Color image processor capable of performing masking using a reduced number of bits

Claim 2

A color image processor comprising: input means for inputting a plurality of color component image data; weighting means for weighting the plurality of color component image data, using an error diffusing method; reducing means for eliminating information from the plurality of color component image data weighted by said weighting means, thereby to reduce the amount of said information; and combining means for combining the plurality of color component image data from which information has been eliminated by said reducing means.

Claim 3

A color image processor comprising: input means for inputting a plurality of color component image data; weighting means for weighting the plurality of color component image data, using an error diffusing method; reducing means for eliminating information from the plurality of color component image data weighted by said weighting means, thereby to reduce the amount of information contained in said color component data; and combining means for combining the plurality of color component image data from which information has been eliminated by said reducing means. wherein said weighting means performs weighting of the plurality of color component image data using weights whose sum is no more than a maximum value of the information to be eliminated in information-reducing by said reducing means.

Claim 4

A color image processor comprising: input means for inputting a plurality of color component image data; weighting means for weighting the plurality of color component image data, using an error diffusing method; reducing means for eliminating information from the plurality of color component image data weighted by said weighting means, thereby to reduce the amount of information contained in said color component data; and combining means for combining the plurality of color component image data from which information has been eliminated by said reducing means. wherein said weighting means performs weighting of the plurality of color component image data using weights whose sum is no more than a maximum value of the information to be eliminated in information-reducing by said reducing means.

Claim 5

A color image processor according to claim 2 wherein said weighting means further comprises: removing means for removing the data whose value is no more than said maximum value from the color component image data input by said input means; creating means for creating error-diffusion data to be error-diffused to another picture element based on the data removed by said removing means; holding means for holding the error-diffusion data created by said creating means; and diffusing means for weighting the color image data by diffusion processing the color image data based on the error-diffusion data of other picture elements held by said holding means.

Claim 6

A color image processor according to claim 3 wherein said removing means further comprises storing means for temporarily storing said data which is to be removed.

Claim 7

A color image processor according to claim 3 wherein said creating means further comprises means for storing a matrix which contains a plurality of the weighting coefficients equal in number to the picture elements to which the error-diffusion data is to be diffused and a calculating means for calculating the error-diffusion data based on respective weighting coefficients in said matrix and the data removed by said removing means.

Claim 8

A color image processor according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of weighting coefficients are determined in accordance with the distance from the picture element corresponding to the color component image data input by said input means such that the smaller the distance, the greater the coefficient.

Claim 9

A color image processor according to claim 5 wherein said calculating means performs multiplication.

Claim 10

A color image processor according to claim 3 wherein said holding means stores a plurality of error-diffusion data based on the first-in-first-out method and outputs error-diffusion data at the time of processing the picture element to which a particular one of the error-diffusion data is to be diffused.

Claim 11

A color image processor according to claim 3 wherein said diffusing means further comprises an adder for adding the error-diffusion data of other picture elements stored by said storing means to the color component image data input by said input means.

Claim 12

A color image processor according to claim 2 wherein said range is determined as the lower-order n bits of the color component image data input by said input means, n being a positive integer.

Claim 13

A color image processor according to claim 2 wherein said reducing means further comprises a shifting means for reducing the amount of information by shifting the weighted color component image data bit by bit.

Claim 14

A color image processor according to claim 2 wherein said combining means further comprises masking means for masking the color component image data.

Claim 15

A color image processor according to claim 2 further comprising converting means for converting the color component image data from analog RGB from to digital YMC form.

Claim 16

A color image processor comprising: input means for inputting data of a picture element after the data has been color-separated; diffusing means for diffusing the error of the data of the picture element to data of a plurality of other picture elements; reducing means for reducing the amount of information contained in diffused picture element data diffused from said diffusing means; and combining means for combining the information reduced by said reducing means and other information.

Claim 17

A color image processor comprising: input means for inputting data of a picture element after the data has been color-separated; diffusing means for diffusing the error of the data of the picture element to data of a plurality of other picture elements; reducing means for reducing the amount of information contained in diffused picture element data diffused from said diffusing means; and combining means for combining the information reduced by said reducing means and other information.

Claim 18

A color image processor according to claim 14 wherein the amount of information diffused by said diffusing means is determined to be equal to the amount of information reduced by said reduced means.

Claim 19

A color image processor according to claim 14 wherein said diffusing means further comprises: removing means for removing some portion from the picture element data input by said input means; creating means for creating a plurality of diffusion data items for use in diffusing the errors based on the picture element data input by said input means; and adding means for adding each of the plurality of diffusion data items to a different picture element.

Claim 20

A color image processor according to claim 16 wherein said creating means further comprises means for storing a matrix which contains a plurality of weighting coefficients corresponding to the number of picture elements to be diffused and calculating means for calculating a plurality of diffusion data based on each weighting coefficient in said matrix and some portion of data removed by said removing means.

Claim 21

A color image processor according to claim 17 wherein said plurality of weighting coefficients are determined in accordance with the distance from the picture element corresponding to the color image data input by said input means such that the smaller the distance, the greater the coefficient.

Claim 22

A color image processor according to claim 17 wherein said calculating means performs multiplication.

Claim 23

A color image processor according to claim 16 wherein the data removed by said removing means is the lower-order n bits of said input color image data, n being a positive integer.

Claim 24

A color image processor according to claim 14 wherein said reducing means further comprises a shifting means for reducing the amount of information by shifting picture element data diffused by said diffusing means by bit.

Claim 25

A color image processor according to claim 14 wherein said combining means further comprises a masking means for masking the picture element data.

Claim 26

A color image processor according to claim 14 further comprising converting means for converting the picture element data.

Claim 27

A color image processor comprising: supplying means for supplying a plurality of digital color component signals each represented as a specified number of bits; and reducing means for reducing the number of bits of the digital color component signals supplied by said supplying means, said reducing means further comprising: diffusion means for diffusing the data being reduced by said reducing means to other picture elements as part of the reduction of the number of bits, and means for processing by color-masking the digital color component signals the number of whose bits has been reduced by said reducing means.

Claim 28

A color image processor comprising: supplying means for supplying a plurality of digital color component signals each represented as a specified number of bits; and reducing means for reducing the number of bits of the digital color component signals supplied by said supplying means, said reducing means further comprising: diffusion means for diffusing the data being reduced by said reducing means to other picture elements as part of the reduction of the number of bits, and means for processing by color-masking the digital color component signals the number of whose bits has been reduced by said reducing means.

Claim 29

A color image processor according to claim 24 wherein said diffusion means multiplies specified weighting coefficients by the data being reduced by said reducing means and diffuses said weighting coefficients to the other picture elements.

Claim 30

A color image processor according to claim 24 further comprising a visible image regenerating means for regenerating visible images corresponding to the digital color component signals which have been color-masking processed by said processing means.