Halftone dither cell with integrated preferred color matching

Abstract

Methods and apparatus generate, and use in printing, a dither matrix that incorporates a vivid-response function, that follows a generally S-shaped response curve. Printing with this pregenerated dither cell is just as fast as with a conventional cell, but printed color has a slightly exaggerated vividness, more pleasing to most users than more-accurately reproduced color. Color printed with this curve alone, however, is found unsatisfactorily dark; the invention also encompasses including in the overall response another function to lighten the colors--particularly at the low end of the brightness range. We define both functions as so-called 'gamma functions', but with different arguments and exponents, and construct the S-shaped curve as two separate sections blended at a generally central point. Preferably the argument of the first (low-brightness) section is an expression that is proportional to an input color signal; the function raises this argument to a power greater than unity (ideally 1.6). The second (high-brightness) section of the first function is essentially a mirror image of the first, flipped over first upward and then to the 'right' (i.e., in both steps toward higher brightness); and is defined by an equation closely analogous to the first but measuring the signal from the high end of the input range and subtracting the curve value from the maximum output. The second gamma function has as its argument the output value of the first, and an exponent smaller than one--ideally 0.6.