Printer Character Edge Processing to Reduce Binarization Jaggies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printers face issues with jaggies occurring at character edges due to large chipping when converting multivalued images to two gray scales, and edge enhancement processing can make characters appear edged.
Innovation Solution
A printer system that detects character sizes and adds broken lines to character edges only when the size is above a predetermined threshold, using broken line addition processing to generate a multivalued image, thereby reducing edge chipping and jaggies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If edge enhancement processing is executed on a character in a binarized image to make an edge appear smoothly, then jaggies are less likely to occur, but the character may appear to be edged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by adding a broken line to the character edge before binarization processing. This pre-processing step prepares the edge in advance to prevent chipping and jaggies during the subsequent binarization and printing processes, rather than attempting to correct edge issues after they occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the edge enhancement into a distinct broken line addition step that is separate from the binarization process. By segmenting these operations and applying the broken line before binarization, the patent achieves edge smoothness without the harmful edged appearance that occurs with conventional edge enhancement processing.
2Manufacturing precision
If a broken line is added to all characters to suppress jaggies, then edge chipping is reduced, but the broken line is conspicuous and deteriorates quality for small characters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively adding broken lines only to characters that meet specific size criteria (larger characters). This localized application ensures that broken lines are added only where they are beneficial for suppressing jaggies, while avoiding their conspicuous appearance on small characters where they would deteriorate image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by establishing a size threshold parameter to determine whether broken line addition should be applied. By changing the application state based on the character size parameter, the patent optimizes the balance between suppressing jaggies and maintaining image quality across different character types.
Data Source
AI summary
A printer generates intermediate data that is a multivalued image based on image data to be printed, and converts the generated intermediate data into two gray scales by dither processing or the like to generate a binarized image. Further, the printer causes a printing device to execute printing based on the generated binarized image. The printer detects character data from the image data before generating the intermediate data, adds a broken line to an edge of the character represented by the character data when a size of the character represented by the detected character data is a predetermined size or more, and generates intermediate data based on the character to which the broken line is added. The printer does not add a broken line when the size of the character represented by the character data is less than the predetermined size.