Systems and methods for error diffusion

Abstract

Error diffusion is performed upon input image data. In one aspect, multiple error diffusion processing elements perform error diffusion on a selected pixel in parallel. In another aspect, the error diffusion logic is integrally formed with a fast local memory in the same electronic device, such as an ASIC. The error data produced by the error diffusion logic for a pixel is buffered in the fast local memory until it is to be used by the error diffusion logic on other pixels. In still another aspect, a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer regulates or buffers the color image data between the output of a color conversion system, such as a colorant lookup table, and the input an error diffusion processing element. In yet another aspect, the error diffusion logic has tagging logic that produces and stores an indicator, either in the output data stream itself or in a separate area, to indicate whether a raster contains printable data.