Image Forming Apparatus Line Width Compensation for Reduction Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
During reduction printing operations, image forming apparatuses often fail to print lines with widths less than a certain threshold, leading to incomplete images and degraded printing quality due to the reduction of line widths below the minimum printable width, which existing technologies cannot effectively address.
Innovation Solution
The image forming apparatus includes a processor with a line determiner, compensation determiner, and compensator that assesses and compensates for unprintable line widths, ensuring that lines are rendered and printed at a minimum width that can be handled by the device, thereby preventing line disappearance during reduction printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If reduction printing is performed with a predetermined reduction ratio, then the size of objects is reduced to fit the printing medium, but lines with widths less than a certain threshold become unprintable and disappear from the printed image
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by detecting lines that will become unprintable after reduction before the actual printing process. The system calculates the reduced line width based on the reduction ratio and identifies lines that would fall below the printable threshold, then compensates for these lines in advance by adjusting their width or merging them with adjacent lines, ensuring they remain visible in the final printed image.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the line width parameter of lines that would become unprintable after reduction. By dynamically adjusting the line width parameter based on the reduction ratio and printable threshold, the system ensures that lines maintain sufficient width to be printed while preserving the overall reduction effect on the image.
2Productivity
If line widths are reduced according to the reduction ratio, then the overall image size is properly scaled, but some lines become too narrow to be printed, degrading printing quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring line width parameters during the reduction process. The system calculates the reduced line width, compares it against the printable threshold, and automatically adjusts the line width or merging strategy based on this feedback, ensuring that all lines remain printable while maintaining efficient reduction printing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing step between image reduction and printing. This intermediary process detects and compensates for lines that would become unprintable, acting as a mediator that preserves line completeness without interfering with the overall reduction printing efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If no line width compensation is performed, then the printing process is simple and fast, but lines with reduced widths less than the threshold are not printed, causing parts of objects to be missing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the problematic lines from the general reduction process by identifying lines that would become unprintable. These extracted lines are then processed separately through compensation mechanisms such as width adjustment or merging with adjacent lines, while the rest of the image proceeds through the standard reduction printing process, maintaining simplicity while preventing information loss.
Data Source
AI summary
A method reducing an image size of an image printed by an image forming apparatus includes determining whether a line width of an unprintable line will be compensated when it is determined that there is the unprintable line, rendering an object based on image data in which a result of determining whether the line width will be compensated is reflected, and performing a reduction printing operation of the object based on the rendering result.