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:
Dec. 26, 1995
Filed:
Jul. 01, 1993
Timothy W Jacobs, Fairport, NY (US);
Jeffrey D Kingsley, Williamson, NY (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
A gray pixel encoding scheme is used in combination with a halftoner and an imager to produce halftoned images. A halftoner and an imager can be totally separate because the gray pixel encoding allows the imager to decode them at any time. The encoded gray pixels require less bandwidth than explicit gray pixels and can be decoded by the imager in an optimal fashion for the characteristics of the specific printer being used. An imager produces a small partial pixel within a spot boundary. The subpixel produced is called a gray pixel. The gray pixel is allowed to grow from a zero width to a full spot width and is allowed to start anywhere within the spot. The pixel codes describe the starting positions of the gray pixels, the locations of the gray pixels within the spot, and the gray pixel width required. The imager uses the encoded gray pixel from the halftoner to produce a final halftoned image. The list of encoded pixels produced by the halftoner can be stored and used at a later time or sent through a network to a different imager to be printed out.