Claims
- 1. A method of altering the appearance of an input digital image when printed, the digital image comprised of an array of pixels and wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information, the method comprising the steps of:
defining each pixel as either a background pixel, interior pixel, or an edge pixel; identifying enclosed edge pixels located on the edge of enclosed areas of print characters having enclosed areas, and, reassigning the digital value of one or more enclosed edge pixels independently of other pixels.
- 2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the digital image is a binary image.
- 3. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the digital image is a multi-bit image.
- 4. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the reassigning step comprises increasing the value of enclosed edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 5. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the reassigning step comprises decreasing the value of enclosed edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 6. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising performing the defining and reassigning steps two or more times.
- 7. A method of printing an image comprising the steps of:
converting the image into a digital bitmap comprised of an array of pixels wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information; defining each pixel as either a background pixel, interior pixel, or an edge pixel; identifying enclosed edge pixels located on the edge of enclosed areas of print characters having enclosed areas, and, reassigning the digital value of one or more enclosed edge pixels independently of other pixels.
- 8. A method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the converting step comprises converting the image to a binary digital bitmap and the reassigning step comprises reassigning the binary digital values to multi-bit digital values.
- 9. A method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the converting step comprises converting the image to a multi-bit digital bitmap and the reassigning step comprises reassigning the binary digital values to multi-bit digital values.
- 10. A method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the reassigning step comprises increasing the value of edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 11. A method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the reassigning step comprises decreasing the value of edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 12. A method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising performing the defining and reassigning steps two or more times.
- 13. An apparatus for altering the appearance of an input digital image when printed, the digital image comprised of an array of pixels and wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information, the apparatus comprising:
a rendering circuit for defining each pixel as either a background pixel, interior pixel, or an edge pixel; identifying enclosed edge pixels located on the edge of enclosed areas of print characters having enclosed areas; and, reassigning the digital value of one or more enclosed edge pixels independently of other pixels.
- 14. An apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein the digital image is a binary image.
- 15. An apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein the digital image is a multi-bit image.
- 16. An apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein reassigning comprises increasing the value of enclosed edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 17. An apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein reassigning step comprises decreasing the value of edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 18. An apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein the rendering circuit further comprises performing the defining and reassigning steps two or more times.
- 19. An apparatus for printing an image comprising:
a raster image processor for converting the image into a digital bitmap comprised of an array of pixels wherein each pixel is assigned a digital value representing marking information; a rendering circuit for defining each pixel as either a background pixel, interior pixel, or an edge pixel; and, reassigning the digital value of one or more edge pixels or interior pixels independently, thereby altering the appearance of the image when printed.
- 20. An apparatus in accordance with claim 19, wherein converting comprises converting the image to a binary digital bitmap and the reassigning comprises reassigning the binary digital values to multi-bit digital values.
- 21. An apparatus in accordance with claim 19, wherein converting comprises converting the image to a multi-bit digital bitmap and the reassigning step comprises reassigning the binary digital values to multi-bit digital values.
- 22. An apparatus in accordance with claim 19, wherein reassigning comprises increasing the value of enclosed edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 23. An apparatus in accordance with claim 19, wherein reassigning comprises decreasing the value of edge pixels with respect to interior pixels.
- 24. An apparatus in accordance with claim 19, wherein the rendering circuit performs performing the defining and reassigning two or more times.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the priority date of U.S. Provisional Application serial No. 60/459,159 filed Mar. 31, 2003 entitled “POST RIP IMAGE RENDERING IN AN ELECTROGRAPHIC PRINTER TO PREVENT CHARACTER SHIFT”.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60459159 |
Mar 2003 |
US |