Method and system for position-aware freeform printing within a position-sensed area

• US 6,773,177 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2001
• Issued: 08/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Denoue, Laurent, Churchill, Elizabeth F., Golovchinsky, Gene, Schilit, William N., Nelson, Lester D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chau, Minh H
• Application Number:
  US09/951,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20030051615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: 400/88, 101/485, 101/486, 101/45, 345/179-183, 346/143, 358/471-478, 347/109
• US Class Current: 400/88
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/36 for portability , i.e. hand-held printers or laptop printers B41J3/4075 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and system for position-aware freeform printing in which a source image space in a source medium and a target image space in a target medium are specified. A selected image in the source image space is copied and/or optionally processed and transferred to the target image space. A controller captures the selected source image and stores the image in a memory. The image is optionally processed and the processed and optionally formatted image is output. The controller may format the processed image to fit into the target image space by controlling the rendering of the processed image onto the target medium as the printing device is moved over the target image space in a freeform direction. The controller predicts the freeform direction that the print head will travel by detecting the motion previously traveled and adjusting the image to compensate for the predicted freeform direction.

Claims

1. A method for position-aware freeform printing, comprising:

selecting and capturing a source image in a source image space;

defining a target image space into which the source image will be transferred; and

rendering a target image into the target image space in a freeform manner based on the source image and absolute position information, wherein the captured source image is adjusted to fit the target image space.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

selecting the source image while the printer is in a non-printing mode; and

rendering the target image while the printer is in a printing mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the target image space further comprises:

defining a target image space dimension;

determining a target image space based on the source image space and the target image space dimension.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a controller performs real-time text warping by predicting the direction of motion of a print head of the printing device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein predicting the direction of the print head comprises detecting a motion previously traveled by the print head and adjusting the printed target image to compensate for the motion previously traveled.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein predicting the direction of travel is a function of a curve fit for at least one of:

a location, a velocity and an acceleration.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the source image applies an emphasis to the display of the target image.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the emphasis is chosen from at least one of:

a bolding, an underline and a highlighting.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the emphasis is applied in a first freeform pass of the print head.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the emphasis is applied in a freeform pass of the print head.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the emphasis is selected modally.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the emphasis is selected by a gesture of at least one of;

circling an image portion, highlighting a source image portion and underlining a source image portion.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method for position-aware freeform printing transfers the source image to the target image space by performing at least one of:

a copying operation, a sequencing operation, a transformation operation, a segmentation operation and an aggregation operation.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the copying operation further includes capturing the source image and pasting the source image to the target image space of a target medium.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the sequencing operation includes at least two source images from at least one source image space, and further comprising the steps of pasting the images sequentially to at least one target image space in a target medium.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the transformation operation modifies a display attribute of the source image.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the transformation operation further comprises the steps of:

modifying the display attribute of the source image; and

printing the target image based on the modified source image.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the segmentation operation further comprises:

segmenting the source image into an intermediate form;

processing at least one segment of the captured source image; and

printing at least one segment of the captured source image to the target image space.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the aggregation operation includes aggregating a plurality of images and pasting the aggregated plurality of images into the target image space.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the aggregation operation includes aggregating characteristics associated with the images in the source medium and pasting a value representing the aggregated characteristics to the target image space.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the target image space occurs in a non-printing mode.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the non-printing mode is a default mode.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the printing mode is selected by at least one of:

a switch, a graphical user interface selector and a gesture.

24. A position-aware freeform printing system comprising:

a controller to select and capture a source image having a source image space, the controller defining a target image space and rendering a target image in the target image space in a freeform manner based on the source image and absolute position information, wherein the captured source image is adjusted to fit the target image space.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller selects the source image while the printer is in a non-printing mode, and renders the target image while the printer is in printing mode.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller defines a target image space dimension and determines the target image space based on the source image space and the target image space dimension.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller performs real-time text warping of the image by predicting the direction of motion of a print head of the printing device.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the controller predicts the direction of the print head by detecting a motion previously traveled by the print head and adjusting the printed target image to compensate for the motion previously traveled.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the predicted direction of travel is a function of a curve fit for at least one of:

a location, a velocity and an acceleration.

30. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller applies an emphasis to the display of the target image.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the emphasis is chosen from at least one of:

a bolding, an underline and a highlighting.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the emphasis is applied in a first freeform pass of the print head.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the emphasis is applied in a freeform pass of the print head.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the emphasis is selected modally.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the emphasis is selected by a gesture of at least one of:

circling an image portion, highlighting a source image portion and underlining a source image portion.

36. The system of claim 24, wherein the system for position-aware freeform printing transfers the source image to the target image space by performing at least one of:

a copying operation, a sequencing operation, a transformation operation, a segmentation operation and an aggregation operation.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the copying operation further includes pasting the source image to the target image space of a target medium.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein the sequencing operation includes at least two source images from at least one source image space, and wherein the controller pastes the images sequentially to at least one target image space in a target medium.

39. The system of claim 36, wherein the transformation operation modifies a display attribute of the source image.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the transformation operation modifies the display attribute of the source image and prints the target image based on the modified source image.

41. The system of claim 36, wherein the segmentation operation segments the source image into an intermediate form, processes at least one segment of the captured source image, and prints at least one segment of the captured source image to the target image space.

42. The system of claim 36, wherein the aggregation operation aggregates a plurality of images and pastes the aggregated plurality of images into the target image space.

43. The system of claim 36, wherein the aggregation operation aggregates characteristics associated with the images in the source medium and pastes a value representing the aggregated characteristics to the target image space.

44. The system of claim 24, wherein defining the target image space occurs in a non-printing mode.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the non-printing mode is a default mode.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein the printing mode is selected by at least one of:

a switch, a graphical user interface selector and a gesture.

47. A method for position-aware freeform printing comprising:

selecting and capturing a source image;

defining a target image space into which the processed source image will be transferred in a non-printing mode;

processing the source image based on at least one of a scaling, a warping, a fitting, metadata tagging, applying an emphasis, and a Z-axis printing;

displaying the processed source image in the target image space in a freeform manner based on absolute position information, wherein the captured source image is adjusted to fit the target image space.

48. A carrier wave encoded to transmit a control program usable for a position-aware freeform printing system to a device for executing the control program, the control program including instructions comprising:

instructions for selecting and capturing a source image having a source image space;

instructions for defining a target image space into which the source image will be transferred; and

instructions for rendering the image into the target image space in a freeform manner based on absolute position information, wherein the captured source image is adjusted to fit the target image space.

49. A computer readable storage medium, comprising a computer readable program code embodied on the computer readable storage medium, the computer readable program code usable to program a computer to program a position-aware freeform printing system, comprising the steps of:

selecting and capturing a source image having a source image space;

defining a target image space into which the source image will be transferred; and

rendering the image into the target image space in a freeform manner based on absolute position information, wherein the captured source image is adjusted to fit the target image space.