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US3688033A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Method of composing half-tone pictures by means of electronic phototype setters

Assignee: KG DR ING RUDOLF HELL
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Filing: 1970-11-25
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Granted: 1972-08-29
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Expires: 1990-11-25
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Abstract

Abstract Method and apparatus for composing continuous tone pictures by means of electronic phototype setters wherein characters to be reproduced are manually or photographically produced and scanned electro-optically and then stored in binary coded form into a memory. The characters are read from the memory based on a program and continuous tone pictures are composed for relief printing and offset printing by using a finite number of raster fields of different forms and which may be combined to produce a desired image for printing.

Inventors

  • 👤 Rudolf Hell
  • 👤 Klaus Wellendorf
  • 👤 Roman Koll
  • 👤 Eckhard Lindemann

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-23 16:57
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/40; H04N1/405; H04N1/4055; B; B41; B41B; B41B19/00; B41B19/01; B41B27/00; B41B27/28

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim 127 words
The method of composing rastered continuous pictures by means of electronic phototype setters operating by rastering comprising: forming characters to be stored; electro-optically scanning said characters and converting said scanned data into a binary code in which the tonal range from white to black is divided into a finite number of grey stages which are increasingly shaded according to a predetermined nonlinear function corresponding to the perception of the human eye and the stages are numbered and binary coded and to each code number there is allocated a raster field whose surface is covered with black corresponding to the tonal value; storing said data in a memory with predetermined address; and controlling said phototype setter with data from said memory under the control of a suitable program.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 127 words
The method of composing rastered continuous pictures by means of electronic phototype setters operating by rastering comprising: forming characters to be stored; electro-optically scanning said characters and converting said scanned data into a binary code in which the tonal range from white to black is divided into a finite number of grey stages which are increasingly shaded according to a predetermined nonlinear function corresponding to the perception of the human eye and the stages are numbered and binary coded and to each code number there is allocated a raster field whose surface is covered with black corresponding to the tonal value; storing said data in a memory with predetermined address; and controlling said phototype setter with data from said memory under the control of a suitable program.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 19 words
The method according to claim 1 wherein said characters are formed by manually drawing them on a suitable background.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 12 words
The method according to claim 1 wherein said characters are formed photographically.
Claim 5
Independent Claim 200 words
A method for composing rastered continuous tone pictures by means of electronic phototype setters operating by rastering, wherein the tonal range from white to black is divided into a finite number of grey stages which are increasingly shaded according to a predetermined non-linear function, the stages are numbered and binary coded and to each code number there is allocated a raster field whose surface is covered with black corresponding to the tonal value, and these raster fields are stored as manually constructed character pictures in electronic form in the memory storage of a composing apparatus, the continuous tone picture original to be composed is photoelectrically scanned dot by dot, in successive lines at distances which are the same as the distances between raster fields, the tonal value encountered is quantized and the raster number allocated thereto is determined, and the corresponding raster information is read out from the memory of the phototype setter for recording the raster dot on the picture screen of a cathode ray tube, wherein, in order to obtain the different tonal values the black covering of the raster field is dimensioned according to a function which corresponds to the power of perception of the human eye.
Claim 6
Independent Claim 200 words
A method for composing rastered continuous tone pictures by means of electronic phototype setters operating by rastering, wherein the tonal range from white to black is divided into a finite number of grey stages which are increasingly shaded according to a predetermined non-linear function, the stages are numbered and binary coded and to each code number there is allocated a raster field whose surface is covered with black corresponding to the tonal value, and these raster fields are stored as manually constructed character pictures in electronic form in the memory storage of a composing apparatus, the continuous tone picture original to be composed is photoelectrically scanned dot by dot, in successive lines at distances which are the same as the distances between raster fields, the tonal value encountered is quantized and the raster number allocated thereto is determined, and the corresponding raster information is read out from the memory of the phototype setter for recording the raster dot on the picture screen of a cathode ray tube, wherein, in order to obtain the different tonal values the black covering of the raster field is dimensioned according to a function which corresponds to the power of perception of the human eye.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 43 words
The method of claim 4, wherein the blackened part surface of the raster field determining the tonal value forms a spot composed by minimum units, the shape of said spot is approximately a square whose sides run parallel and vertically to the horizontal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 39 words
The method of claim 4, wherein the blackened part surface of the raster field determining the tonal value forms a spot composed by minimum units, the shape of said spot Is approximately to a diamond standing on one corner.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 50 words
The method of claim 4, wherein the distance between the center points of adjacent raster fields is the same as their width, and the distances between successive raster lines is the same as the height of the raster fields, so that black surfaces of adjacent raster fields do not overlap.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 41 words
The method of claim 4, wherein the surface of the raster field consists of a plurality of unconnected black spots on a bright background for bright values and of a plurality of bright spots on a black background dark shading values.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 41 words
The method of claim 4, wherein the black covering surface of the raster field consists of whole numbered multiples of minimum surface units and the number of minimum elements is chosen as a function of the perception of the human eye.
Claim 12
Independent Claim 176 words
A method for composing rastered continuous tone pictures by means of electronic phototype setters operating by rastering, wherein the tonal range from white to black is divided into a finite number of grey stages which are increasingly shaded according to a predetermined non-linear function corresponding to the perception of the human eye and the stages are numbered and binary coded and to each code number there is allocated a raster field whose surface is covered with black corresponding to the tonal value, and these raster fields are stored as manually constructed character pictures in electronic form in the memory storage of a composing apparatus, the continuous tone picture original to be composed is photoelectrically scanned dot by dot, in successive lines at distances which are the same as the distances between raster fields, the tonal value encountered is quantized and the raster number allocated thereto is determined, and the corresponding raster information is read out from the memory of the phototype setter for recording the raster dot on the picture screen of a cathode ray tube.
Claim 13
Independent Claim 176 words
A method for composing rastered continuous tone pictures by means of electronic phototype setters operating by rastering, wherein the tonal range from white to black is divided into a finite number of grey stages which are increasingly shaded according to a predetermined non-linear function corresponding to the perception of the human eye and the stages are numbered and binary coded and to each code number there is allocated a raster field whose surface is covered with black corresponding to the tonal value, and these raster fields are stored as manually constructed character pictures in electronic form in the memory storage of a composing apparatus, the continuous tone picture original to be composed is photoelectrically scanned dot by dot, in successive lines at distances which are the same as the distances between raster fields, the tonal value encountered is quantized and the raster number allocated thereto is determined, and the corresponding raster information is read out from the memory of the phototype setter for recording the raster dot on the picture screen of a cathode ray tube.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US3436472A Cited
US3463880A Cited
US3480943A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1975-08-29 1976-02-28 1976-08-29 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1979-08-29 1980-02-28 1980-08-29 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1983-08-29 1984-02-28 1984-08-29 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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