Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080204773 | Patch codes wtih improved robustness - A method for encoding information on a printed page includes generating a set of color patches, each having a unique color. The set of color patches is printed. The printed color patches are scanned to identify color values for each patch in the set of patches. For each patch, the identified color values are associated with a datum value in a data structure. A page which includes a patch code is printed. The patch code includes selected ones of the set of color patches for conveying information about the printed page. The printed page is scanned to identify the color values for the color patches in the patch code. The data structure is accessed to identify the data values for the identified color values of the patches in the patch code. Information about the printed page is determined from the identified data values. | 08-28-2008 |
20090022524 | METHOD OF DETECTING PAGES SUBJECT TO RELOAD ARTIFACT - A method for determining if an image to be printed is subject to reload artifact, includes providing an image (which may be a low resolution version of the image) to be printed; locating within the image a first area to be printed requiring toner of sufficient quantity to cause reload of the donor roll; locating within the image a second area substantially one rotation of the donor roll subsequent to the first area; determining if the second region is a region of high area toner coverage, wherein high area toner coverage comprises toner coverage exceeding a predetermined threshold value; if the second region is a region of high area toner coverage, determining if the second region contains high frequency content; if the second region contains high frequency content, the second region is not subject to reload artifact; else the second region is subject to reload artifact. | 01-22-2009 |
20090041370 | BACKGROUND NOISE DETECTION ON RENDERED DOCUMENTS - A method of detecting background noise in a rendered electronic image derived from an electronic image includes capturing a rendered image to generate captured image data. From the captured image data, a subset of the image data corresponding to a region of interest in the electronic image comprising only blank pixels is identified. For the subset of image data, any background noise in the rendered image not present in the electronic image is detected from the image data. | 02-12-2009 |
20090063079 | SCANNER CALIBRATION ROBUST TO LAMP WARM-UP - Systems and methods are described that facilitate calibrating a scanner by capturing a plurality of white calibration files and generating a mathematical function that models the scanner. For instance, a white calibration file can be captured before and after a page is scanned, and the function can be an average of offset and gain values for pixels in scanlines of the scanned page. Three or more white calibration files can be used to generate a linear function (e.g., using linear regression) or an exponential function describing the gain an offset values of the pixels. | 03-05-2009 |
20090086292 | L*a*b* SCANNING USING RGB-CLEAR - Systems and methods are described that facilitate reducing metamerism in a scanner or printer system by evaluating and manipulating unfiltered clear channel information. Using a four channel model to predict CIE XYZ tristimulus values from RGB and clear, a linear model is generated based on a polynomial matrix conversion. For example, one such model has coefficients weighting 1, R, G, B, W, R | 04-02-2009 |
20090109505 | Method and System for Improved Sensing with Robustness to Banding for Rendering Devices - For a selected class of functions, which describe most typical banding variations, the average response can be found by sampling at only 2 | 04-30-2009 |
20090161163 | Parallel RIP with Preamble Caching - A method and system is provided for splitting a print job into its preamble and at least one chunk. The splitter maintains a collection of RIP node addresses to which chunks of the job currently being split have already been sent. When a new chunk is about to be sent, the splitter checks whether each RIP node address has already received a chunk. If the RIP node has not already received a chunk, the splitter sends the preamble as well as the chunk to an available RIP associated with the RIP node. If, however, the RIP node address has already received a chunk, only the portion of the chunk after the preamble is sent to an available RIP associated with the RIP node and communicate the location of the preamble to the available RIP node. The preamble may contain common content for each job. | 06-25-2009 |
20090257072 | COLOR LOOKUP TABLE COMPRESSION - A technique to compress multidimensional color look-up tables by computing an inexpensive fit to the contents of the tables is provided. At each node of the table, the difference between the result of evaluating the fit and the original value at that node are completed. In one form, the parameters of the fit and the differences are stored and compressed, possibly losslessly. | 10-15-2009 |
20090287442 | SCANNER CALIBRATION ROBUST TO LAMP WARM-UP - Systems and methods are described that facilitate calibrating a scanner by capturing a plurality of white calibration files and generating a mathematical function that models the scanner. For instance, a white calibration file can be captured before and after a page is scanned, and the function can be an average of offset and gain values for pixels in scanlines of the scanned page. Three or more white calibration files can be used to generate a linear function (e.g., using linear regression) or an exponential function describing the gain an offset values of the pixels. | 11-19-2009 |
20090296074 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CORRECTING SPECTROPHOTOMETER DIFFERENCES - A method and system are provided to correct differences among multiple spectrophotometers. In one form, one spectrophotometer of a plurality that may be present in an image rendering system is treated as “primary”. Additional spectrophotometers are treated as “secondary”. The spectrum of a color from a secondary spectrophotometer is transformed by a linear transformation to an adjusted spectrum, which then is converted to L*a*b* (if desired) using standard techniques. The L*a*b* thus produced is, on average, substantially closer to the L*a*b* that the primary spectrophotometer would have produced when measuring the same color than it is to the L*a*b* that the secondary spectrophotometer would have produced without any correction. The linear transformation is generated by linear regression to minimize the spectral error, followed by non-linear optimization to minimize the error relative to a color difference metric—such as DeltaE 2000. | 12-03-2009 |
20100025472 | COLORED BARCODE DECODING - In an exemplary embodiment, a method is employed to read an overprinted barcode. An RGB pixel map is obtained from an overprinted color barcode that contains a plurality of disparate colors. A pixel map is allocated for each of the colors detected and each pixel is classified in the one or more pixel maps according to color. One or more barcodes are extracted from the overprinted barcode that correlates to each color detected. Each of the extracted barcodes are then filtered, decoded and read. | 02-04-2010 |
20100033776 | BLACK CALIBRATION SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DOCUMENT SCANNERS - A method and systems for calibrating a document scanner are provided. The scanner calibration method includes providing a geometrically operative black absorption device having a structural geometry that is capable of receiving light and limiting propagation of the received light, where the black calibration target has a total light reflectance of less than one percent. The method further includes powering on a light source of a document scanner to provide light toward the black absorption device, where the light source generates a noise signal when providing the light. The method further includes detecting, by a sensor of the document scanner, light reflected from the black absorption device and generating calibration signals based on the reflected light and the noise signal. | 02-11-2010 |
20100150582 | TONER CONSUMPTION CALCULATION FOR PRINTER WITH MULTIPLE INTERACTING SEPARATIONS - Systems and methods are described that facilitate calculating toner consumption by a printing device. A multi-dimensional transform is applied to electronic image data to map or correlate toner consumed in a non-interacting color separation to toner consumed in an interacting color separation, for each of a plurality interacting color separations (e.g., C, M, Y, and/or K). Optionally, a one-dimensional linearization technique is performed on the image data before and/or after transformation. Image data resolution may be reduced to generate continuous-tone image data. A summed or average toner consumption value is output for each or all separations for user review. | 06-17-2010 |
20100153145 | TONER ESTIMATOR AND REPORTER - Systems and methods are described that facilitate presenting estimated toner consumption for a print job to a user. A print job is identified from a print job queue or by a job ticket, and is analyzed to identify print job parameters such as rendering mode, resolution, pages in the job, etc. A user may adjust rendering resolution and/or a job sub-setting such as a page cycle value or multiple thereof (e.g., where every Nth page of the job is the same or similar). Raster image processing is performed on the print job (with or without printing the job) to generate rasters, and a lookup table is accessed to identify an amount of toner required for each page given the rasters generated therefor at the given resolution in the given rendering mode. Toner cost estimation information is summarized in a report that is presented to the user (e.g., on a GUI, a printed page, or via electronic transfer). | 06-17-2010 |
20100195141 | PRINT JOB SCHEDULING - A printing system capable of concurrently processing and scheduling a plurality of job streams and including at least one marking engine and multiple print media destination is controlled by a controller that includes a jobs scheduler for determining a schedule for processing queued print jobs using the plurality of concurrent job streams. The job scheduler determines the schedule using a method including: determining a utility function dependent at least upon user preference delay criteria, and the schedule of the queued print jobs; and optimizing the utility function respective to the schedule of queued print jobs. | 08-05-2010 |
20100290080 | RESOURCE PARTITIONING IN A PRINT SYSTEM - A printing system is provided comprising a plurality of resources including idle and non-idle resources having a plurality of image marking engines and a user interface for inputting user determinable priority criteria for a first print job. All of the non-idle resources are assigned to the first print job when the first print job is the only print job; and, a resource fraction of the non-idle resources is assigned to the first print job when there is at least a second print job. | 11-18-2010 |
20100290091 | METHOD OF COMPENSATING FOR CLIPPING IN INPUT SCANNERS - Systems and methods are described that facilitate improving error estimation for calibration error due to clipping of pixels, and compensation therefor, during calibration of a scanner or printer. Calibration patches are measured at a first maximum pixel value threshold and at a slightly lower threshold value. Pixel values for the patches at each threshold are averaged, and a linear model is constructed, which is employed to predict error due to pixel clipping. The error is then compensated for when calibrating the scanner or printer. | 11-18-2010 |
20110038010 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR BUILDING A COLOR LOOKUP TABLE FOR A PRINTER - Color separation systems and methods improve color constancy and smoothness of a color lookup table (LUT) for a printer. A plurality of nodes of the LUT may be defined in calorimetric space, and the nodes out of the printer gamut may be mapped to the printer gamut surface. All possible colorant combinations are then determined that produce each node in the LUT in a device independent color space based on an inversion of the spectral based printer model. Next, a specific image quality metric combination based on a color inconstancy index (CII) and a gray component replacement (CGR) strategy is defined. And a colorant combination is determined for each and every node in the LUT based on this metric. A smoothing filter may be used to smooth the lookup table. | 02-17-2011 |
20110063632 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR BUILDING A COLOR LOOKUP TABLE FOR A PRINTER - Color separation systems and methods improve color constancy and smoothness of a color lookup table (LUT) for a printer. A plurality of nodes of the LUT may be defined in colorimetric space, and the nodes out of the printer gamut may be mapped to the printer gamut surface. A set of possible colorant combinations are then determined that produce each node in the LUT in a device independent color space using a non-linear minimization algorithm, such as, for example, a conjugate gradient algorithm. Next, a colorant combination may be determined for each and every node in the LUT based on an image quality metric. In some implementations, a smoothing filter may be used to smooth the lookup table. | 03-17-2011 |
20110096346 | Parallel Printing System - A printing system comprised of a printer, a plurality of processing nodes, each processing node being disposed for processing a portion of a print job into a printer dependent format, and a processing manager for spooling the print job into selectively sized chunks and assigning the chunks to selected ones of the nodes for parallel processing of the chunks by the processing nodes into the printer dependent format. The chunks are selectively sized from at least one page to an entire size of the print job in accordance with predetermined splitting factors for enhancing printer printing efficiency. | 04-28-2011 |
20110122433 | PAGE PARALLEL RIP PRINTING METHODS AND SYSTEMS - Disclosed are methods and apparatus for operating a page parallel RIP printing system including a plurality of image marking engines (IMEs). According to an exemplary method, a print job is split into a plurality of job chunks, each job chunk grouped by its destination IME; and the job chunks are processed into a printer ready format by a plurality of RIP nodes associated with the job chunk group's respective destination IME. | 05-26-2011 |
20110194137 | PAGE PARALLEL RIP WITH INTERLEAVED CHUNKS - Systems and methods are described that facilitate distributing a raster image processing task for an input file (e.g., an electronic document) across a plurality of nodes (e.g., computers) in a network. The input file is received at a first node, which becomes the controlling node and splits the pages of the input file into interleaved chunks such that adjacent pages are allocated to different chunks (i.e., no chunk contains adjacent pages in the document). Chunks are then assigned to different nodes for concurrent raster image processing. Once complete, the processed pages are returned to the controller node, which logically orders the pages into their original sequential order, and outputs the logically ordered, raster image processed pages to a printer, where they are printed. | 08-11-2011 |
20110255124 | ROBUST RECOVERY OF A PAGE PARALLEL RIP SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel fault tolerant page parallel RIP system having a plurality of distributed RIP nodes and a method for robust recovery in the event of a fault having occurred on the system. In one embodiment, the present fault tolerant page parallel RIP system comprises at least a plurality of RIP nodes, a supervisor node, and a splitter node. The splitter receives a location of the job file and splits the job file into at least one original chunk. In formation sufficient to regenerate the original chunk in the event of a fault condition having occurred on the page parallel RIP system is stored. The splitter then sends the original chunk to a destination RIP node wherein the original chunk is RIP'ed into at least one page in print-ready form. The one page is the provided in print-ready form to an output subsystem. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 10-20-2011 |
20110267629 | COLOR LOOKUP TABLE GENERATION WHICH MINIMIZES INTERPOLATION ERRORS OVER THE ENTIRE COLOR SPACE OF A COLOR GAMUT - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a color lookup table (LUT) that minimizes interpolation errors over the entire color space, including the off-grid colors. The present method for LUT optimization considers off-grid point errors in assigning entries to the LUT. As described herein further, grid point values are computed that provide a least mean square error solution for the entire printer gamut volume. The present method dramatically reduces errors near the gamut boundary and can be used for populating nodes of any LUT that will be linearly interpolated, not only a table mapping from L*a*b* to CMYK. | 11-03-2011 |
20110292412 | PAGE PARALLEL RASTER IMAGE PROCESSING - According to an aspect of the disclosure, a printing system is provided comprising a plurality of resources including idle and non-idle resources having a at least one image marking engine. The plurality of resources includes a page parallel RIP system wherein the RIP system supports configurable sized print chunks. The RIP system adaptively adjusts the size of the chunks according to the busyness of receiving RIP nodes. | 12-01-2011 |
20110292477 | HIERARCHICAL SCANNER CHARACTERIZATION - A system and method of scanner characterization is provided which establishes an accurate relationship between a scanner's device-dependent (scanner) color space and a device-independent colorimetric space. A hierarchical subdivision of device-dependent color space into sub-regions is performed. The sub-regions are defined by cutting planes dividing patch color values in device-dependent color space perpendicular to principal axes. A color transformation matrix is then generated establishing the relationship between the scanner device-dependent color space and the device-independent color space for each sub-region of device-dependent color space using the patch color values and a weighting function for each matrix. Each weighting function gives a weight to each patch color value which is a function of the location of the patch color value with respect to the cutting planes defining the sub-region containing the patch color value. | 12-01-2011 |
20120033273 | PATCH CODES USING A PROXIMITY ARRAY - Patches are generated from the overprinting of one or more separations to encode four or more values per patch each color representing a numerical value. In a calibration step, all possible color overprint combinations are printed multiple times on a calibration sheet. The sheet is scanned and each overprinted patch is entered in to a proximity array, which is a volume data structure representing three dimensional (3D) color space). After all calibration colors are entered, the proximity array is repeatedly dilated. Later, sheets that need to be identified are printed with a code number encoded as one or more patch codes. The sheet is scanned and the patch code colors are looked up in the proximity array to determine which original colors were printed. The identified colors are converted the code number. Patch codes are further augmented with error detection and optionally error correction bits to further increase robustness | 02-09-2012 |
20120086962 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COLOR CORRECTION USING BOTH SPATIAL CORRECTION AND PRINTER CALIBRATION TECHNIQUES - A system using a spatial correction to improve the result of a printer calibration and correction is described. More particularly, in one form, a spatial correction may be used to pre-condition a printer for an improved color calibration. In another form, spatial correction and color calibration are addressed in the same process for color correction. | 04-12-2012 |
20120117510 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY ESTABLISHING A CONCURRENT DATA CONNECTION WITH RESPECT TO THE VOICE DIAL FEATURES OF A COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE - A system and method for automatically establishing a concurrent data connection between a communications device and a remote data server upon initiating a voice call. A data connection application can be configured in association with a communications device in order to concurrently connect the communications device and a remote data server on initiating a voice call. A directory server can be employed to match an outgoing contact number with respect to the communications device with a list of data-active contact numbers stored in the directory server. If a match is found, the location data can be transmitted to the communications device. The data connection application can be further communicated with the remote data server in order to visually transmit a wide range of potential business application associated with the remote data server to the communications device. | 05-10-2012 |
20120153023 | Colored barcode decoding - In an exemplary embodiment, a method is employed to read an overprinted barcode. An RGB pixel map is obtained from an overprinted color barcode that contains a plurality of disparate colors. A pixel map is allocated for each of the colors detected and each pixel is classified in the one or more pixel maps according to color. One or more barcodes are extracted from the overprinted barcode that correlates to each color detected. Each of the extracted barcodes are then filtered, decoded and read. | 06-21-2012 |
20120188590 | COORDINATED, DISTRIBUTED, REUSABLE DOCUMENT COMPONENT RESPOSITORY - A receiving subsystem receives a print job to be raster image processed. A job splitter divides the print job into print job chunks and distributes the print job chunks to at least two raster image processors. The raster image processors perform raster image processing on corresponding ones of the print job chunks. A cache supervisor coordinates creation use and destruction of said reusable raster image objects by said raster image processors. | 07-26-2012 |