Eastman-kodak Company

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Ag

Gregory Rombola

Thomas J Foster

John F Crichton

Thomas J Wetzel

Hwai-Tzuu Tai

Douglas W Couwenhoven

James R Sullivan

Lawrence B Telle

Thomas M Plutchak

Jeffrey C Blood

Bhavan R Gandhi

Craig Michael Smith

Leonard R Christopher

Frank L Muster

Larry L Christensen

Dongli Yang

Mark J Jablonski

A method of rendering the appearance of microprint contained within a printed input digital image comprised of an array of pixels and wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information, the method comprising identifying one or two pixel lines or both and reassigning their digital value.

Post rip image rendering for microprinting

A method of controlling a printer to print of an image, the printer having a predetermined marking material printed dot size, the method comprising the steps of rasterizing the image and defining halftone super pixels within the image, calculating the average density of the marking material within the super pixels, selecting a pattern for marking the pixels within the super pixels as a function of the printed dot size so as to expand the distribution of printed densities printable by the printer.

Creating high spatial frequency halftone screens with increased numbers of printable density levels

A method of altering the appearance of an input digital image when printed, the digital image comprised of an array of pixels and wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information, and wherein the pixels comprise Text/Line pixels and halftone pixels, the method comprising the steps of changing the value of halftone pixels using a custom tone transfer function that anticipates the effect of the reassigned pixel values on halftone appearance; rasterizing the digital image; reassigning the digital values of all pixels; and, printing the image.

Method and system for controlling printer text/line art and halftone independently

A method of printing an image utilizing a printer having print nonuniformities, the method comprising the steps of converting the image into a digital bitmap comprised of an array of pixels wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information comprises defining each pixel as either a background pixel, interior pixel, or an edge pixel; and, reassigning the digital value of one or more edge pixels or interior pixels to lower values independently in order to reduce toner consumption. The rendering of the present invention occurs post RIP.

Post RIP image rendering in an electrographic printer to reduce toner consumption

A method of printing an image with a printer having magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) toning capability, the method comprising the steps of: converting the image into a digital bitmap comprised of an array of pixels wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information; defining each pixel as either a background pixel, interior pixel, or an edge pixel; and, reassigning the digital value of one or more edge pixels or interior pixels independently, thereby altering the concentration of magnetizable substances within the image when printed in order to improve the readability of printed characters by reading instrumentation.

Post RIP image rendering in a MICR electrographic printer to improve readability

The invention relates to printing of documents, for example bank checks. According to the various aspects of the invention, a printing system, process and product with microprinting are provided. Documents printed as described may include digitally variable microprint and other enhancements. The invention is particularly useful for enhanced security documents and the production thereof.

Printing system, process, and product with microprinting

The registration and skew information of a document about to be scanned are detected prior to capturing the entire image of the document. Two sensors, a fixed distance apart, are used to detect the document skew. A third sensor is used to detect the edge position of the document. Paper sensors in the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) are used to determine the document size. The data from the skew sensors are used to calculate the required skew correction angle and direction by which to rotate the image. The document edge position information together with skew information is used to determine the exact location of a corner of the document. This information is used to correct skewed image in real-time, during scanning the document.

Real time electronic registration of scanned documents

A method is described of processing image data of pixels to be rendered. In the method, image data representing a pixel to be rendered is provided. Criteria or tests are established for processing the pixel in accordance with binary error diffusion or multibit error diffusion. In response to examination of the pixel in accordance with the criteria, a decision is made as to whether the pixel is to be rendered in accordance with binary error diffusion or multibit error diffusion. The pixel is then rendered in accordance with the decision.

Method of processing pixels with binary or multibit error diffusion

Computation of digital gains and offsets used in digital scanners for shading correction (linearity correction) is particularly vulnerable to imperfections in the reference strips, particularly the light reference strip. It is extremely difficult and expensive to create references which are completely free of imperfections or contaminated in some way. This invention eliminates artifacts caused by the presence of small imperfections on the references. It does so by detecting the presence of an artifact and then excluding data contributed by the artifact from the calibration computation process.

Detection and correction of defects from scanner calibration references

A block adaptive differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) system includes both a lossless DPCM processor responsive to blocks of pixel values for producing encoder command signals and a lossy DPCM compressor responsive to blocks of pixel values for producing encoder command signals. An encoder receives the encoder command signals from the lossless DPCM processor and lossy DPCM compressor and produces a compressed encoded bit stream. A switch responsive to a compression configuration signal and to the encoder command signals from the lossy compressor selectively passes the encoder command signals from the lossless processor or the lossy compressor to the encoder.

Method for adaptively compressing residual digital image data in a DPCM

A method and apparatus for processing image data of pixels to be rendered for efficient storage in a memory or efficient transmission wherein a grey level value of a rendered pixel is represented by multiple bits including a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB). The method and apparatus provide for modifying of the density values of successive pixels in accordance with an error diffusion operation. The modified density values are then subject to a thresholding operation wherein the thresholding operation employs position of a pixel to determine the digital value of the LSB of the rendered pixel. There is thereby provided a pattern structure to the LSB data. The rendered pixel values may then be compressed to provide for efficient storage in a memory or for efficient transmission over a communication pathway. The invention thus relates to improving the compressibility of the total image data by imparting structure to at least rendered image data where the error diffusion process would normally remove any structure to the LSB's of the image.

Method and apparatus for increasing compressibility of multibit image

Apparatus is disclosed having document recognition capability for determining the size and location of an original document on a scanner platen before the document is scanned for image capture, and which effects both document recognition and image capture within a single scan cycle. A platen is optically scanned in forward and reverse intrack directions, and an electrical information signal characteristic of the optical densities scanned is created. Document recognition is responsive to the electrical information signal produced during the forward direction scan for detecting the boundaries of an original document on the platen. Image capture is responsive to the electrical information signal produced during the reverse direction scan for producing a record of the image on the original document. Magnification is provided for changing the size of the recorded image from that of the image on the original document in part by adjusting the speed of the reverse intrack scan, and is automatically adjustable in accordance with the size of the recording sheet.

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Spencerport, NY, United States of America

Gregory Rombola