Apple Inc.

Allen M Chan

Kok S Chen

Marilyn Chen

Ted W Walker

Kevin W Andresen

Yousef Yacoub

Magnus L Karlsson

Hungviet H Nguyen

Robert F Lee

Robert C Fishman

The invention provides a method and apparatus for creating anti-aliasing effects in slanted or curved edge portions of a bit-mapped image while avoiding such effects at horizontal and vertical edge portions. A method in accordance with the invention comprises the steps of: (a) defining a set of plot instructions for plotting an ideal outline of a desired image; (b) identifying a target resolution to be provided by a bit-mapped rendering apparatus; (c) scaling and grid-fitting the outline to the identified target resolution; (d) upwardly scaling the grid-fitted outline to a mezzanine resolution level that is higher than the identified resolution of the target display medium; (e) filling the outline at the mezzanine resolution level (scan conversion); (f) assigning, based on the mezzanine level outline fill, one or more of a grayscale value or other anti-aliasing attribute vales to each corresponding pixel of the target display medium (sampling); and (g) rendering the image in accordance with this attribute assignment onto the target display medium for appreciation by a human observer.

Anti-aliasing apparatus and method with automatic snap fit of horizontal

A network system includes a font resource server that is accessible to all devices that communicate via the network. The font server contains the necessary information pertaining to the various types of fonts that may be required by users. This information describes the characters in a font in both a bitmap form and an outline form, so that either type of font information can be selectively employed at any given site. When a document is transmitted from the site of its creation to a remote site, the computer at the remote site first determines whether information pertaining to all of the fonts contained in the document is stored at the remote site. If not, the necessary font resources are downloaded from the font server to the remote site, via any suitable communication network. Once the resources have been downloaded, the document can be viewed and printed at the remote site.

System for distributing font resources over a computer network

The present invention is related to systems and methods for compressing image data while at the same time, improving both the compression ratio and the perceptibility of the decompressed image using a dynamic color matching scheme. Such features are achieved even when the image data is compressed without segregation into its scanned and non-scanned components. Color variant data is encoded using a dynamic color matching scheme to enhance the color fidelity of a decompressed image obtained from the encoded color variant data. As a result, improved perceptibility of decompressed images is achieved regardless of whether scanned images, non-scanned images or any combination thereof are collectively compressed. Such improved perceptibility is achieved regardless of whether the images are monochrome (having varying grey scale values) or color. In addition, improved perceptibility is realized in a manner which permits image data including scanned and/or unscanned images to be compressed in real-time.

Method and apparatus for encoding color image data using dynamic color

The present invention is directed to providing a method and apparatus for enhanced processing of partitioned image data in a manner which permits efficient processing (for example, real-time processing) of the image data without sacrificing the quality of the reconstructed image. In accordance with exemplary embodiments, image data associated with a partitioned frame of input image data is stored along with information which identifies relative placement of each partitioned subimage within the frame of image data. The information is retained during processing of the input frame of image data, such that the original image can be reconstructed therefrom without the inclusion of holes or artifacts due to misalignment of boundaries. Thus, an input frame of image data which has been partitioned can be efficient transmitted, stored and rendered without concern that quality of the reconstructed image will be sacrificed.

Method and apparatus for partitioning an image

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for compressing image data without segregating the image data into scanned and non-scanned components, while at the same time, improving both the compression ratio and the perceptabilty of the decompressed image. Improved perceptibility is realized regardless of whether the image data includes scanned images, non-scanned images or any combination thereof. Further, improved perceptibility is realized regardless of whether the images are monochrome or color.

Method and apparatus for compression of digitized image data using

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for encoding (for example, compressing) image data while at the same time, improving both the compression ratio and the perceptibility of the decoded (for example, decompressed) image using a dynamic band recompression scheme. In accordance with exemplary embodiments, portions of a compressed image are decompressed upon occurrence of a predetermined condition prior to compression of an entire frame of image data, and then recompressed with subsequent portions of the original image. Exemplary embodiments achieve enhanced fidelity in a decompressed image even when the image data is compressed without segregation into its scanned and non-scanned components.

Method and apparatus for compression of digitized image data using a

A process is provided for avoiding a gap between adjacent uniform color objects in an image. First, it is first determined whether the image data contains two adjacent uniform color objects, each uniform color composed of two or fewer characteristic color components, and whether a gap would be evident between the uniform color objects. If the image data does not contain two adjacent uniform color objects with two or fewer characteristic color components or if a gap would not be evident, the image data is processed and output without adjusting the image. If, alternatively, it is determined that the image data contains two adjacent uniform color objects with two or fewer characteristic color components and a gap would be evident, at least one of the objects is examined to determine the saturation of each characteristic color component. Once the saturation of each color component is determined, small percentages of the total saturation of each characteristic color component are added together to form a light gray component of the same color as the examined color object. Next, the light gray component is added as a border around the edges of the adjacent color objects. Then, the image data is processed and output.

Process of making two adjacent uniformly colored objects appear with a

An image to be generated is analyzed to determine whether it is comprised solely of bi-level color data. If so, an indication is provided to a rendering device that a simpler rendering procedure, suitable for bi-level data, can be employed. However, full color information pertaining to the image is retained. If the rendering device is able to process the image data in a bi-level format, it does so, to thereby improve performance and reduce the amount of memory capacity that is required. If multi-level data is detected, the bi-level data is expanded and full color rendering is carried out in a conventional fashion.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Allen M Chan