Image recording apparatus, image recording control method, and storage medium
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorAtsushi Ushiroda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
As a thinning pattern which is used in a multipass recording method, plural mask patterns are created according to a printing mode from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable when binarization is performed at an arbitrary level. Thus, as compared with a mask pattern based on a random number, generation of a repetitive pattern and deterioration of graininess can be lowered, and the number of memories for storing the mask patterns can be reduced.
Claims27
An image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of said divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said apparatus comprising:
- mask creation means for creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- thinning means for thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by said recording head,
- wherein said pseudo periodic mask arrangement is created by repeating a process of obtaining initial recording pixel positions at random, giving certain repulsion potentials to all the obtained recording pixel positions, and setting a new recording pixel to the pixel position at which the sum of the potentials is minimum, until the recording pixels are set for all the pixels.
An image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of said divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said apparatus comprising:
- mask creation means for creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- thinning means for thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by said recording head,
- wherein said pseudo periodic mask arrangement can be supplied from an apparatus external to said image recording apparatus, and
- said pseudo periodic mask arrangement has a characteristic that generation of a repetitive pattern and graininess can be suppressed because low-frequency components are few, as compared with an arrangement based on a random number.
An image recording control method which is applied to an image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of the divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said method comprising:
- a mask creation step of creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- a thinning step of thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by the recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement is created by repeating a process of obtaining initial recording pixel positions at random, giving certain repulsion potentials to all the obtained recording pixel positions, and setting a new recording pixel to the pixel position at which the sum of the potentials is minimum, until the recording pixels are set for all the pixels.
An image recording control method which is applied to an image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of the divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said method comprising:
- a mask creation step of creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- a thinning step of thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by the recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement can be supplied from an apparatus external to the image recording apparatus, and
- the pseudo periodic mask arrangement has a characteristic that generation of a repetitive pattern and graininess can be suppressed because low-frequency components are few, as compared with an arrangement based on a random number.
A computer-readable storage medium which stores a program to execute an image recording control method applicable to an image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of the divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said method comprising:
- a mask creation step of creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- a thinning step of thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by the recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement is created by repeating a process of obtaining initial recording pixel positions at random, giving certain repulsion potentials to all the obtained recording pixel positions, and setting a new recording pixel to the pixel position at which the sum of the potentials is minimum, until the recording pixels are set for all the pixels.
A computer-readable storage medium which stores a program to execute an image recording control method applicable to an image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of the divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said method comprising:
- a mask creation step of creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- a thinning step of thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by the recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement can be supplied from an apparatus external to the image recording apparatus, and
- the pseudo periodic mask arrangement has a characteristic that generation of a repetitive pattern and graininess can be suppressed because low-frequency components are few, as compared with an arrangement based on a random number.
An image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of said divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said apparatus comprising:
- mask creation means for creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- thinning means for thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by said recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement has a characteristic that generation of a repetitive pattern and graininess can be suppressed because low-frequency components are few, as compared with an arrangement based on a random number.
An image recording control method which is applied to an image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of the divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said method comprising:
- a mask creation step of creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- a thinning step of thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by the recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement has a characteristic that generation of a repetitive pattern and graininess can be suppressed because low-frequency components are few, as compared with an arrangement based on a random number.
A computer-readable storage medium which stores a program to execute an image recording control method applicable to an image recording apparatus which divides a recording head having plural recording elements into plural areas, performs plural-time scans to an identical area on a recording medium such as a sheet by using the same or different areas of the divided recording head, and creates a thinned-out image according to a thinning pattern in each scan to complete an entire image, said method comprising:
- a mask creation step of creating plural mask patterns from a pseudo periodic mask arrangement that an arrangement of non-recording pixels and recording pixels becomes visually preferable;
- and
- a thinning step of thinning out recording data by using the mask patterns as the thinning patterns for respective recording areas by the recording head,
- wherein the pseudo periodic mask arrangement has a characteristic that generation of a repetitive pattern and graininess can be suppressed because low-frequency components are few, as compared with an arrangement based on a random number.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.