Patents Examined by Christopher D Wait
  • Patent number: 9710737
    Abstract: In one example of the disclosure, a first area of an image to be printed at a first gloss level is identified. A second area of the image to be printed at a lesser second gloss level is identified. Printing of the image is caused in a gloss-varying printmode that applies a pretreatment fluid to a media where the second area is to be printed, and not where the first area is to be printed, and applies a colorant or colorants to the media where the first and second areas are to be printed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Alex Andrea Tallada, Luis Garcia
  • Patent number: 9709942
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a noise adding unit and a controller. The noise adding unit is configured to add a noise pattern to a print image. The controller is configured to perform printing of the print image in which the noise pattern has been added. The noise pattern is a pattern obtained by two-dimensionally arranging plural noises of which each has a local planar distribution. Each of the plural noises has a local planar distribution in which pixel values monotonically vary with a distance from a pixel having a peak pixel value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions, Inc.
    Inventor: Koichi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9704073
    Abstract: A color conversion apparatus includes a storage section configured to store a look-up table specifying a correspondence relationship between an used amount of a first color material used for a formation of a printing material in a printing device and an used amount of a second color material used for a formation of a color reproduction image in an image-forming apparatus, with the look-up table further specifying the correspondence relationship indicating a first output characteristic for a first region included in an input color space represented by a color of the first color material, and further specifying the correspondence relationship indicating a second output characteristic, which is different from the first output characteristic, for a second region, which is different from the first region, included in the input color space, and a color conversion section configured to perform a color conversion in reference to the look-up table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshio Okumura
  • Patent number: 9684858
    Abstract: An image processing system for executing a plurality of processes includes a process execution control apparatus to control an execution of the plurality of processes, and an image generation-output control apparatus to control an execution of image generation-output operation, The process execution control apparatus includes a process execution controller to control the execution of the processes, a control-side drawing information generator to generate drawing information to be referred when performing the image generation-output operation based on information of a target image to be output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Yosuke Aoki
  • Patent number: 9682550
    Abstract: The dither mask generation method includes: a nozzle ejection rate determination process of determining a nozzle ejection rate of each nozzle in a recording head; a corresponding nozzle specifying process of specifying the nozzle corresponding to individual pixels of a dither mask by making at least one nozzle in charge of recording at each pixel position correspond to the individual pixels of the dither mask; a nozzle ejection rate reflecting processing process of performing processing of reflecting the nozzle ejection rate on an evaluation index when individual thresholds of the dither mask are set; and a threshold setting process of setting the thresholds to the individual pixels of the dither mask on the basis of the evaluation index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Kimito Katsuyama
  • Patent number: 9681024
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus receiving a pixel value of a multivalue image includes: an input noise generating section that generates a noise; a green noise generating section that generates a green noise from an output value of a binarized processed pixel; an adder section that adds an error integrated value, the green noise and the noise, to the pixel value of the target pixel; the threshold value processing section that binarizes the pixel value of the target pixel after adding the error integrated value, the green noise and the noise; a subtractor section that calculates an error value by calculating a difference between an output value of the binarized target pixel and the pixel value of the target pixel including the error integrated value and the noise; and an error integrating section that outputs the error integrated value by using the error value of the binarized processed pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventor: Masanori Yoshizawa
  • Patent number: 9674399
    Abstract: A method including the steps of selecting an n-ink model for a color device, for transferring a set of colorant values in colorant space to a set of color values in color space; selecting a printer characteristic of the n-ink model, wherein the printer characteristic indicates the regularity of the n-ink model; evaluating, for the n-ink model, a set of one or more values and/or ranges for the printer characteristic, thus determining the regularity of the n-ink model; and modifying the n-ink model such that the modified n-ink model is regular, if, based on the evaluation, the n-ink model was not regular.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: AGFA GRAPHICS NV
    Inventors: Marc Mahy, Koen Vande Velde, Dmitry Tunitsky
  • Patent number: 9665770
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an area extracting unit and a table image detecting unit. The area extracting unit is configured to extract a halftone dot area and character images in an image. The table image detecting unit is configured to detect the extracted halftone dot area as a table image if (a) the extracted halftone dot area includes no ruled lines and (b1) at least two of the detected character images are arranged in a primary scanning direction or a secondary scanning direction in the halftone dot area and (b2) character alignment of a tabular layout is detected on the character images on the basis of positional relations between divisional areas into which the halftone dot area is equally divided and the character images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions, Inc.
    Inventor: Sota Nanbu
  • Patent number: 9667833
    Abstract: A history generating apparatus includes an image generating section, an image reading section and a history generating section. The image generating section generates a bitmap first image and generates initial attribute information indicating attributes of respective pixels of the first image. The image reading section reads an image based on the first image formed on paper so as to generate a bitmap second image. The history generating section separates the second image into image regions by attribute indicated by the initial attribute information, performs image processing on each of the image regions according to the attribute and combines the image regions so as to generate a history image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventor: Makoto Oki
  • Patent number: 9654667
    Abstract: An inkjet printer implements a method for identifying values for parameters for pixels to be printed by the printer. The method uses thresholds in a stochastic screen with a set of functions for the parameter for each primary color supplied to the printheads in the printer to identify values for the parameters. The parameters can be, for example, a number of drops to print for a color, a size of the drops to eject to form a pixel, or the number of inkjets to operate to form the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: David A. Mantell
  • Patent number: 9641724
    Abstract: A method and a system for image compression are disclosed. An image is converted to a halftoned image. The one or more halftoned lines in the halftoned image comprise one or more pixels. A first transformed image is generated from the halftoned image based on shifting of the one or more pixels, associated with the one or more halftoned lines in the halftoned image, by a first value. A second transformed image is generated from the first transformed image based on shifting of the one or more pixels, associated with the one or more halftoned lines in the first transformed image, by a second value. Further, a compressed image is generated based on compression of the second transformed image. The compressed image is stored in a storage device. Another method and system for image conversion are disclosed that converts the compressed image back to the first transformed image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dhevendra Alagan Palanivel, Sainarayanan Gopalakrishnan, Xing Li, Sudhagar Subbaian
  • Patent number: 9641726
    Abstract: According to exemplary methods, a print job including an electronic document having a color image is received into a computerized device having a marking device including a print engine. A sheet of the print job is analyzed by the computerized device. In the analysis, a contone of the color image is converted to multi-bit output using multi-level vector halftoning. Pairs of complementary colors are selected, and substitute color channels for drop sizes are determined for each pair of complementary colors. Binary vector halftoning is applied using the substitute color channels for each pair of complementary colors. It is determined if ink is to be printed for the complementary colors. Multi-level processing is applied to determine an amount of ink for one color of each of the pairs of complementary colors. Pixels of the color image are rendered using the ink amount for the color of the pair of complementary colors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Stuart A. Schweid, David A. Mantell
  • Patent number: 9633461
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for color managing different content objects in at least one source file. In one embodiment of the present invention, the system includes a color management module, a rendering module, an interface (e.g., GUI), and a memory module for storing a plurality of color profiles. The interface allows a user to specify different color profiles and/or parameters for different object types. For example, the user can specify different source color spaces to use for the default source color spaces based upon object type. Similarly, the user can specify different output color spaces to use based upon object type. Finally, software can be used to generate a map that specifies the object type(s) that leads to the creation of each individual pixel in the rasterized output. Parameters (e.g., brightness, contrast, etc.) of individual pixels can then be adjusted based on object type and user-defined, object-based settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Artifex Software Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Vrhel
  • Patent number: 9628666
    Abstract: An image processing device acquires first image data representing a first image and second image data representing a second image. The first image includes a first edge and a first region. The second image includes a second edge and a second region. The image processing device generates, when a first condition is met, first combined image data representing a first combined image by using the first image data and the second image data so that the first region is overlapped with the second region. The image processing device generates, when a second condition different from the first condition is met, second combined image data representing a second combined image by using the first image data and the second image data so that the first edge adjoins the second edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takuya Shimahashi, Tomohiko Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 9619736
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes a non-volatile memory that stores data; a volatile memory into which the stored data is read for editing; a reading unit that reads the data from the non-volatile memory into the volatile memory; an editing unit that edits the read data; and a writing unit that writes the edited data into the non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory further includes a writing type that is associated with the data and provides a rule of how to write at the time of writing the data into the non-volatile memory after editing the data on the volatile memory. The reading unit reads the writing type at the time of reading the data. The writing unit writes, based on the writing type associated with the edited data, the data into the non-volatile memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Takashi Toyoda
  • Patent number: 9609177
    Abstract: In a method to generate a print specification color separation look-up table, a device color space is sampled to provide at least one sampled value. The sampled value is transformed to a device independent color space. The transformed sampled value is gamut mapped using a source color gamut and a color separation color gamut to provide a color separation value. The gamut mapping is performed in an expansion mode and a compression mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Jan Morovic, Peter Morovic, Juan Manuel García Reyero Viñas, Martí Rius Rossell
  • Patent number: 9609175
    Abstract: A method for creating PDF trapping objects from a PDF page description without a known contour description by using a computer for a printing process includes using the computer to generate a colored tiling pattern out of a part of the PDF page description without the top object to be choked, using the computer for clipping with a mask of the background object, using the computer for clipping with the top object or text to limit following frame additions to the top object, using the computer for adding a frame to the top object, using the generated colored tiling pattern as an inner frame between the background object and the top object, using the computer for adding a frame to the top object while activating overprinting of the background in the required object colors and using the computer for inserting the trapped top object into the PDF page description.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Frank Gnutzmann
  • Patent number: 9602694
    Abstract: A method for processing a print job includes: a) processing printer description language (PDL) image data for a select page of a print job to form raster image data for the select page, processing of the PDL image data and storing the raster image data in a RIP orientation; b) processing the raster image data for the select page to form bitmap image data for the select page, transforming the raster image data from the RIP orientation to a print orientation and storing the bitmap image data in the print orientation; and c) printing the bitmap image data arranged in the print orientation on a target substrate page to form a printed substrate page for the select page of the print job. A printing platform associated with the method includes a storage device, a RIP module, a rotator module, and a print engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Francis Kapo Tse, Peter Charles Rapley, David Russel Sponable, Jason Slack, David Rivshin, Lonnie A. LaFave, Steve Beers, James Bruce Campbell, Fritz Ebner, Scott Charles Warner, Timothy M. Hunter, Lee Roche
  • Patent number: 9591176
    Abstract: The skew angle of a document image is determined or estimated. The skew angle is determined or estimated by examining patterns found within a Fast Fourier Transform of a subset of the document image. This technique exploits the internal structure of the document designs to allow fast and accurate skew angle estimation, including for arbitrary document fragments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Authentix, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Pautler, Alan Hunt, Ralph Payne
  • Patent number: 9591184
    Abstract: An image processing system includes image processors. Each image processor outputs image data of one of color components that the image processor is in charge of to an image forming unit. Each image processor includes an accumulator that accumulates transferred image data of the color components; a generator that processes rendering data, and, for a corresponding page, generates image data of the color components; a transfer controller that transfers the image data to the accumulator when the accumulator is normal and to another accumulator when the accumulator has a defect, and, when the accumulator is normal, further transfers to the other image processors the image data of color components whose output is taken charge of by the other image processors; and an output controller that outputs the accumulated image data and the transferred image data of the color component in an order of pages to the image forming unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Takeshi Fukui