The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 18, 1993
Filed:
Oct. 02, 1990
John M Gilbert, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Lawrence J Luckis, Prior Lake, MN (US);
Leonard R Steidel, Prior Lake, MN (US);
LaserMaster Corporation, Eden Prairie, MN (US);
Abstract
A non-gray scale anti-aliasing method for smoothing one or more edges of an image to be printed by a binary imaging printer. The image is generated by rasterizing an ideal outline of the image using a processor means for processing a plurality of raster lines to form a pixel representation of the image to be communicated to the binary imaging printer. An ideal fill area representing the area inside the ideal outline for the pixel currently being processed is determined for each pixel in the raster line and then compared to at least a first and second comparison value. Based upon the comparison, a determination is made as to whether the pixel currently being processed will be turned on or turned off. In one embodiment, the comparison is made by the use of a lookup table having a set of predetermined comparison values that contain estimated fill values used by an accumulator to determine whether to selectively modify the pixel. In a different embodiment, the lookup table is replaced by using a fill function for translating the ideal fill value into the estimated fill value. In another embodiment, a control signal having a predetermined duty cycle is generated for all pixels within a boundary transition range defined by the first and second comparison values.