H04N1/40037

Multi-mode laser energy control for thermochromic print systems
09973645 · 2018-05-15 · ·

A printing system and method comprising a transport system configured to move a print target, a laser for directing energy on the print target, and a control system configured to adjust the energy directed on the print target according to a present speed of the print target the control system further comprising an analog control, a scrolling window control, a pulse width modulation control, and a halftone modulation control.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium
09967429 · 2018-05-08 · ·

An image processing apparatus including: a halftone processing unit configured to generate halftone image data represented by a halftone dot corresponding to a density value by performing halftone processing using a dither matrix for input image data; a phase change processing unit configured to correct a deviation of a laser beam scan line that is used in forming an image in accordance with the input image data on a printing medium by performing phase change processing to shift the phase of a pixel in the halftone image data in a sub scanning direction; and a pseudo high-resolution processing unit configured to convert the halftone image data after the phase change processing into halftone image data with a lower resolution by performing pseudo high-resolution processing, and in the dither matrix, threshold values are arranged so that the number of pixels in the sub scanning direction, which make up the halftone dot, is always even.

Light source drive control device, image forming apparatus, light source drive control method, and computer program product

A light source drive control device includes: an image data generating part that generates line-thinned image data having been subjected to line thinning processing for thinning an edge pixel in image data by a first pixel width; an intensity information generating part that generates intensity information including a first intensity at which a pixel not included in a set second pixel width of an edge in the line-thinned image data is exposed and a second intensity at which a pixel included in the second pixel width is exposed and which is higher than the first intensity; and a light source driving part that drives a light source based on a light source modulation signal generated according to the line-thinned image data and a drive current data switched based on a drive current switching signal generated based on the intensity information.

NATURAL FREQUENCY MEASURING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS
20180113408 · 2018-04-26 · ·

A natural frequency measuring device includes a receiving unit and a measuring unit. The receiving unit receives information of an image formed on a recording medium with vibrations of different frequencies provided to a member used to form the image. The measuring unit measures a natural frequency of the member from a frequency response characteristic using a misregistration amount of the image represented by the information of the image received by the receiving unit.

Determining settings for arrays of printing components

A method of controlling a print engine, the method comprising: printing a first test image including a number of scans of printing components at a first setting of the array of printing components; printing at least a second test image by a number of scans of the printing components at a modified setting of the array of printing components, the modified setting being different from the first setting, wherein the modified setting provides a modified setting for each one of the printing components which is varied according to the position of the respective printing component in the array; optically scanning the printed test images and determining the distinctiveness of a scan band within the printed test images for each one of the test images; and deriving an optimum setting of the array of printing components from a comparison of the determined distinctiveness.

MULTI-MODE LASER ENERGY CONTROL FOR THERMOCHROMIC PRINT SYSTEMS
20180063357 · 2018-03-01 · ·

A printing system and method comprising a transport system configured to move a print target, a laser for directing energy on the print target, and a control system configured to adjust the energy directed on the print target according to a present speed of the print target the control system further comprising an analog control, a scrolling window control, a pulse width modulation control, and a halftone modulation control.

Image forming apparatus
09807279 · 2017-10-31 · ·

Provided is an image forming apparatus outputs for each pixel, together with the pixel data, pixel position data which adjusts an irradiation position for each pixel of the laser light in a range of one pixel in a scanning direction, generates a pulse width signal at a pixel position corresponding to the pixel position data and having a pulse width corresponding to the pixel data, generates the laser light based on the pulse width signal, and corrects, via the adjustment by the pixel position data, the pulse widths of the pulse width signals to different values depending on whether the pulse width signals of the adjacent two pixels contact with each other.

Image forming device with laser scanner unit and memory therefor
09800756 · 2017-10-24 ·

An image forming device includes a controller and a laser scanning unit. The laser scanning unit includes a light source for generating a laser beam for discharging a photoconductive member to create an electrostatic latent image. A first memory is housed on the laser scanning unit and stores data unique to the laser scanning unit and laser beam as characterized during production. A second memory in communication with the controller, and separate from the first memory, stores data characterizing a family of similar laser scanning units of a same type. The controller is configured to read both the first and second memories to generate data to compensate for energy variations along a scan path of the laser beam on the photoconductive member during use. The data substantially reduces energy variation from one scan path to a next.

IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM
20170208211 · 2017-07-20 ·

An image processing apparatus including: a halftone processing unit configured to generate halftone image data represented by a halftone dot corresponding to a density value by performing halftone processing using a dither matrix for input image data; a phase change processing unit configured to correct a deviation of a laser beam scan line that is used in forming an image in accordance with the input image data on a printing medium by performing phase change processing to shift the phase of a pixel in the halftone image data in a sub scanning direction; and a pseudo high-resolution processing unit configured to convert the halftone image data after the phase change processing into halftone image data with a lower resolution by performing pseudo high-resolution processing, and in the dither matrix, threshold values are arranged so that the number of pixels in the sub scanning direction, which make up the halftone dot, is always even.

IMAGE FORMING DEVICE WITH LASER SCANNER UNIT AND MEMORY THEREFOR
20170192373 · 2017-07-06 ·

An image forming device includes a controller and a laser scanning unit. The laser scanning unit includes a light source for generating a laser beam for discharging a photoconductive member to create an electrostatic latent image. A first memory is housed on the laser scanning unit and stores data unique to the laser scanning unit and laser beam as characterized during production. A second memory in communication with the controller, and separate from the first memory, stores data characterizing a family of similar laser scanning units of a same type. The controller is configured to read both the first and second memories to generate data to compensate for energy variations along a scan path of the laser beam on the photoconductive member during use. The data substantially reduces energy variation from one scan path to a next.