Low Overhead Near Unity Scaling Technique

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016092757-A1
Application number	US-201414498644-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 26, 2014
Priority date	Sep 26, 2014
Publication date	Mar 31, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A printer is described having a control unit and/or image processor to determine a number of pixels by which to scale an image along an axis of the image, wherein, the scaling of the image is less than 10% of the image along the axis. The control unit and/or image processor is also to identify locations along the axis equal to the number. The control unit and/or image processor is also to remove a region of more than one pixel along the axis at each of the locations. The control unit and/or image processor is also to insert a region of more than one pixel along the axis at each of the locations, where, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for the number.

First claim

1 . A printer, comprising:
a control unit and/or image processor to:
determine a number of pixels by which to scale an image along an axis of said image, wherein, scaling of said image is less than 10% of said image along said axis;
identify locations along said axis equal to said number;
remove a region of more than one pixel along said axis at each of said locations;
insert a region of more than one pixel along said axis at each of said locations, wherein, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for said number.

2 . The printer of claim 1 wherein values of the inserted pixels are determined from a weighted combination of more than one of the removed pixels.

3 . The printer of claim 1 wherein said remove and said insert are performed individually for each color of said image.

4 . The printer of claim 1 wherein the control unit and/or image processor further:
determine a second number of pixels by which to scale said image by a same scaling factor along the other axis of said image;
identify locations along said other axis equal to said second number;
remove a region of more than one pixel along said other axis at each of said locations;
insert a region of more than one pixel along said other axis at each of said locations, wherein, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for said second number.

5 . The printer of claim 4 wherein the number of removed or inserted pixels is 3 and the number of the other removed or inserted pixels is 2.

6 . The printer of claim 1 wherein said scaling is negative scaling such that more pixels are removed than inserted.

7 . The printer of claim 6 wherein 3 pixels are removed along said axis at each of said locations and 2 pixels are added along said axis at each of said locations.

8 . The printer of claim 1 wherein said scaling is positive scaling such that more pixels are inserted than removed.

9 . The printer of claim 8 wherein 2 pixels are removed along said axis at each of said locations and 3 pixels are added along said axis at each of said locations.

10 . A non-transitory machine readable medium containing program code that when processed by a processing unit cause the processing unit to perform a method, the method comprising:
determining a number of pixels by which to scale said image along an axis of said image, wherein, said scaling of said image is less than 10% of said image along said axis; identifying locations along said axis equal to said number; removing a region of more than one pixel along said axis at each of said locations; inserting a region of more than one pixel along said axis at each of said locations, wherein, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for said number.

11 . The machine readable medium of claim 10 wherein said scaling is negative scaling such that more pixels are removed than inserted.

12 . The machine readable medium of claim 10 wherein said scaling is positive scaling such that more pixels are inserted than removed.

13 . The machine readable medium of claim 10 wherein values of the inserted pixels are determined from a weighted combination of more than one of the removed pixels.

14 . The machine readable medium of claim 10 wherein said method further comprises:
determining a second number of pixels by which to scale said image by a same scaling factor along the other axis of said image;
identifying locations along said other axis equal to said second number;
removing a region of more than one pixel along said other axis at each of said locations;
inserting a region of more than one pixel along said other axis at each of said locations, wherein, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for said second number.

15 . The machine readable medium of claim 10 wherein the number of removed or inserted pixels is 3 and the number of the other removed or inserted pixels is 2.

16 . A method of scaling an image, comprising:
determining a number of pixels by which to scale said image along an axis of said image, wherein, said scaling of said image is less than 10% of said image along said axis; identifying locations along said axis equal to said number; removing a region of more than one pixel along said axis at each of said locations; inserting a region of more than one pixel along said axis at each of said locations, wherein, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for said number.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein values of the inserted pixels are determined from a weighted combination of more than one of the removed pixels.

18 . The method of claim 16 wherein said removing and said inserting are performed individually for each color of said image.

19 . The method of claim 16 wherein said method further comprises:
determining a second number of pixels by which to scale said image by a same scaling factor along the other axis of said image;
identifying locations along said other axis equal to said second number;
removing a region of more than one pixel along said other axis at each of said locations;
inserting a region of more than one pixel along said other axis at each of said locations, wherein, a difference between pixels removed and pixels inserted accounts for said second number.

20 . The method of claim 16 wherein said scaling is negative scaling such that more pixels are removed than inserted.

Assignees

• Stanich Mikel John
• Chandu Kartheek
• Ernst Larry M
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Stanich Mikel John
• Chandu Kartheek
• Ernst Larry M

Classifications

• G06K15/102

  using ink jet print heads · CPC title

• G06K15/1876

  Decreasing spatial resolution; Dithering · CPC title

• G06K15/1843 Primary

  Changing size or raster resolution · CPC title

• G06T3/4023

  based on decimating pixels or lines of pixels; based on inserting pixels or lines of pixels · CPC title

• G06K15/1822

  Analysing the received data before processing · CPC title