Half tone image gloss control for gross mark

The present invention generally relates to a gloss inherent in a hard copy of image data such as a painting or text. More specifically, the present invention relates to halftone image data and control of differential gloss when the halftone image data is printed on a hard copy.

It is desirable to have a way to protect the document from copying. The most desirable method is one in which a human reader can easily see part of the content, but a copier scanner cannot. One approach is to print the image with clear toner or ink and hold the paper at an angle so that the human reader can identify it, but the copier is limited to reading the page at right angles. The scanner produces undetectable differences in reflected and diffused light.

There is a need for a printer that can print pages that can be read but not copied. One method described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,210,346 and 5,695,220 uses special white toner and special white paper designed to have different diffused light properties at different angles. Is. Of course, this system requires special matching paper and toner. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 6, 108, 512 granted to Hanna et al., The disclosed invention discloses a system for producing non-copyable prints. On zero graphic printers, text is printed with clear toner. Therefore, only the optical difference between the toner portion and the non-toner portion (the portion without toner) of the page is included in the reflective power (rate). Plastic toner reflects light more than paper. The human reader can read the page by keeping the page at an angle where the eyes block the reflected light from the toner, creating a contrast between the brighter-appearing toner and the darker-appearing paper. However, a scanner in a copier is usually set to prevent reflected light by applying light at a certain tilt angle and reading it at a right angle. In this case, the diffused light is almost equal on both the toner surface and the non-toner surface, the scanner does not detect any difference, and the copier cannot copy the original.

<p><patcit num="1"><text>U.S. Pat. Nos. 6, 108, 512</text></patcit></p>

<p> Therefore, as mentioned above, no special toner / ink, or paper / substrate (substraight), or additional prints to allow viewing without the need for special handling. There is a need for a device and method that enables the operation of the gloss mark and controls the gloss without the need for superimposition (superimposition). This need also includes the desire to generate images that are not easily copied but can be easily discerned by an observer without any help. Therefore, it is hoped that improved methods for manipulating the inherent gloss will be used to resolve this and other defects and shortcomings described above.</p>

<p> The present invention relates to a method of manipulating differential gloss that may be unique in a halftone image, the step of selecting a first halftone having a first anisotropic structural orientation, and the first halftone. It comprises a step of selecting a second halftone having a second anisotropic structural orientation different from that of the above. The first halftone is applied to at least a portion of the halftone image, and the second halftone is applied to the rest of the halftone image.</p><p> In particular, the present invention relates to a method of manipulating perceptual gloss in a halftone image, wherein a step of selecting a first halftone having an anisotropic structural orientation and a structure different from that of the first halftone are provided. A step of selecting a second halftone to have, a step of applying the first halftone to at least some part of the halftone image, and a step of applying the second halftone to the rest of the halftone image. It has stages.</p><p> The present invention also relates to a method of manipulating perceptual gloss in a halftone image, wherein the step of selecting a first halftone having a first anisotropic structural orientation is different from that of the first halftone. 2 A step of selecting a second halftone having an anisotropic structural orientation, and a step of applying the first halftone of the first halftone and the first halftone of the second halftone to at least some part of the halftone image. A step of applying the second halftone to other parts of the halftone image and a step of applying the third halftone to the rest of the halftone image are required.</p><p> Furthermore, the present invention relates to a halftone image comprising a first halftone having a certain anisotropic structural orientation and at least one additional halftone type having a structure different from the first halftone. The first halftone is applied to some portion of the halftone image, and the at least one additional halftone type is applied to the rest of the halftone image.</p>

<figref num="1">It shows how the human eye can detect large differences between glossy parts of a page that a scanner detector cannot.</figref><figref num="2">Shows the differential gloss seen in a single line screen halftone.</figref><figref num="3">Two 3 × 6 halftone patterns suitable for anisotropic structures are shown for producing discernible gloss differences to carry out the present invention.</figref><figref num="4">The density spread of the two halftone patterns in Figure 3.</figref><figref num="5">An alternative patchwork of the two halftone patterns in Figure 3 is shown to achieve the gloss mark.</figref><figref num="6">An embodiment is shown using the halftone pattern of FIG. 3 to achieve an alternative to the image indication of the halftone pattern for the gloss mark as shown in FIG.</figref>

By properly utilizing the unique perceptual difference gloss between various anisotropic halftone dot structures, the perceptual gloss through the difference gloss without the need for special paper or special toner or ink. It is possible to perform the desired operation and the generation of the gloss mark.

Figure 1 shows how the human eye can read the gloss on a page and the scanner cannot. Three glossy areas 14 are shown. One ray of light 10 from light source 2 hits the paper at a point where the gloss toner 14 is absent, and its reflected light 13 is in all directions (including the direction towards the human eye 1) with only a small amount of light. Diffused to exist. Other rays of light 11 of equal intensity come into contact with the paper at the point where the gloss toner 14 is present. Here, a large amount of reflected light 12 is present in the indicated direction. When the human eye 1 is positioned as shown, the human eye 1 can easily see a large difference between the glossy toner area and the non-glossy toner area. However, the scanner 3 has only incident light at right angles to the paper. In this case, there is only a small amount of diffuse light coming from both glossy and non-glossy dots, and the scanner cannot detect the difference. This is one way to generate a glossy image that cannot be scanned by conventional copiers and scanners. By using a halftone structure, the incident light is directional (directional) around the azimuth. The fact that it can be manipulated to be (directive) was largely unrecognized. The mirror reflects equally regardless of the azimuth angle of the light source with respect to the plane of the mirror. Similarly, ordinary blank paper (blank paper) reflects and diffuses equally regardless of the azimuth of the light source. However, printed matter can and often exhibits different reflective and diffusive properties, depending on the azimuth of the origin of the light source with respect to the structural orientation of the halftone. When maximized, such reflection properties are exhibited in halftones with a structure that is anisotropic in nature. In other words, the indicatorix used to represent light scattered or reflected from halftone dots has anisotropic halftone. When it has a structure), it changes to the maximum depending on the azimuth orientation of the halftone dots with respect to the light source. FIG. 2 is an example of what an anisotropic structure means.

In FIG. 2, a single anisotropic line screen halftone exists in two orientations, namely parallel orientation and perpendicular orientation, with respect to the colliding incident light 200. Both halftone dot orientations are chosen to have similar densities so that the diffuse and incident light are equal at an angle perpendicular to the paper. In this method, the light available straight to the scanner 3 or to the human eye is the same. However, the specular (positive) reflected light 12 is considerably larger with respect to the anisotropic parallel orientation 210. If most of the 210 parallel oriented halftones were printed directly adjacent to most of the 220 orthogonally oriented halftones, there is a difference between them in terms of reflected light, which is Seen from an angle, it is perceived as a gross difference or a shift at the gloss mark. This perception (force) of the gross difference will be maximized when the halftone anisotropic orientations are 90 degrees apart, as shown in Figure 2.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a halftone cell suitable for use by those skilled in the art in embodiments that use the teachings of the present invention. These are just useful examples, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Each halftone cell is configured as a 3x6 pixel array. The turn-on / off sequence is displayed numerically. Note that the pixel numbering is diagonally oriented. Both Type A subcell 310 and Type B subcell 320 have a 45 degree orientation, one pointing to the right and the other to the left. This orientation is clearly shown in the density sweeps 410, 420 in FIG. In order to maximize the perception (force) of the gloss difference, the orientations of subcell types A and B are arranged 90 degrees apart from each other.

FIG. 5 shows a gloss mark image 500 that can be achieved using a halftone cell, as described above. Screen A510 uses one halftone cell type and screen B520 uses the other. Circle 501 is provided to aid visual comprehension between image screens 500, 510, and 520. The desired gloss mark is here for the sphere 502 to be perceived in the center of image 500. Screen A510 provides a field of anisotropic halftones oriented to the right diagonal, and screen 520 provides a spherical region of anisotropic halftone cells oriented diagonally to the left. In this way, the selections of the two screen types are put together (patchworked) to create the gloss mark image 500.

Another approach for assembling the gloss mark image is shown in Figure 6. Here, the primary image 600 is received as input data to the digital front end (DFE) 610 as usual. However, the desired gloss mark image 620 is also received as input data to the DFE 610. The processed image is grayscaled as it is transmitted to the image output terminal (IOT) 630, and the halftone density is driven by the primary image 600 data as usual. However, the halftone type selection is driven by the gross mark image data 620 in question as an input to the multiplexer switch 640. The gloss mark image data 620 in question serves to direct a portion of the primary image 600 to use the first anisotropic structured halftone, while an alternative to be used for the rest of the primary image 600. Instruct the halftone of. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the gross mark image data 620 in question may be flattened with a DFE610 to a simple 0 and 1 pixel data display, if desired. This pattern of 0s and 1s is then used to switch the multiplexer 640 to one anisotropic structural orientation type or the other. The multiplexer 640 is therefore sent to the IOT 630 by switching the selection between screen 1 type halftone 650 or screen 2 halftone type 660 as directed by the desired gloss mark data 620. Produces a composite result of raster input processed (RIP) image data 620. In this way, the pattern 620 superposition (superimposition) is embedded in the primary image 600, which can only be perceived as a gross difference gloss mark.

Finally, by exchanging between the two halftone types, the two halftones carefully selected to display different anisotropic structural orientations, each with the same matching density characteristics, It enables overlaying of gloss mark images without the need for special toner or paper. This operation of gloss difference will, of course, be best utilized with toner / ink substrate systems that display their own inherent gloss properties in the best possible way. An example of such a system is an electrostatic copying / high-grade inkjet system. Wax-based systems generally rarely have an inherent gloss, but it will be clear that those systems can be modified to techniques that increase their inherent gloss. In such a scenario alone, the teachings herein could be applied to such wax-based systems as well. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these teachings apply to both solid black and white, in addition to color images, plain paper, glossy paper, or transparency. Also, for those skilled in the art, this operation of the inherent anisotropic gloss difference is where either the solid black (solid black) region (solid toner / ink) or white is present, and therefore the toner is low / It will be understood that it is weak in areas with low ink. This is why these regions do not best exhibit the anisotropic structure of the selected halftone.

Although the embodiments disclosed herein are preferred, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various alternative modifications, modifications and improvements can be made. For example, those skilled in the art will be able to apply the teachings presented herein to many types of toner / ink and substrate types, while at the same time providing many types of halftone cell types and three or more different halftone structures. You will find that it can also be applied to configurations that involve selection. All such modifications are included in the claims.