Abstract: This invention is a method of producing a set of TRC's for a color printer's secondary halftone screens that is correlated with the printer's primary halftone screens. The method makes use of the printer/screen characteristic data that is normally gathered during screen calibration. However, instead of progressing from the data to a normal calibration for the secondary screens, the method goes backward through the data starting with the finished primary screen TRC's. The method insures that for every primary screen density, the closest possible secondary screen density is used when the same digital value is specified.

Abstract: A system facilitates printing of microtext. A processing component allows a user to create one or more microtext characters, wherein the characters are output as a data packet. An SRE code store receives and associates one or more SRE codes with the data packet, each SRE code is representative of a bit pattern, wherein the bit pattern is a grid of bits that are filled to create a particular pattern. A font bank receives the one or more SRE codes from the SRE code store and defines such codes via a font. A raster image processor receives the font from the font bank, decodes the font and outputs instructions to print the microtext.

Abstract: Conventional design tools were not developed for designing square zero-shift supercells. Conventionally, solutions that enable square zero-shift supercells were found by trial and error or by exhaustive analysis. According to a first design criterion of this invention, a non-square supercell in a first frame of reference has a diagonal that is equal in length to the diagonal of a square supercell in a second frame of reference rotated at a desired screen angle to the first frame of reference. The screen angle is a function of the lengths of the sides of the non-square supercell in the first frame of reference. According to a second design criterion, if the area of the corresponding square supercell in the second frame of reference is an integer, a square zero-shift supercell can be designed based on the lengths of the sides of the non-square supercell in the first frame of reference.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for producing a print that substantially corresponds to the colorimetric attributes of a corresponding proof for an electronic source file. The method and system entail creating a first raster file corresponding to the electronic source file and a second raster file corresponding to the proof. The first and second raster files are aligned to insure a spatial correlation, and a color conversion data structure is built by comparing the aligned first and second raster files. The color conversion data structure is then used to convert the first raster file to a color converted output file. The color converted output file is color transformed to an output file which is then used to produce the print. The print substantially corresponds to the colorimetric attributes of the corresponding proof for the electronic source file.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an image processing method for producing enhanced halftone edges, particularly suited to those edges which only lie upon the background as apposed to those edges which abut other halftone screens. It utilizes a step of defining border pixels and a step of halftoning those border pixels in a different manner than the halftoning applied to the interior region of the tint or image segment. The preferred halftone for the border pixels will be related to the interior halftone by some number of common spatial frequency harmonics.

Abstract: A method for minimizing boundary effects when switching between halftone screens on a scanline, includes selecting a first halftone screen having a first fundamental frequency and a first angle for printing pixels of a first type; and selecting a second halftone screen having a second fundamental frequency and a second angle for printing pixels of a second type, wherein the second frequency and second angle are harmonically matched to the first frequency and first angle, wherein at least one pixel of the second type is adjacent to a pixel of the first type. In one embodiment, the first and second frequencies are selected to have a substantially zero frequency beat. In another, the first and second frequencies are selected to have a substantially high frequency beat.