Dynamic printing system compensation mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018234582-A1
Application number	US-201715434272-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 16, 2017
Priority date	Feb 16, 2017
Publication date	Aug 16, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes a printer to print image data to a medium and a print controller including a halftone calibration module to dynamically generate calibrated halftones to compensate for optical density changes that occur at the printer.

First claim

1 . A printing system comprising:
a print controller including: interpreter module to receive print job data and render the print job data into image data; a halftone calibration module to dynamically generate calibrated halftones to compensate for optical density changes that occur at the printing system, including generating a first calibrated halftone, generating a second calibrated halftone upon detecting the optical density changes and replacing the first calibrated halftone with the second calibrated halftone; and a halftoning module to perform halftoning on the image data using the first and second calibrated halftones.

2 . (canceled)

3 . The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the halftone calibration module generating the calibrated halftones comprises receiving an un-calibrated halftone, transforming threshold values in the un-calibrated halftone via an inverse transfer function to generate calibrated halftone threshold values; and generating one or more calibrated halftones based on the calibrated halftone threshold values.

4 . The printing system of claim 3 , further comprising a measurement module to obtain measurement data from the image data printed to the medium to detect the optical density changes and transmit the measurement data to the print controller.

5 . The printing system of claim 4 , wherein the halftone calibration module computes a first inverse transfer function to achieve a target response based on first measurement data.

6 . The printing system of claim 5 , wherein the halftone calibration module generates the first calibrated halftone based on the first inverse transfer function.

7 . The printing system of claim 1 , further comprising a printer to print image data to a medium.

8 . The printing system of claim 7 , wherein the halftone calibration module computes a second inverse transfer function to achieve a target response based on second measurement data during implementation of the first calibrated halftone to perform halftoning.

9 . The printing system of claim 8 , wherein the halftone calibration module generates the second calibrated halftone based on the second inverse transfer function.

10 . The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the halftone calibration module generates a calibrated halftone using a multi-bit threshold array (MTA).

11 . The printing system of claim 5 , wherein the measurement module comprises an edge sensor, wherein the threshold values in the uncalibrated halftone are transformed via the first inverse transfer function.

12 . The printing system of claim 5 , wherein the measurement module comprises a camera system, wherein the threshold values in the uncalibrated halftone corresponding to the measurement data are transformed via the first inverse transfer function.

13 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to:
receive print job data; render the print job data into image data; and dynamically generate calibrated halftones to compensate for optical density changes that occur at a printer, including,
generating a first calibrated halftone;
generating a second calibrated halftone upon detecting the optical density changes and replacing the first calibrated halftone with the second calibrated halftone; and
halftoning the image data using the first and second calibrated halftones.

14 . (canceled)

15 . The machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein generating the calibrated halftones comprises receiving an un-calibrated halftone, transforming threshold values in the un-calibrated halftone via an inverse transfer function to generate calibrated halftone threshold values, and generating one or more calibrated halftones based on the calibrated halftone threshold values.

16 . The machine-readable medium of claim 15 , comprising a machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, further cause the machine to receive measurement data from image data printed to a print medium to detect the optical density changes.

17 . The machine-readable medium of claim 16 , comprising a machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, further cause the machine to
compute a first inverse transfer function to achieve a target response based on first measurement data; generate the first calibrated halftone based on the first inverse transfer function; and
perform halftoning on the image data using the first calibrated halftone.

18 . The machine-readable medium of claim 17 , comprising a machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, further cause the machine to:
compute a second inverse transfer function to achieve a target response based on second measurement data; generate the second calibrated halftone based on the second inverse transfer function; and perform halftoning on the image data using the second calibrated halftone.

19 . A printing system comprising:
a print controller to receive print job data and render the print job data into image data, dynamically generate calibrated halftones to compensate for optical density changes that occur at the printer, including receiving an un-calibrated halftone, transforming threshold values in the un-calibrated halftone via an inverse transfer function to generate calibrated halftone threshold values; and generating one or more calibrated halftones based on the calibrated halftone threshold values and perform halftoning on the image data using the calibrated halftones.

20 . The printing system of claim 19 , wherein the halftone calibration module dynamically generating the calibrated halftones comprises generating a first calibrated halftone, generating a second calibrated halftone upon detecting the optical density changes and replacing the first calibrated halftone with the second calibrated halftone.

21 . The printing system of claim 19 , further comprising a printer to print image data to a medium.

Assignees

• Stanich Mikel
• Gurudath Nikita
• Ernst Larry
• Kailey Walter F
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Stanich Mikel
• Gurudath Nikita
• Ernst Larry
• Kailey Walter F

Classifications

• H04N1/00058

  using a separate apparatus · CPC title

• H04N1/6036

  involving periodic tests or tests during use of the machine · CPC title

• H04N1/00251

  with an apparatus for taking photographic images, e.g. a camera · CPC title

• H04N1/00034

  Measuring, i.e. determining a quantity by comparison with a standard (H04N1/00031 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N1/00068

  Calculating or estimating · CPC title