System and method for high addressable binary image generation using rank ordered error diffusion on pixels within a neighborhood
First Claim
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1. A method, operating on an image processor, for processing a multi-quantization level input image, comprising:
- creating binary output by thresholding a current grayscale input image pixel and an associated intermediate predicted pixel value, wherein the associated intermediate predicted pixel value is calculated before thresholding;
calculating a pixel quantization error based upon the current image pixel value and the intermediate predicted pixel value;
ordering a plurality of neighboring pixels of the current pixel located in a predefined processing window according to their gray values;
diffusing a maximum possible amount of quantization error for the current image pixel sequentially to a subset of the plurality of neighboring pixels of the current pixel, where the subset of the plurality of neighbors are selected in accordance with the sign of quantization error; and
repeating the steps above for each input pixel in the image to produce an error-diffused output image for output by image processor.
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Abstract
The disclosed system and method provide a binary image generation method. Used, for example, in a digital reprographic system, the method is suitable for eliminating printing artifacts for high addressable binary digital output, such as digital copies, using an optimized ordered error diffusion method with dynamically computable quantization error and dynamic binary output calculation.
42 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method, operating on an image processor, for processing a multi-quantization level input image, comprising:
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creating binary output by thresholding a current grayscale input image pixel and an associated intermediate predicted pixel value, wherein the associated intermediate predicted pixel value is calculated before thresholding; calculating a pixel quantization error based upon the current image pixel value and the intermediate predicted pixel value; ordering a plurality of neighboring pixels of the current pixel located in a predefined processing window according to their gray values; diffusing a maximum possible amount of quantization error for the current image pixel sequentially to a subset of the plurality of neighboring pixels of the current pixel, where the subset of the plurality of neighbors are selected in accordance with the sign of quantization error; and repeating the steps above for each input pixel in the image to produce an error-diffused output image for output by image processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method creating a halftoned image, comprising:
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receiving a pixel value from an input image; selecting an processing window encompassing M neighboring pixels; selecting a threshold; thresholding the pixel value with the selected threshold to determine an intermediate predicted pixel value, wherein thresholding the input pixel value produces a high addressability binary representation of the grayscale input image pixel, and where the pixel error is a function of the high addressable binary representation; calculating a quantization error value based on the pixel value and the intermediate predicted pixel value; and diffusing quantization error to at least one selected neighboring pixel(s) N within the diffusion mask M, based on a sign of the calculated error value, the selection being based on pixel values of a plurality of neighboring pixels within the diffusion window. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A digital reprographic system, comprising:
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an image source; an image processor, for processing each input pixel of an input image from said image source to produce an error-diffused output image, said image processor including a thresholder for creating binary output and an associated intermediate predicted pixel value as a function of a current image pixel; a pixel error calculator for calculating pixel quantization error based upon the current image pixel value and the intermediate predicted pixel value; a pixel ordering circuit for ordering the current input image pixel'"'"'s M neighboring pixels located in a predefined processing window according to their gray values, said ordering circuit further diffusing the quantization error for the current image pixel sequentially to N out of the M neighbors of the current pixel, where N is not greater than M;
where the N neighbors are selected depending on the sign of quantization error, andan image output terminal for outputting the error-diffused output image. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification