Systems and methods for rule-based thin-line enhancement in halftone images

• US 9,338,324 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2015
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Subbaian, Sudhagar
• Primary Examiner(s): Rogers, Scott A
• Application Number:
  US14/708,391
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1844 Anti-aliasing raster data G06K15/1843 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1873 Increasing spatial resolution; Anti-aliasing
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1874 with provisions for treating some of the print data differently
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/405 Halftoning, i.e. converting the picture signal of a continuous-tone original into a corresponding signal showing only two levels
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4092 Edge or detail enhancement

Abstract

Embodiments of a computer-implemented method for thin-line enhancement in electronic images are disclosed. The methods include receiving a halftone image comprising multiple pixels, and associating a predefined kernel with at least a portion of the halftone image. The kernel includes multiple check cells and a processing cell, each capable of being toggled between an active state and an inactive state; detecting a state of each of the pixels in the neighborhood of an inactive pixel associated with the processing cell based on one or more predetermined rules being applied to the kernel, wherein the inactive pixel is in communication with a contiguous set of active pixels; and selectively activating the inactive pixel by activating the processing cell based on the predetermined rules, provided the inactive pixel upon being activated is separated from a neighboring active pixel.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for thin-line enhancement in electronic images, the method comprising:

receiving, using a rule-based thin-line enhancement unit, a halftone image comprising a plurality of pixels;

associating, using the rule-based thin-line enhancement unit, a predefined kernel with at least a portion of the halftone image, wherein the kernel includes a plurality of check cells and at least one processing cell, each check cell and processing cell capable of being toggled between an active state and an inactive state;

detecting, using the rule-based thin-line enhancement unit, a state of each of the plurality of pixels in the neighborhood of at least one inactive pixel associated with the at least one processing cell based on one or more predetermined rules being applied to the kernel, wherein the at least one inactive pixel is in communication with a contiguous set of active pixels; and

selectively activating, using the rule-based thin-line enhancement unit, the at least one inactive pixel by activating the processing cell based on the one or more predetermined rules, provided the at least one inactive pixel upon being activated is separated from a neighboring active pixel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectively activated at least one inactive pixel is separated from the neighboring active pixel by at least one directly adjacent inactive pixel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined rules include one or more sub-rules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting includes shifting the processing cell shifts to each cell in the kernel.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting the direction of the contiguous set of active pixels based on an associated set of rule cells among the plurality of check cells, wherein the associated set of rule cells are activated based on the one or more predetermined rules.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the kernel is a matrix having a configurable number of rows and columns of the cells, and wherein the matrix is transposed upon changing the orientation of the halftone image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one inactive pixel is selectively activated based on one or more predefined levels upon receiving a user request, and wherein each of the one or more predefined levels defines a predefined set of inactive pixels in communication with the contiguous set of active pixels.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the predefined set of inactive pixels is less than a maximum number of inactive pixels along a shortest pixelated distance between the selectively activated at least one inactive pixel and the neighboring active pixel.

9. A system for thin-line enhancement of electronic images, the system comprising:

an imaging unit configured to capture an electronic image of a predetermined resolution;

a halftone generator configured to convert the captured electronic image into a halftone image comprising a plurality of pixels;

a memory unit configured to store a predefined kernel including a plurality of check cells and at least one processing cell, each check cell and processing cell capable of being toggled between an active state and an inactive state; and

a rule-based thin-line enhancement unit configured to;

receive the halftone image from the halftone generator and the kernel from the memory unit;

associate the kernel with at least a portion of the halftone image;

detect a state of each of the plurality of pixels in the neighborhood of at least one inactive pixel associated with the at least one processing cell based on one or more predetermined rules being applied to the kernel, wherein the at least one inactive pixel is in communication with a contiguous set of active pixels; and

selectively activate the at least one inactive pixel by activating the processing cell based on the one or more predetermined rules, provided the at least one inactive pixel upon being activated is separated from a neighboring active pixel.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the selectively activated at least one inactive pixel is separated from the neighboring active pixel by at least one directly adjacent inactive pixel.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined rules include one or more sub-rules.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the detecting includes shifting the processing cell shifts to each cell in the kernel.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the rule-based thin-line enhancement unit is further configured to detect the direction of the contiguous set of active pixels based on an associated set of rule cells among the plurality of check cells, wherein the associated set of rule cells are activated based on the one or more predetermined rules.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the kernel is a matrix having a configurable number of rows and columns of the cells, and wherein the matrix can be transposed upon changing the orientation of the halftone image.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one inactive pixel is selectively activated based on one or more predefined levels upon receiving a user request, wherein each of the one or more predefined levels defines a predefined set of inactive pixels in communication with the contiguous set of active pixels.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the predefined set of inactive pixels is less than a maximum number of inactive pixels along a shortest pixelated distance between the selectively activated at least one inactive pixel and the neighboring active pixel.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for computing trust index among a plurality of entities associated with a resource marketplace, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for:

receiving a halftone image comprising a plurality of pixels;

associating a predefined kernel with at least a portion of the halftone image, wherein the kernel includes a plurality of check cells and at least one processing cell, each check cell and processing cell capable of being toggled between an active state and an inactive state;

detecting a state of each of the plurality of pixels in the neighborhood of at least one inactive pixel associated with the at least one processing cell based on one or more predetermined rules being applied to the kernel, wherein the at least one inactive pixel is in communication with a contiguous set of active pixels; and

selectively activating the at least one inactive pixel by activating the processing cell based on the one or more predetermined rules, provided the at least one inactive pixel upon being activated is separated from a neighboring active pixel.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined rules include one or more sub-rules.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the detecting includes shifting the processing cell shifts to each cell in the kernel.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising detecting the direction of the contiguous set of active pixels based on an associated set of rule cells among the plurality of check cells, wherein the associated set of rule cells are activated based on the one or more predetermined rules.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the kernel is a matrix having a configurable number of rows and columns of the cells, and wherein the matrix can be transposed upon changing the orientation of the halftone image.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the selectively activated at least one inactive pixel is separated from the neighboring active pixel by minimum one inactive pixel.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one inactive pixel is selectively activated based on one or more predefined levels upon receiving a user request, wherein each of the one or more predefined levels defines a predefined set of inactive pixels in communication with the contiguous set of active pixels.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the predefined set of inactive pixels is less than a maximum number of inactive pixels along a shortest pixelated distance between the selectively activated at least one inactive pixel and the neighboring active pixel.