Dot Gain LUT Correction for Image Engine Color Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Imaging devices face color consistency issues due to changes in machine state over time, such as dot gain, which affects the quality of printed images.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an image forming device with processing circuitry that uses a dot gain look-up table (LUT) and function fitting to extrapolate unmeasured dot coverage values, allowing for real-time correction of dot gain changes and maintaining image quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dot gain correction is performed frequently to maintain color consistency, then image quality is improved, but device complexity and operational time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary measurement of dot gain at specific intervals and stores the results in a lookup table. This pre-computed data allows rapid correction without complex real-time calculations, resolving the contradiction between maintaining color consistency and reducing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by measuring actual dot gain values and using these measurements to update correction parameters. The measured dot gain values are fed back into the system to adjust subsequent printing operations, ensuring color consistency while using simple lookup table references rather than complex continuous correction algorithms.
2Manufacturing precision
If dot gain measurement and LUT recalculation are performed frequently, then image quality is maintained, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs dot gain measurements and LUT recalculations as preliminary actions at scheduled intervals rather than continuously. The measurement data is pre-processed and stored, allowing rapid retrieval and application during printing operations, thus maintaining image quality while avoiding continuous interruptions to productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic measurement and correction cycles rather than continuous operation. Dot gain is measured at predetermined intervals, and LUTs are recalculated periodically. This periodic approach maintains image quality through regular corrections while maximizing printing productivity by minimizing interruptions to the printing process.
3Manufacturing precision
If conservative dot gain correction is applied to ensure print quality, then manufacturing precision is improved, but consumable usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter approach by using measured dot gain values to adjust coverage values dynamically. Instead of applying conservative fixed corrections that over-compensate, the system adapts the correction parameters based on actual device performance, achieving print quality while minimizing excessive media and ink consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from actual dot gain measurements to adjust correction parameters precisely. This feedback mechanism allows the system to apply only the necessary correction amount, avoiding over-correction and the associated waste of media and ink, while still ensuring acceptable print quality.
Data Source
AI summary
Image forming devices, hard imaging methods, and methods of determining a transfer function are described. According to one embodiment, an image forming device includes an image engine configured to provide a marking agent upon media, processing circuitry configured to control the image engine to form a test image upon the media having a specified coverage of the marking agent and to access measurement data indicative of a measured coverage of the marking agent of the test image, storage circuitry configured to store data comprising associations of a plurality of specified coverage values of the marking agent and a plurality of resultant coverage amounts of the marking agent formed upon the media by the image engine corresponding to respective ones of the specified coverage values, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to access image data of an image to be formed to identify one of the specified coverage values of the marking agent to be formed upon the media to form the image, to modify the one specified coverage value using the stored data and the measurement data to provide an imaging coverage value, and to control the image engine using the imaging coverage value to form the hard image.