| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20080218801 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONVERTING COLOR IMAGE DATA TO MONOCHROME OUTPUT - When converting color input from a color scanner or the like to monochrome output, the measured luminance values are reduced, to help avoid the loss of text or other image portions in the monochrome output. The luminance reduction may be performed based on chrominance values. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080247661 | Automatic dynamic range adjustment in digital imaging - A method of performing non-linear transformation of a digital image for contrast modification. The original video input is compared to a linear transformation with gain and offset; and, the differential Δ multiplied by a factor m obtained from a look-up table and the product mΔ added to the original input to obtain the output video. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080247666 | DARKNESS CONTROL USING PATTERN MATCHING - The present invention is a method and apparatus for processing image data to accomplish tuning or adjustment of images, so as to modify at least the darkness thereof, using compact, efficient methods and designs. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20090154804 | DIGITAL CORRECTION FOR ALIGNMENT OF A PLURALITY OF COLOR CHANNELS OF A COLOR IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - A system and method are provided for digital correction of a plurality of color channels and color image data. In color reproduction, a color image may be composed of a plurality of superimposed color channels in a color space hi order to assure the proper alignment of color channels and exemplary applications such as color printing, one or more of the plurality of color channels which compose a complete color image may be scaled to an output resolution, and corrected in order to ensure proper alignment and authentic reproduction of a color image. In place of a plurality of independent clocks, one for each channel, a single clock is provided for every channel, and additional unit is supplied to scale each channel according to independent characteristics. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090161136 | COST EFFECTIVE IMAGE PATH FOR MULTIPLE OFFICE APPLICATIONS - A method and apparatus for configuring an image path of an image processing apparatus is herein described. The image processing apparatus includes at least an input terminal or scanner for inputting or scanning document into image data and an output terminal or printer for printing documents. The method includes selecting one of a plurality of output modes using a selection device associated with the image processing apparatus. Based on the selected output mode, an image path among a plurality of image processing elements of the apparatus is selected among a plurality of image paths. Each image path corresponds to one of the plurality of output modes. After a document is scanned with the scanner into image data, the image data is processed with the processing elements in the selected image path, and output or printed based on the processed image data. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090185228 | REAL-TIME PROCESSING OF GRAYSCALE IMAGE DATA - In a digital reproduction system incorporating a single pass scanner, accurate image processing results from processing a subset of grayscale image data. More specifically, scanlines that correspond to the leading edge of a document are stored and processed to detect skew and to obtain an appropriate correction. The lead edge correction is then applied to the entire grayscale image. Accordingly, the present systems and methods eliminate skew from grayscale images in real-time. The corrected image is rendered to binary and stored in electronic pre-collation memory and cropping, masking and other image editing operations can be performed on the binary image data before the image is printed. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090195799 | ESTIMATING AN AMOUNT OF COLOR IN A DOCUMENT - What is provided are a novel system, method, and computer program product for estimating the amount of color in a document to be printed, with the capability to handle composite black. A color billing strategy can be dynamically determined based on the amount of color in the document. In one embodiment, a contone CMYK image is examined and the level of color is estimated based on information extracted from the four planes simultaneously. More specifically, it examines the pixel values from all the four planes to calculate the number of white, black, color, and gray or neutral pixel counts. Input CMYK values can be pre-adjusted via a look-up table to take into account neutral balance characteristics. The difference among the adjusted color values is compared against a threshold that is input level dependent. Color is further subdivided into fuzzy colors to handle highlights and neutral areas. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090195800 | ESTIMATING AN AMOUNT OF COLOR CONTENT IN A DOCUMENT - What is provided herein is a novel system and method for estimating the amount of color in a document to be printed, with the capability to handle composite black, in those environments without access to all the original four color planes simultaneously. In one embodiment, input CMYK values are pre-adjusted via a look-up table to take into account the neutral balance characteristics. The planes are then scaled and quantized so that all four planes become available simultaneously. The difference among the quantized CMYK color values is compared against a threshold that is input level dependent. A pixel is classified into one of several color categories such as, for example, true neutral, fuzzy neutral, true color or fuzzy color. A color billing strategy can then be automatically determined based on the amount of color content. The method advantageously provides flexibility to support multi-tier billing in systems with various marking technologies. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090195801 | ESTIMATING AN AMOUNT OF COLOR CONTENT IN A DOCUMENT - What is provided herein is a novel system and method for estimating the amount of color in a document. In one embodiment, a binary CMYK input image is received. Each of the CMYK plane is received at an offset from the previous plane, i.e., the 4 planes are not received simultaneously. Each plane is divided into M×N tiles. Pixel values of all four planes are examined separately and the number of on-pixels is counted for each plane. The number of on-pixel counts for each tile are aggregated for each plane. Total on-pixel counts are used to estimate the total number of white, black, color, and gray pixel counts. The total counts for all planes are used to estimate the amount of color. A document is determined to be color if the amount of color exceeds a predetermined threshold. A color billing strategy is determined based on the estimated color amount. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090238489 | EDGE TRANSITION DETECTION IN A HIGH-ADDRESSABLE ERROR DIFFUSION ENVIRONMENT - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for edge transition detection when improve print quality when rendering via high-addressable vector error diffusion in an image processing environment. In order to detect an “ideal” edge and compensate for the adverse effects described in the background hereof, local pixels are detected and local gradient values are calculated and compared against an adjustable threshold to determine the interpolation method needed for that particular pixel. A nearest neighbor interpolation is performed when a local gradient exceeds a predetermined threshold. For example, if the difference between two successive pixels is greater than “200”, nearest-neighbor interpolation is used to calculate the intermediate sub-pixel level(s). Otherwise linear interpolation is used. Dynamically switching between these two interpolation schemes significantly improves the integrity and sharpness of the edges. There is no loss of error information distributed to downstream pixels thereby preserving the gray integrity of the input. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20090244560 | BACKGROUND SUPPRESSION IN A MULTI-FUNCTION COLOR SCANNING SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for background suppression in the image path. In one example embodiment, an image is scanned and RGB color values generated for each pixel. Each of the pixels is converted into a Lab color space to obtain luminance and chrominance values. A background luminance and a luminance variation are determined for the scanned image. For each pixel, a determination is made whether that pixel is a white pixel or a non-white pixel based. If the pixel is a white pixel, an adjustment chrominance value for that pixel is determined. The value of the chrominance adjustment is modulated as a function of a difference between the white pixel's luminance and the background luminance. The modulated chrominance adjustment is applied to the white pixel. Adjusted and non-adjusted pixels are stored in a memory. A printer controller converts the pixels to an output space. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20100046034 | Reformatting Binary Image Data to Generate Smaller Compressed Image Data Size - In various exemplary embodiments, systems include a segmentor to segment text binary image data to a first plane. A subtractor subtracts text binary image from binary image data to generate a non-text binary image data in a second plane. A converter converts non-text binary image data in the second plane into non-text gray scale image data in the second plane. A first compressor compresses the text gray scale image data in the first plane. A second compressor compresses the non-text gray scale mage in the second plane. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100046856 | METHOD FOR BINARY TO CONTONE CONVERSION WITH NON-SOLID EDGE DETECTION - A system and method convert a pixel of binary image data to a pixel of contone image data by determining if a predetermined pixel of binary image data is part of a solid edge or part of a fuzzy edge. A binary to contone conversion circuit converts the predetermined pixel of binary image data to a pixel of a first contone image data value, and a filter circuit converts the predetermined pixel of binary image data to a pixel of a second contone image data value. The filter circuit uses an adaptive filtering operation wherein the adaptive filtering operation utilizes one of a plurality of sets of weighting coefficients to change a characteristic of the filtering operation. The set of weighting coefficients used in the filtering operation are selected in response to a fuzzy edge detection. A selection between the first contone image data value and the second contone image data value is made based upon the determination as whether the predetermined pixel of binary image data is part of a solid edge. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100088201 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A BILLING STRATEGY FOR DOCUMENTS BASED ON COLOR ESTIMATIONS IN AN IMAGE PATH - Disclosed herein is a method and system for determining a billing structure for outputting documents using an image processing apparatus. If image data of the document includes color pixels, a billing structure is determined based on an estimated total color pixel count. The color pixels of the image data are counted in a device independent space and the total color pixel count of the image data to be output in a device dependent space is estimated. Based on the estimation, a billing structure is chosen. Processing and determining a billing structure based on image data in the device independent space avoids charging a customer for color print job when only a small amount of color pixels are printed. It also encourages determining charges independently of the marking engine or output device. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100098351 | SEGMENTATION FOR THREE-LAYER MIXED RASTER CONTENT IMAGES - A method for improving image quality of edge pixels, when separating an image signal into a set of image planes is provided. The method includes searching for a minimum value and a maximum value within at least one predefined neighborhood pixel window centered on a current pixel in the image signal; and conditionally switching the edge pixels to either the minimum value or the maximum value in the foreground and background planes respectively, or to a value of a specified characteristic of the current pixel, based on predetermined criteria. One such predetermined criteria for this conditional switching of the edge pixels comprises comparing the minimum or maximum luminance values in the predefined neighborhood window of the current pixel and their corresponding chrominance values to some predetermined thresholds which are characteristic of the image for the foreground and background planes, respectively. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100100505 | NEUTRAL PIXEL CORRECTION FOR PROPER MARKED COLOR PRINTING - A system calculates appropriate billing within an imaging pipeline. An input component receives an image that is described as a plurality of pixels. A PDL component receives the image and determines a location, a color and a designation for each of the one or more pixels. A marking engine modifies the one or more pixels based at least in part on the location and the color provided by the PDL component and places each of the one or more pixels as a monochrome or a composite pixel on a substrate. An analysis component counts the number of monochrome and composite pixels placed on the substrate by the marking engine, the number of composite pixels that include a designation are counted as monochrome. A billing component calculates the cost for placing each of the monochrome and the composite pixels counted by the analysis component. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100142806 | 3 + 1 LAYER MIXED RASTER CONTENT (MRC) IMAGES HAVING A TEXT LAYER AND PROCESSING THEREOF - A method, system and data structure for providing a 3+1 layer MRC image, including a text layer. The text layer includes pixel data corresponding to text in an image and may be assigned a predetermined value for a particular color. According to one or more embodiments, the 3+1 layer MRC image may be subject to clean-up processing to alter one or more of the layers, other than the text layer, based on the text layer pixel data. This clean-up processing reduces redundant information stored in the 3+1 layer MRC image and provides opportunities for file size reduction (i.e., data compression). | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100142820 | 3 + 1 LAYER MIXED RASTER CONTENT (MRC) IMAGES HAVING A BLACK TEXT LAYER - A method, system and data structure for providing a 3+1 layer MRC image, including a black text layer. The black text layer includes pixel data corresponding to black text in an image and may be assigned a predetermined value for the color of black. According to one or more embodiments, using thresholding processing along with various morphological operations, the black text layer may be generated. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100177328 | METHOD FOR REDUCING REGISTRATION DEFECTS IN COLOR PRINTING - A method and system modify a rasterized digital image to reduce registration artifacts, the image having a black plane and a color plane by determining if a pixel is part of a connected black region and if the pixel is part of a connected color region. It is determined if the pixel is part of a connected black region and a connected color region that are contiguous. A dilation operation is performed on the color plane value of the pixel if the pixel is part of a connected black region and a connected color region that are contiguous. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100177329 | METHOD FOR REDUCING REGISTRATION DEFECTS IN COLOR PRINTING - A method and system modify a rasterized digital image to reduce registration artifacts, the image having a black plane and a color plane by determining if a pixel is part of a connected black region and if the pixel is part of a connected color region. It is determined if the pixel is part of a connected black region and a connected color region that are contiguous. A dilation operation is performed on the color plane value of the pixel if the pixel is part of a connected black region and a connected color region that are contiguous. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100214341 | COLOR PRINTING - A method of printing comprising setting a pixel black value of K for an ink limit and identifying each of black dots of a first subset of black dots having pixel black value K greater than the ink limit, and pixel color value of cyan, magenta, and yellow equal to zero. The method further comprises rendering only K for a pixel value for the first subset of black dots and replacing each of black dots of a second subset of black dots of a halftoned bit map for a predetermined area with a process black dot. The method still further comprises adding a non-black dot to each of black dots of a third subset of black dots of the bit-mapped data, wherein the halftoned bit map is generated by halftoning continuous tone data; wherein the black dots of the third subset comprises a percentage of all the black dots that tends to generally increase as a ratio of black coverage to total coverage in the predetermined area increases; wherein the first, second, and third subset comprises black dots that are mutually exclusive; and, printing the bit map. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100310170 | THIN LINE DETECTION IN SCANNED IMAGE DATA - Disclosed herein is a method for detecting thin lines in image data. The method is performed by a processor to process contone image data. The processing includes thresholding a window of pixels established in the contone domain to generate a binary window of image data, and then determining characteristics associated with on pixels or runs of the binary data. The characteristics (start and end locations, length of on runs) are then thresholded. The processing in the contone and binary domain are used to determine if a thin line exists in the window of image data. The disclosed method produces better quality output images and reduces the addition of false lines in an image. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100310178 | FUZZY METHOD TO DETECT THIN LINES IN SCANNED IMAGE - Disclosed herein is a method for detecting thin lines in image data. The method is performed by a processor to process contone image data. The processing includes thresholding a window of pixels using a first set of thresholds established in the contone domain, and then counting and thresholding the binary pixels using a second set of thresholds. The processing in the contone and binary domain are used to determine if a thin line exists and if a pixel of interest in the window is an edge pixel that is part of a thin line. The disclosed method produces better quality output images and reduces the addition of false lines in an image. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20110051197 | BITMAPPED BASED TRAPPING METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS - Provided are bitmap based trapping methods, apparatus and systems. According to one exemplary method, black trapping color image data is performed by estimating the continuous tone values associated with non-black pixels near a qualified black pixel and subsequently, the estimated continuous tone values are halftoned at the qualified black pixel locations and ORed with the original bitmap data. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110069885 | 3+N LAYER MIXED RATER CONTENT (MRC) IMAGES AND PROCESSING THEREOF - A method for processing image data includes using advantages of both a three-layer MRC model and an N-layer MRC model to create a new 3+N layer MRC model and to generate a 3+N layer MRC image. The method includes providing input image data; segmenting the input image data to generate: (i) a background layer representing the background and the pictorial attributes of the image data, (ii) one or more binary foreground layers, (iii) a selector layer, and (iv) a contone foreground layer representing the foreground attributes of the image data on the background layer; and integrating the background layer, the selector layer, the contone foreground layer, and the one or more binary foreground layers into a data structure having machine-readable information for storage in a memory device. Each binary foreground layer includes one or more pixel clusters representing text pixels of a particular color in the input image data. | 03-24-2011 |
