Paul M. Butterfield

User-oriented approach to control of tone reproduction for electronic reprographic systems

Electronic reprographic systems are those which reproduce images through digital means. These systems offer the possibility of more flexible tonal control over pictorial reproduction than earlier analog systems. One challenge of electronic reprographics is to design a method of pictorial tone reproduction control that is simple to operate and that does not require operator knowledge of image processing. Described here is one such method which has been applied to Xeroxs DocuTech Production Publisher. All electronic reprographic systems have three major components: a digital scanner, an image processor, and a digital printer. The imaging characteristics of all of these components could be altered to effect the systems tone reproduction. With the described method, scanner and printer imaging characteristics are held rigidly constant through rigorous process controls. This permits direct calculation of image processing characteristics to meet the tone reproduction requirements specified by the customer. The method allows lower cost hardware and faster processing by a reduction in the number of gray levels per pixel. A userfriendly interface and the availability of multiple halftone screens also contribute to meeting customer requirements.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.