The Design Of A Graphic Arts Halftone Screening Computer

Larry G Wash; John F Hamilton Jr.

doi:10.1117/12.952554

17 April 1989 The Design Of A Graphic Arts Halftone Screening Computer

Larry G Wash, John F Hamilton Jr.

Proceedings Volume 1073, Electronic Imaging Applications in Graphic Arts; (1989) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.952554
Event: OE/LASE '89, 1989, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

In the graphic arts industry, a digital image is stored as four continuous tone files of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK). These are the most common colors used in a 4-color ink printing process. Since a printing press cannot print "differential" amounts of ink at a given location, printers achieve fine tonal gradations by printing halftone dots of smoothly changing "areas". A screening computer's primary function is to convert these continuous tone pixel values into halftone dots. In general, the task of transforming continuous tone pixel values into halftone dots is computationally intensive. Furthermore, when using a high resolution output writer, screened halftone bitmapped images can easily exceed 100 Mbytes per separation, resulting in lengthy and unacceptable screening times. As a result, the sheer volume of data that must be manipulated in the screening process dictates the need for a high performance, special purpose screening engine, which does not degrade the performance of the target system. This paper first introduces the fundamental theory and concepts of electronic digital halftone screening. Second, a set of fundamental functional requirements for a digital screening computer are developed. Third, a parallel, pipelined screening computer design, which meets the developed functional requirements, is presented. Last, an illustration of digitally screened halftone dots is provided.

Citation Download Citation

Larry G Wash and John F Hamilton Jr. "The Design Of A Graphic Arts Halftone Screening Computer", Proc. SPIE 1073, Electronic Imaging Applications in Graphic Arts, (17 April 1989); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.952554

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