Printing Control Device Sketch Image Toner Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printing technologies face challenges in reducing toner consumption while maintaining print quality, as current draft printing methods either degrade the quality of the entire printed page or skip bitmaps, leading to information loss and inaccurate toner savings estimation.
Innovation Solution
A method that converts bitmap images to sketch images within print data, using techniques such as contrast enhancement, edge detection, and Saliency maps to generate a sketch image, which is then used to estimate and display the percentage of resource saved, thereby reducing toner consumption without significantly impairing print quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If optical density is decreased for the whole page to save toner, then toner consumption is reduced, but print quality deteriorates significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different processing treatments to different regions of the printed page based on their content type. Text regions undergo contrast enhancement and edge detection to maintain sharpness, while bitmap images are processed differently to preserve visual quality. This localized approach allows toner savings without uniform quality degradation across the entire page.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the printed content into different types (text, bitmap images, etc.) and applies specific processing methods to each segment. By dividing the page content and treating each segment appropriately, the system achieves toner reduction while maintaining the quality characteristics specific to each content type.
2Loss of substance
If bitmap printing is skipped to save toner, then toner consumption is reduced, but information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of skipping bitmap images entirely, the patent creates a processed copy of the bitmap that emphasizes edges and contours through contrast enhancement and edge detection. This sketch-like representation preserves the essential information and structure of the original bitmap while requiring significantly less toner to print.
3Loss of substance
If existing draft printing methods are used to reduce toner, then toner consumption is reduced, but accurate toner savings estimation is not provided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a feedback mechanism that calculates and displays the actual toner savings achieved through the processing methods. By monitoring the difference between original and processed image toner requirements, the system provides accurate feedback on resource savings, enabling users to understand the real impact of the draft printing mode.
Data Source
AI summary
A printing control device is disclosed. The printing control device includes a user interface unit to receive an print command for a print job, an extraction unit to extract a bitmap image from the print job, a sketch image generating unit to generate a sketch image by using the extracted bitmap image, a print data generating unit to replace the bitmap image by the generated sketch image in the print job to generate print data, and a communication interface unit to transmit the generated print data to an image forming apparatus.