Adaptive depletion masks for improving print quality
US6454392B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 29, 2001 |
| Grant date | Sep 24, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 6, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N1/52
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A swath printing system and pixel depletion methods compensate for the effects of defective printing elements by adjusting the pixel depletion mask used during printing to minimize the amount and location of extraneous unprinted spaces caused by the defective printing elements. A printing element quality detector determines which printing elements are functional and which are defective. Based on this information, an image processor then selects or constructs a depletion mask having depleted pixel positions chosen to reduce the adverse effects on print quality caused by the defective printing elements, thus maintaining high image quality for the printed output. Pixel depletion is preferably performed at the image pixel level, but can alternatively be performed at the color plane pixel level.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.