According to an embodiment of the present invention, to improve processing performance, a printing apparatus that performs printing by using a printhead formed by a plurality of headchips includes one CPU, a table configured to store processing contents set by the CPU, and a plurality of processing units configured to process, in parallel, printing data to be used in each headchip by commonly using the table and in accordance with the processing contents set in the table. In addition, the apparatus includes a plurality of control units configured to wait for the completion of the processing of each processing unit, synchronize the plurality of processing units for next processing, and cause each of the processing units to execute the next processing in accordance with the processing contents set in the table.

In a method for forming braille text on a recording medium, the braille text includes a plurality of cells with one or more dots included in each cell, and at least one of the cells includes a plurality of dots. The method includes discharging a photocurable ink onto the recording medium and curing with light the discharged photocurable ink, to form a print layer on the recording medium, and discharging a photocurable ink onto the print layer and curing with light the discharged photocurable ink, to form at least one additional print layer on the print layer. Resultant braille text is formed by the print layer and the at least one additional print layer, and the resultant braille text has an intra-cell dot-to-dot spacing of about 0.38 mm or more and about 1.32 mm or less.

A method for forming braille text on a recording medium, the braille text including cells with one or more dots in each cell, and at least one of the cells includes a plurality of dots therein, includes discharging a photocurable ink onto the recording medium and curing the discharged photocurable ink with light, thus forming a print layer on the recording medium, and discharging a photocurable ink onto the print layer and curing the discharged photocurable ink with light, thus forming one or more additional print layers on the print layer. The braille text has an intra-cell dot-to-dot spacing of about 0.38 mm or more and about 1.32 mm or less.

Copy and scan printing may include scanning, by scanner disposed along a paper path between a paper delivery roller and a paper pickup roller, content of documents (302). Further, copy and scan printing may include determining whether the documents are to be copied (304), in response to a determination that the documents are to be copied, determining whether a page count of the documents to be copied is available (306), and generating copies of the documents (310).

Copy and scan printing may include scanning, by scanner disposed along a paper path between a paper delivery roller and a paper pickup roller, content of documents (302). Further, copy and scan printing may include determining whether the documents are to be copied (304), in response to a determination that the documents are to be copied, determining whether a page count of the documents to be copied is available (306), and generating copies of the documents (310).

A white-plate graphic erosion process is performed on print data subjected to a RIP process in the following procedure. First, an erosion candidate region which is a candidate for a region in which a white-plate graphic is eroded is determined. Then, a region to be applied with an ink of a color other than white is determined. Then, an application target region is determined. Then, a region other than a region obtained by an erosion process out of the application target region is determined to be an erosion allowed region. Then, a region included in the colored region and the erosion allowed region out of the erosion candidate region is determined to be an erosion target region. Finally, the values of data of pixels included in the erosion target region among white-plate data are rewritten such that the amount of white ink applied to the pixels is reduced.

There are provided a printing system, a method of generating a halftone processing rule, a method of acquiring a characteristic parameter, image processing device and method, a halftone processing rule, a halftone image, a method of manufacturing a printed material, an ink jet printing system, and a program which are capable of reducing an operation load of a user and acquiring a halftone processing rule appropriate for the printing system. A characteristic parameter acquisition chart (100) including a pattern for acquiring characteristic parameters related to characteristics of the printing system is output, and the output characteristic parameter acquisition chart (100) is read by image reading means. The characteristic parameters are acquired by analyzing the read image of the characteristic parameter acquisition chart (100), and halftone processing rules that define the processing contents of halftone processes used in the printing system are generated based on the acquired characteristic parameters.

Original print data includes ejection information to form a plurality of pixel arrays each including pixels arranged in a first direction. A plurality of divided print data are generated based on the ejection information included in the original print data. At least one of divided print data includes the ejection information to form a first pixel array and a second pixel array, not a third pixel array. The second pixel array is included in the plurality of pixel arrays aligned in a second direction corresponding to the original print data and is not adjacent to the first pixel array in the second direction. The third pixel array is included in the plurality of pixel arrays aligned in the second direction corresponding to the original print data, and is between the first pixel array and the second pixel array in the second direction and adjacent to the first pixel array.

Original print data includes ejection information to form a plurality of pixel arrays each including pixels arranged in a first direction. A plurality of divided print data are generated based on the ejection information included in the original print data. At least one of divided print data includes the ejection information to form a first pixel array and a second pixel array, not a third pixel array. The second pixel array is included in the plurality of pixel arrays aligned in a second direction corresponding to the original print data and is not adjacent to the first pixel array in the second direction. The third pixel array is included in the plurality of pixel arrays aligned in the second direction corresponding to the original print data, and is between the first pixel array and the second pixel array in the second direction and adjacent to the first pixel array.

An image processing apparatus includes a management unit and a plurality of image processing modules. Each of the image processing modules performs image processing. The management unit manages a processing status of each of the image processing modules. The number of colors and the number of pixels for each of the colors are set as a processing unit for each of the image processing modules, and each of the image processing modules starts the image processing using the processing unit which is set, on the basis of the processing status of a previous image processing module among the processing statuses managed by the management unit.