Methods apparatus and data structures for enhancing the resolution of images to be rendered on patterned display devices

For use in a system for rendering an image on a device having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of separately controllable sub-pixel elements per pixel, a method for improving spatial resolution of an image that is rendered by processing image information including blend coefficients defining a blend between a foreground color and a background color, the method comprising:

• accepting a digital scan line of the image information representing discrete samples of an image, the discrete samples of the scan line including samples of blend coefficients defining a blend between the foreground color and the background color;
• applying first filters to the digital scan line to produce an oversampled scan line for the samples of blend coefficients, wherein the oversampled scan line comprises at least two new samples for each sub-pixel element;
• for each of the sub-pixel elements, applying a second filter to a set of at least two of the new samples of the blend coefficients to generate a filtered blend coefficient for each sub-pixel element, the second filter applied to each sub-pixel element being spatially displaced from the second filters applied for the other sub-pixel elements, such that each filtered blend coefficient is derived from spatially different samples;
• applying the foreground color and the background color to each of the filtered blend coefficients to generate color values associated with the sub-pixel elements;
• mapping each color value to the sub-pixel element associated therewith, such that each sub-pixel element in a pixel has a different color value mapped thereto;
• and
• displaying the image by separately controlling each sub-pixel element using the color value mapped thereto.

For use in a system for rendering an image on a device having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of separately controllable sub-pixel elements per pixel, a method for improving spatial resolution of an image that is rendered by processing image information including blend coefficients defining a blend between a foreground color and a background color, the method comprising:

• accepting a digital scan line of the image information representing discrete samples of an image, the discrete samples of the scan line including blend coefficients defining a blend between the foreground color and the background color and further including at least two samples of the blend coefficients per sub-pixel element;
• applying first filters to sets of the samples of the blend coefficients in the digital scan line to generate new samples by filtering the at least two samples of the blend coefficients per sub-pixel element;
• for each of the sub-pixel elements, applying second filters to the new samples to generate a filtered blend coefficient associated with each sub-pixel element, the second filter from which the filtered blend coefficient for a given sub-pixel element is derived being spatially displaced from the second filters applied for other sub-pixel elements, such that each filtered blend coefficient is derived from spatially different samples;
• applying the foreground color and the background color to each of the filtered blend coefficients to generate color values associated with the sub-pixel elements;
• mapping each color value to the sub-pixel element associated therewith, such that each sub-pixel element in a pixel has a different color value mapped thereto;
• and
• displaying the image by separately controlling each sub-pixel element using the color value mapped thereto.

For use in a system for rendering an image on a device having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of separately controllable sub-pixel elements of different colors per pixel, an apparatus for improving spatial resolution of an image that is rendered by processing image information, apparatus for processing image information, the apparatus comprising:

• means for accepting digital scan lines of the image information representing a discrete values of an image, the scan lines including at least two color components, each said scan line comprising at least two samples per sub-pixel element, wherein each at least two samples correspond to one of the color components;
• means for applying first filters to the digital scan lines to produce oversampled scan lines, wherein each oversampled scan line comprises at least two new samples for each sub-pixel component;
• means, for each of the sub-pixel elements in each of the oversampled scan lines, for applying second filters to the new samples to generate a separate filtered color value associated with each sub-pixel element, the second filter from which the separate filtered color value for a given sub-pixel element is derived being spatially displaced from the second filters applied for other sub-pixel elements, such that each separate filtered color value is derived from spatially different samples of the oversampled scan lines;
• means for mapping each separate filtered color value to the sub-pixel element associated therewith, such that each sub-pixel element in a pixel has a different separate filtered color value mapped thereto;
• and
• means for displaying the image by separately controlling each sub-pixel element using the separate filtered color value mapped thereto.

For use in a system for rendering an image on a device having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of separately controllable sub-pixel elements per pixel, an apparatus for improving spatial resolution of an image that is rendered by processing image information including blend coefficients defining a blend between a foreground color and a background color, the apparatus comprising:

• means for accepting a digital scan line of the image information representing discrete samples of an image, the discrete samples of the scan line including blend coefficients defining a blend between the foreground color and the background color;
• means for applying first filters to the digital scan line to produce an oversampled scan line for the blend coefficients, wherein the oversampled scan line comprises at least two new samples for each sub-pixel element;
• and
• for each of the sub-pixel elements, means for applying a second filter to a set of at least two of the new samples of the blend coefficients to generate a filtered blend coefficient for each sub-pixel element, the second filter applied for each sub-pixel element being spatially displaced from the second filters applied for the other sub-pixel elements, such that each filtered blend coefficient is derived from spatially different samples;
• means for applying the foreground color and the background color to each of the filtered blend coefficients to generate color values associated with the sub-pixel elements;
• means for mapping each other value to the sub-pixel element associated therewith, such that each sub-pixel element in a pixel has a different color value mapped thereto;
• and
• means for displaying the image by separately controlling each sub-pixel element using the color value mapped thereto.

For use in a system for rendering an image on a device having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of separately controllable sub-pixel elements per pixel, an apparatus for improving spatial resolution of an image that is rendered by processing image information including blend coefficients defining a blend between a foreground color and a background color, the apparatus comprising:

• means for accepting a digital scan line of the image information representing discrete samples of an image, the discrete samples of the scan line including blend coefficients defining a blend between the foreground color and the background color and further including at least two samples of the blend coefficients per sub-pixel element;
• means for applying first filters to sets of the samples of the blend coefficients in the digital scan line to generate new samples by filtering the at least two samples of the blend coefficients per sub-pixel element;
• means for each of the sub-pixel elements, for applying second filters to the new samples to generate a filtered blend coefficient associated with each sub-pixel element, the second filter from which the filtered blend coefficient for a given sub-pixel element is derived being spatially displaced from the second filters applied for other sub-pixel elements, such that each filtered blend coefficient is derived from spatially different samples;
• means for applying the foreground color and the background color to each of the filtered blend coefficients to generate color values associated with the sub-pixel elements;
• means for mapping each color value to the sub-pixel element associated therewith, such that each sub-pixel element in a pixel has a different color value mapped thereto;
• and
• means for displaying the image by separately controlling each sub-pixel element using the color value mapped thereto.

For use in a system for rendering an image on a device having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of separately controllable sub-pixel elements of different colors per pixel, a method for generating color values for sub-pixel components to improve spatial resolution of the image, the method comprising:

• accepting discrete values of one or more color scan lines, wherein the discrete values of each color scan line include one or more samples per sub-pixel component;
• filtering the discrete values of each color scan line to generate an oversampled color scan line for each color scan line, wherein each oversampled scan line includes one or more new samples per sub-pixel component;
• and
• applying box filters to the new samples of each oversampled color scan line to generate color values that are associated with each sub-pixel component, wherein the box filters of each oversampled color scan line are displaced with respect to other oversampled scan lines.