Pre-press production image alert system and method

• US 20060152768A1
• Filed: 01/11/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Eschbach, Reiner, Crean, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,742,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/3.260
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00002 Diagnosis, testing or measuring; Detecting, analysing or monitoring not otherwise provided for error detection, error correction or monitoring in digital computers or digital computer components G06F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00005 relating to image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00029 Diagnosis, i.e. identifying a problem by comparison with a normal state
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00039 Analysis, i.e. separating and studying components of a greater whole
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00047 using an image not specifically designed for the purpose
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0005 in service, i.e. during normal operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00068 Calculating or estimating
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00082 Adjusting or controlling interrupting an operation H04N1/00915; inhibiting an operation H04N1/00925
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40 Picture signal circuits H04N1/387 takes precedence

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and system for checking and identifying images and other document components that may not be suitably rendered by an output device or process. The method employs a dual-mode analysis of visual image attributes to determine an aggregate confidence while also checking individual image attributes, to determine whether image content requires adjustment prior to being printed or rendered.

Claims

1. A method for processing a document for rendering, comprising the steps of:

analyzing at least a portion of the content of the document prior to rendering for at least one visual image attribute;

determining, based upon the analyzing step, a confidence that the rendering of the document will produce a desirable output; and

based upon the confidence, carrying out an adjustment of the document; and

rendering the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of carrying out an adjustment of the document is completed by a prepress operator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of carrying out an adjustment of the document is carried out automatically.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing step includes examining the document for a plurality of visual image attributes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining the confidence further includes deriving image confidence levels as a function of the visual image attributes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing step employs an automatic image enhancement system to analyze the content for at least one visual image attribute.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence is a function of at least one individual visual image attribute.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence is a function of an aggregate of visual image attributes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the confidence is determined by comparing the visual image attributes, as analyzed, to at least one boundary condition associated with each attribute, such that each comparison produces a result that indicates whether the attribute meets the boundary condition.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the number of visual image attributes producing results within the boundary conditions is an indication of the confidence, and where the step of carrying out an adjustment of the document based upon the confidence, includes comparing the confidence against a predefined level.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the confidence is an overall confidence determined by a method comprising the steps of:

(a) comparing the visual image attributes as analyzed to at least a first boundary condition associated with each attribute, such that each comparison produces a result that indicates whether the attribute meets the first boundary condition;

(b) comparing the visual image attributes as analyzed to at least a second boundary condition associated with each attribute, such that each comparison produces a result that indicates whether the attribute meets the second boundary condition; and

(c) aggregating the results from the step of comparing the attributes to the first boundary conditions, and taking the aggregate as the confidence unless at least one of the results from the step of comparing the attributes to the second boundary conditions exceeds the boundary condition and then resetting the confidence level.

12. A method for analyzing a document prior to rendering to determine a confidence that the document will be correctly rendered, comprising the steps of:

analyzing at least a portion of the content of the document prior to rendering, and for each image identified in the document characterizing a plurality of visual image attributes;

determining an aggregate confidence that rendering of the document will produce a desirable output, including

(a) comparing the visual image attributes as analyzed to at least a first boundary condition associated with each attribute, such that each comparison produces a result that indicates whether the attribute meets the first boundary condition, and

(b) aggregating the results from the step of comparing the attributes to the associated first boundary conditions, and taking the aggregate as an aggregate confidence;

comparing the visual image attributes as analyzed to at least a second boundary condition associated with each attribute, such that each comparison produces a result that indicates whether the attribute meets the second boundary condition; and

if the aggregate confidence and comparison of visual image attributes indicates the attributes meet all of the second boundary conditions, rendering the document; and

otherwise

carrying out an adjustment of the document.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of carrying out an adjustment of the document is completed by a prepress operator.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of carrying out an adjustment of the document is carried out automatically.

15. A system for processing a document to determine if the document will produce a desired result, comprising:

a port for receiving document data, including image data that represents an input digital image;

memory for storing said image data;

a processor, capable of accessing said memory, for carrying out an analysis of at least one visual attribute of the image, said processor further determining, based upon the analysis, a confidence that the rendering of the image data will produce a desirable output;

an image adjustment system, responsive to the confidence, for carrying out an adjustment of the image; and

an output device for rendering the document.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor derives image confidence levels as a function of visual image attributes stored in said memory.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said image adjustment system modifies the content for at least one image.

18. The system of claim 15, further including a report generator to provide a log entry stored in said memory, for tracking of the visual image attributes, and recording of actions relative to confidence determinations and automated image adjustment.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the confidence is determined by comparing the visual image attributes to at least one boundary condition stored in said memory, such that the comparison produces a result that is also stored in said memory.