the concept of a red, luminance, and blue (R-Y-B) camera in
The Reproduction of Colour
, Fifth Edition, Fountain Press, 1995. Light from the objective lens is split into three beams: red (R), luminance (Y), and blue (B). Three plumbicon tubes are used to capture the R-Y-B image. The advantage, in terms of color registration, is not found, in practice, to be as large as expected, because the human eye seems to be very sensitive to color fringes around edges in a picture. The main reason for the failure in the R-Y-B capture process as described by Hunt is that the chrominance signal is not captured independent of the luminance in Hunt's system. The chrominance signals is derived from red, blue, and luminance signals (R-Y, and Y-B), which are shifted relative to each other. Mis-registration in R and Y or B and Y produces a sharp change at edges, which causes color fringing.
Referring now to
FIG. 1
, several simulated images formed by a color scanner are depicted.
FIG. 1
a
depicts an original image at
10
;
FIG. 1
b
represents an image formed by a 2-pixel vertical shift in the red component in a RGB image at
12
; while
FIG. 1
c
represents an image representing a 2-pixel vertical shift in an RYB image at
14
.
FIGS. 1
b
and
1
c
have color fringes located above and below the black portion of the image, with an upper fringe
15
of
FIG. 1
b
being a cyan artifact, and a lower fringe
16
being a red artifact. In
FIG. 1
c
, an upper fringe
17
is a green artifact while a lower fringe
18
is a red artifact. It is apparent that although the R-Y-B scanner improves the sharpness of text, the color fringing still exists.
There is substantial prior art addressing the problem of color mis-registration for both image input and image output devices. The known prior art the input devices addresses the capture of still images, typically, hard copy scanners and electrophotographic engines, and moving images in video camera applications. Of the still imaging techniques, there are those that are strictly mechanical, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,003, which detects the belt position of an electrophotographic process and adjusts it to prevent color mis-registration. There are also techniques which mechanically detect components of the system that would cause mis-registration, but rather than correcting the mechanical problem, the correction is applied to another component of the imaging process, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,409. One of the more common techniques is to use a registration pattern, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,774,156, and 5,760,815, both of which describe the use of fiber optics to image a pattern onto the sensor.
Once the registration pattern is detected and analyzed by color components, attempts are made to correct the mis-registration problem, via mechanical adjustment, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,410,347 and 5,325,154, or by adjusting the digital image, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,625 and 5,523,823. Sometimes a color registration error is detected without using registration patterns, such as by using an image border, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,066.
Other color registration techniques are used in connection with video cameras, and include those that correct for mis-registration due to chroma aberration by modifying scanning beam deflection circuitry, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,498, and those that correct for registration problems due to tube geometry and optics, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,296. A technique that corrects for the color mis-registration caused by color filter wheel imperfections in a system using RGB line sequential color uses a line scan offset method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,761. A technique that uses an alignment beam for sensing color mis-registration and correcting the image from the alignment beam is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,623. A technique for solid-state cameras using 2D CCD arrays which detect positions of R and B images and offset the R and B images to align with the G image is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,720. Other techniques attempt to make local corrections of color mis-registration, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,594, wherein a 2D pattern is used to correct for a variety of optic and tube spatial problems. Other correction techniques require camera calibration during the manufacturing process. Another technique is to sense color mis-registration from a live image and correct the registration with a small delay, while storing a history of the dynamic properties of the color mis-registration to aid in real-time correction, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,916.
The prior art for solutions to color mis-registration in output devices, such as printers and displays, include solely mechanical designs to prevent mis-registration, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,160 for electrophotography applications; U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,026 for thermal printers; and those for CRT manufacturing, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,891,548 and 4,139,797, for a shadow mask design; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,695 for a CRT charge aperture. There is also a technique in the printing art that monitors the output prints with a camera and then mechanically offsets the individual plates of the offset printing press, generally with a slight delay in the mass printing process, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,689,425 and 5,412,577. As in the input imaging art, the use of registration marks is common, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,546,700 and 4,018,528, and as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,154, wherein a registration pattern is placed outside of the image border. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,250, describes a display device that uses an alignment beam. Another approach is to detect and correct the color registration problem solely with image processing techniques, without the use of registration patterns
Daly Scott J.
Feng Xiao-fan
Grant II Jerome
Sharp Laboratories of America Inc.
Varitz, P.C. Robert D.
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