Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080218802 | Device calibration method with accurate planar control - A device calibration method based on two-dimensional calibration transform that allows complete control of two-dimensional planes in the three-dimensional CMY (Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow) cube. Two-dimensional planes can be identified in the three-dimensional CMY cube as a primary plane and projected onto two-dimensional calibration lookup tables (LUTs) for C, M, and Y. The LUTs are filled with CMY colorant values that will maintain a fixed color (e.g. CIELAB) response within the chosen primary planes. There are three possible realizations depending upon which primary diagonal CMY plane is chosen. This technique can be used to calibrate an engine over time and to bring two or more engines to the same desired state. | 09-11-2008 |
20080267519 | Method for Identifying Images After Cropping - Images within an image repository related to a selected image may be located despite cropping, rotating, and/or the application of a variety of other distortions to either the selected image and/or images in the image repository. Described exemplary approaches may use image digests produced using a multi-step process. In a first step, a discrete Fourier transform may be applied to produce an M×N frequency-based image matrix from an M×N image matrix containing elements that represent spatial image pixel values. In subsequent steps, matrix approximations may be applied to reduce the M×N frequency-based image matrix and to produce an image digest that reflects the content of the image. Further, an approach is described for generating a search threshold value that may be used to determine whether images digests associated with images in a repository are sufficiently similar to a search digest to be returned in a search result. | 10-30-2008 |
20080294363 | System and method for characterizing color separation misregistration utilizing a broadband multi-channel scanning module - A system and method for characterizing color separation misregistration of a multi-color printing system utilizing a broadband multi-channel scanning module, such as an RGB scanner, are provided. The system and method include generating a spectral reflectance data structure corresponding to a broadband multi-channel scanning module. The spectral reflectance data structure includes at least one parameter. The at least one parameter may correspond to the broadband multi-channel scanning module and/or a printing module. The system and method further provide for calibrating a spectral-based analysis module by utilizing the spectral reflectance data structure. The system and method also include characterizing color separation misregistration utilizing the calibrated spectral-based analysis module by examining at least one plurality-separation patch. | 11-27-2008 |
20090027730 | Halftone independent correction of spatial non-uniformities - A method and apparatus are provided for compensating for spatial non-uniformities in a printer by deriving a true spatial non-uniformity tone response curve (TRC) that characterizes the printer in terms of color output variation for each addressable pixel location in a spatial range. In a one-time offline process, the “true average” tone response curve is determined for a color channel and stored. The “true average” tone response curve defines an average true response for the printer across the printed output spatial range. A prediction of the true response as a function of the spatial location is derived by printing and scanning a specially designed halftone-independent target of binary patterns. The predicted tone response curve for each color channel and halftone is predicted using a binary printer model and stored, wherein the “predicted tone response curve” provides a model based approximation of the actual response for the printer for each addressable pixel location in the spatial range. Also stored is an “average predicted tone response” by averaging the “predicted tone response curve” over the spatial range of the printer. With the “true average” tone response curve, the “predicted tone response curve”, and the “average predicted tone response curve”, an estimate of the true tone response curve for the color channel can then be mathematically obtained, wherein the true tone response curve defines a predicted actual response for the printer for each addressable print location in the spatial range. The “predicted” and “average” tone response curves are obtained using the 2×2 binary printer model. | 01-29-2009 |
20090067017 | INPUT ADAPTIVE METHOD FOR COLOR TABLE LOOK-UP - The proposed systems and methods automatically select the node locations of a multi-dimensional lookup table transformation in accordance with the relative importance of multi-dimensional input values. Such importance, as an example could be quantified by the statistical distribution of the input data. Additionally, the proposed scheme is efficient and works for inputs of arbitrary dimensionality. Finally, the proposed method accounts the characteristics of the input-data and the geometry of the input space. The proposed systems and methods are generally applicable to a large number of practical scenarios including, but not limited to, color imaging applications where input adaptive color look-up tables are desired. | 03-12-2009 |
20090067746 | METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING IMAGES UNDER DISTORTION VIA NOISE CHARACTERIZATION AND BREGMAN OPTIMAL MATRIX APPROXIMATIONS - An image digest based search approach allows images within an image repository related to a query image to be located despite cropping, rotating, localized changes in image content, compression formats and/or an unlimited variety of other distortions. In particular, the approach allows potential distortion types to be characterized and to be fitted to an exponential family of equations matched to a Bregman distance. Image digests matched to the identified distortion types may then be generated for stored images using the matched Bregman distances, thereby allowing searches to be conducted of the image repository that explicitly account for the statistical nature of distortions on the image. Processing, associated with characterizing image noise, generating matched Bregman distances, and generating image digests for images within an image repository based on a wide range of distortion types and processing parameters may be performed offline and stored for later use, thereby improving search response times. | 03-12-2009 |
20090195796 | AUTOMATIC SELECTION OF A SUBSET OF REPRESENTATIVE PAGES FROM A MULTI-PAGE DOCUMENT - What is provided herein is a method for automatically selecting a subset of pages from a multi-page document for image processing wherein each selected page is substantially different from all other pages according to certain features of interest and wherein the combined content of the selected pages approximately represents the content in the entire document. Selected pages are clustered wherein each page is represented by a feature vector meaningfully related to the task to be performed. A matrix of feature vectors is analyzed. Basis vectors are extracted from the matrix using rank-reduction techniques. Clustering is performed by subspace projection of page features onto the basis vectors with each page being assigned to a cluster to which that page maximally projects. Representative pages are selected from each cluster. The representative pages can then be used as input to a secondary process. | 08-06-2009 |
20090279111 | COLOR SEPARATION MULTIPLEXING FOR REAL-TIME DIMENSIONAL DEVICE CALIBRATION - In accordance with the disclosure, a method is provided for processing color images for rendering on a color image. The method comprises receiving a plurality of device color separations for an image intended for rendering on a color image device; forming at least one intermediate image by interleaving pixels from at least two of the device color separations, compressing the at least one intermediate image in a compression module; decompressing the at least one intermediate image in a decompression module; processing the at least one decompressed intermediate image through a multidimensional calibration transform to output a calibrated device color separation; and, the device color separations include at least three colors. | 11-12-2009 |
20100013827 | HYBRID IMPORTANCE MAPS FOR CONTENT AWARE DIGITAL IMAGE RESIZING - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for content-aware resizing of a digital image. To take advantage of the characteristics of various importance maps generated for the image using different operators such as, for example, gradient, entropy, probabilistic operators, and the like, a method is provided herein for combining generated pixel importance maps. The present method uses a weighted combination of pixel importance maps—one corresponding to each image operator, to produce a hybrid map for all the image. The image can then be resized based on this hybrid map. The present method provides a high degree of image resizing flexibility and has broad applicability across differing classes of images and applications such as display, printing, packaging, and other document image processing software performing document layout, image personalization, and the like. | 01-21-2010 |
20100060942 | ENCODING MESSAGE DATA IN A COVER CONTONE IMAGE VIA HALFTONE DOT ORIENTATION - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for encoding/decoding data in a cover contone image via halftone dot orientation modulation. Arrays of halftone threshold values are used to determine a desired orientation, e.g. 0/90°±45° for a given single data value of the original message to be embedded. Message data is embedded as a function of halftone dot orientation. Detection modeling of the print-scan process enables the determination of dot orientation from the image scan via statistically motivated image moments. A probabilistic model of the print-scan channel conditions received moments on input orientation. Density values of the received moments are used to determine dot orientation for each halftone cell. The embedded data is retrieved based on the determined orientations. The present method is applicable to areas of data embedding, document security, and the like. | 03-11-2010 |
20100060943 | DECODING MESSAGE DATA EMBEDDED IN AN IMAGE PRINT VIA HALFTONE DOT ORIENTATION - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for encoding/decoding data in a cover contone image via halftone dot orientation modulation. Arrays of halftone threshold values are used to determine a desired orientation, e.g. 0/90°+/−45° for a given single data value of the original message to be embedded. Message data is embedded as a function of halftone dot orientation. Detection modeling of the print-scan process enables the determination of dot orientation from the image scan via statistically motivated image moments. A probabilistic model of the print-scan channel conditions received moments on input orientation. Density values of the received moments are used to determine dot orientation for each halftone cell. The embedded data is retrieved based on the determined orientations. The present method is applicable to areas of data embedding, document security, and the like. | 03-11-2010 |
20100142853 | ITERATIVE SELECTION OF PIXEL PATHS FOR CONTENT AWARE IMAGE RESIZING - What is disclosed is a method for iterative seam selection in an image resizing system utilizing a seam carving technique. In one embodiment, an importance map is generated for a received source image. Seams are carved through the image from one edge to an opposite edge. An energy is computed for each seam based on pixel importance values. A distance is computed from each seam to a previously selected seam. A weighting for each seam is computed using a defined weighting function and the calculated seam distances. The weighting is applied to the energy of each seam produce a revised energy for each seam. A seam is selected based on the produced revised energy. The image is resized at a location of the selected seam. The process repeats until the image has been resized to a desired target output dimension. In such a manner, unnatural image resizing results are avoided. | 06-10-2010 |
20100153581 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OPTIMIZING NETWORK TRANSMISSION OF RENDERED DOCUMENTS - A method and system for optimizing network transmission of print documents to a rendering device. A document for rendering (e.g., print job) can be received and metadata related to the document analyzed simultaneously. The metadata can then be compared to a number of locally saved files and the document containing matching metadata can be rendered directly from a local storage device, thereby reducing network traffic. Otherwise, the document can be transferred over a network to the rendering device. A record of a number of times the document is being requested for rendering can be tracked by the rendering device in order to retain the document for an extended period of time. | 06-17-2010 |
20100182616 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HALFTONE INDEPENDENT TEMPORAL COLOR DRIFT CORRECTION IN HI-ADDRESSABILITY XEROGRAPHIC PRINTERS - Disclosed are systems and methods for halftone independent temporal color drift correction, particularly for correction in hi-addressability xerographic printers | 07-22-2010 |
20100182649 | Halftone independent device characterization accounting for colorant interactions - A model-based halftone independent method for characterizing a printer equipped with a plural of halftone screens comprises: printing a target set of basic patches comprised of a fundamental binary pattern independent of a halftone screen; measuring true color printer response from the target set; modeling a halftone independent characterization of the printer with the mathematical transformation using the measured response; modeling a first halftone dependent characterization of the printer with the mathematical transformer to generate a first predicted result using a selected halftone screen; comparing a measured response of the printer using the halftone screen with the predicted result to define a correction factor corresponding to the halftone screen; and modeling a halftone dependent characterization of the printer using a predicted response of the fundamental binary pattern and the correction factor. | 07-22-2010 |
20100183220 | Imaging device color characterization including color look-up table construction via tensor decomposition - A model-based method and apparatus for characterizing the performance of a printing device comprising printing a target set of patches with the device and measuring device response when the target is set; compiling a LUT from the target set and measured response; and representing the LUT as a tensor. Tensor decomposition/parallel factor analysis is employed for compacting the tensor representation of the LUT. | 07-22-2010 |
20100185615 | SEARCHING A REPOSITORY OF DOCUMENTS USING A SOURCE IMAGE AS A QUERY - What is disclosed is a system and method for searching a repository of documents containing images using an image as a query. The present method enables the adjustment of a threshold level through a no-reference quality assessment of the query image which produces an estimated measure of quality for the image. For each image in each document in the repository, a distance is computed between a hash value of each image extracted from the document and the hash value of the query image. Documents are flagged as possible matches if the computed distance is less than the adjusted threshold. Documents flagged as a result of the search are retrieved and provided to the user. The present method can be used along or as an adjunct to text-based search techniques. Other embodiments are provided. | 07-22-2010 |
20100195140 | METHODS FOR AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINING WORKFLOW FOR PRINT JOBS - A method automatically determines a workflow for a print job via analysis of PDF documents is disclosed. A job synopsis comprising hashed information of a historical print job's document content along with a PDF document-level and object-level metadata and information about workflow nodes and parameters can be stored in a database. The job synopsis of a new incoming print job can then be compared to the historical print job synopses database. If the new print job matches the historical print job within a certain predefined similarity limit, then workflow and parameter information associated with the historical job can be utilized to augment an initial workflow for the incoming print job. | 08-05-2010 |
20100201711 | RESIZING A DIGITAL DOCUMENT IMAGE VIA BACKGROUND CONTENT REMOVAL - What is disclosed is a system and method for performing a background deletion that exploits both local and global context to remove background and other white space between objects with the aim of retaining structural relationships between objects in the document. A document image is received and seams are carved through the image. Seams composed of uniform background pixels are identified. Adjacent seams containing background pixels are collected into groups of seams. The background seam groups are classified according to their widths. A target number of seams to be removed for each background seam group is then determined based on the classification. Seam groups which are wider will have at least the same or a greater target number of seams to be deleted therefrom than will seam groups of narrower widths. The document image is then resized by deleting seams from the seam groups based on the assigned target number. | 08-12-2010 |
20100220926 | DIMENSIONALITY REDUCTION METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT COLOR PROFILE COMPRESSION - A dimensionality reduction method and system for efficient color transform compression is disclosed. A multi-dimensional color transform with an n-dimensional input color space can be received. A projection operator can be derived and applied to the n-dimensional input color space to form a k-dimensional input color space. A functional approximation can be designed to the n-dimensional input color space and can be evaluated on the k-dimensional input color space to form an m-dimensional output color space. The projection operator and the approximation function can be combined to form a compressed transform by mapping the n-dimensional input color space to m-dimensional output color space. Such an approach provides a significant reduction in size of the color profile with respect to storage and speeds-up real-time computation. | 09-02-2010 |
20100238508 | Halftone-independent scanner profiling - A method and system is disclosed for characterizing a color scanner comprising generating a halftone-independent target of color patches, printing the target on a color hardcopy device, measuring the target to obtain device-independent color values, scanning the target to obtain scanner color values, and building a scanner profile that relates scanned color values to device-independent color values. | 09-23-2010 |
20100239162 | LOCAL REGRESSION METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEMS - This disclosure provides methods, apparatus and systems for performing image processing regression for approximating multidimensional color transformation. According to an exemplary method, a shaping matrix is selected to minimize a cost function associated with a local linear regression representation of the color transformation. | 09-23-2010 |
20100272355 | ADAPTIVE SPATIAL GAMUT MAPPING VIA DYNAMIC THRESHOLDING - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for performing spatial gamut mapping on a received input color image having a plurality of pixels. A standard gamut-mapping algorithm is applied to the input color image to produce a gamut-mapped color image. A difference is computed between a selected channel of the input color image and the gamut-mapped image to produce a difference image. A local measure of complexity is derived for a given pixel in the difference image. One or more parameter values of a spatial bilateral filter are obtained from a lookup table based on the computed local measure of complexity. The spatial bilateral filter is applied, using the obtained parameter values, to the current pixel of the difference image to produce a modified pixel in a modified difference image. Thereafter, a modified gamut-mapped color image is obtained from the modified difference image and the gamut-mapped color image. | 10-28-2010 |
20100282851 | METHOD FOR ENCODING AND DECODING DATA IN A COLOR BARCODE PATTERN - What is disclosed is a system and method for encoding and decoding data in a color barcode pattern using dot orientation and color separability. The spectral (wavelength) characteristics of the CMY colorants, commonly used in digital printing, and those of RGB sensors are exploited to achieve high capacity data embedding rates in color barcodes. The present method embeds independent data in two different printer colorant channels using dot orientation modulation. In the print end, dots of two colorants occupy the same spatial region. At the detector end, by using the complementary sensor channels to estimate the colorant channels, data is recovered in each colorant channel. The method approximately doubles the capacity of encoding methods based upon a single colorant channel and enables embedding rates which match or exceed that of other hardcopy barcodes known in the arts. The method is robust against inter-separation misregistration with a small symbol error rate. | 11-11-2010 |
20100282856 | METHOD FOR ENCODING AND DECODING DATA IN A COLOR BARCODE PATTERN - What is disclosed is a system and method for encoding and decoding data in a color barcode pattern using dot orientation and color separability. The spectral (wavelength) characteristics of the CMY colorants, commonly used in digital printing, and those of RGB sensors are exploited to achieve high capacity data embedding rates in color barcodes. The present method embeds independent data in two different printer colorant channels using dot orientation modulation. In the print end, dots of two colorants occupy the same spatial region. At the detector end, by using the complementary sensor channels to estimate the colorant channels, data is recovered in each colorant channel. The method approximately doubles the capacity of encoding methods based upon a single colorant channel and enables embedding rates which match or exceed that of other hardcopy barcodes known in the arts. The method is robust against inter-separation misregistration with a small symbol error rate. | 11-11-2010 |
20110047505 | OBJECT BASED ADAPTIVE DOCUMENT RESIZING - What is disclosed is a resizing method that utilizes segmentation information to classify objects found within a document and then selects the most appropriate resizing technique for each identified object. The present method employs readily available document parsers to reliably extract objects. e.g. text, background, images, graphics, etc., which compose the document. Information obtained from a document parser is utilized to identify the document components for classification. The extracted objects are then classified according to their object type. Each of classified objects are then resized using a resizing technique having been pre-selected for the object type based on their respective abilities to resize certain types of document content over other resizing techniques. The present method advantageously extends smart or content-based scaling and is especially useful for N-up or variable-information printing. The present method finds its intended uses in enhancing N-up and handout options currently provided in a variety of print-drivers. | 02-24-2011 |
20110129147 | LOCAL REGRESSION METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEMS - This disclosure provides methods, apparatus and systems for performing image processing regression for approximating multidimensional color transformation. According to an exemplary method, a shaping matrix is selected to minimize a cost function associated with a local linear regression representation of the color transformation. In addition, an alternating least squares algorithm is utilized to jointly optimize regression and shaping parameters. | 06-02-2011 |
20110216968 | SMART IMAGE RESIZING WITH COLOR-BASED ENTROPY AND GRADIENT OPERATORS - A system and method for resizing a digitally represented color image are presented. A color image with pixels defined by luminance and at least one chrominance value is received. For each pixel of the color image, a luminance spatial variation and respective chrominance spatial variations in the respective neighborhood of the each pixel are computed. The luminance spatial variation and the respective chrominance spatial variations are combined to produce a respective importance value for each pixel. Selected pixels are identified based upon their respective importance values and are removed by seam carving of the color image. The seam carving identifies seams of pixels based upon the respective importance values of pixels within the seams of pixels to create a resized color image. The resized color image is produced to an image output device. | 09-08-2011 |
20110222080 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS FOR JOINTLY OPTIMIZING NODE LOCATIONS AND CORRESPONDING OUTPUT VALUES OF A COLOR LOOK-UP-TABLE (LUT) - This disclosure provides methods, systems and apparatus for jointly optimizing node locations and corresponding output value of a color look-up-table (LUT) associated with an imaging device. According to one exemplary method, initially a set of LUT node locations are generated by solving a first optimization problem and subsequently, a set of LUT node values are generated by solving a second optimization problem. | 09-15-2011 |
20110304861 | COLORIMETRIC MATCHING THE PERCEPTION OF A DIGITAL DATA FILE TO HARDCOPY LEGACY - A system for generating one or more new hardcopy prints from an electronic file comprising original digital image data, wherein the new hardcopy print(s) match a legacy hardcopy previously generated from the original digital image data of the electronic file, even when the legacy hardcopy was printed from an “enhanced” or “tuned” version of the original image data. The original image data and scanner data derived by scanning the legacy hardcopy are used to identify corresponding areas of constant color in the original data and the legacy hardcopy. The corresponding color areas are represented in a colorimetric color space and the original data color values are adjusted to match the legacy hardcopy color values. The adjusted data are used to print a new hardcopy. The colorimetric color space conversion is completed using a plurality of different printing device assumptions, and the printing device assumption resulting in the smallest starting color difference between the original color values and legacy hardcopy color areas is used for the color matching process. | 12-15-2011 |
20120081755 | COST-EFFECTIVE BINARY PRINTER MODELS FOR MULTI-COLOR PRINTERS BY IMPROVED REFLECTANCE MODELING AND PATCH CLUSTERING - Systems and methods are described that facilitate reducing a number of patches used in characterizing a color halftone printer via a binary color printer model. A binary printer model involves printing of a fundamental set of color binary patterns that encompass all possible halftone outputs. A k-center clustering technique is employed to automatically find and eliminate redundancies in the initial set of binary color patterns. Once the number of patches is reduced to an acceptable number, a multiplicative reflectance model is applied that better approximates the physical process and therefore improves accuracy. | 04-05-2012 |
20120133991 | HALFTONE INDEPENDENT CORRECTION OF SPATIAL NON-UNIFORMITIES - A method and apparatus are provided for compensating for spatial non-uniformities in a printer by deriving a true spatial non-uniformity tone response curve (TRC) that characterizes the printer in terms of color output variation for each addressable pixel location in a spatial range. The “true average” tone response curve is determined for a color channel. A prediction of the true response as a function of the spatial location is derived by printing and scanning a specially designed halftone-independent target of binary patterns. The predicted tone response curve for each color channel and halftone is predicted using a binary printer model, wherein the “predicted tone response curve” provides a model based approximation of the actual response for each addressable pixel location in the spatial range. Also stored is an “average predicted tone response” by averaging the “predicted tone response curve” over the spatial range of the printer. | 05-31-2012 |