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:
Sep. 11, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 20, 1996
Takahiro Oshino, Yokohama, JP;
Yoshihiro Ishida, Kawasaki, JP;
Shinichiro Koga, Utsunomiya, JP;
Osamu Morimoto, Yokohama, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In magnifying a multivalued image, binary images are generated by using the respective density levels of the multivalued image as thresholds. The contour of each binary image is equivalent to an equidensity curve corresponding to each density gradient of the original multivalued image. Outline vectors of each binary image are extracted and magnified/smoothed. The contour of each binary image represents an equidensity curve corresponding to each density gradient of the magnified multivalued image. In a binary image area corresponding to a black pixel of each binary image, a pixel having a density equal to the threshold used to generate the binary image is written. This processing is sequentially performed for all the binary images from a low-density binary image to a high-density binary image to generate a multivalued image. The objected multivalued image is subjected to density gradient smoothing processing. As a result, a magnified multivalued image is obtained.