Partially correlated minimum visibility halftone patterns for digital printers

A method to halftone an image using a set of dither bit-maps designed to mi nimize the visibility of halftone patterns is reported. These dither bitmap s for different gray levels are partially correlated with each other with a n associated correlation interval. As a result, the halftone patterns for e ach gray level are more optimal than those associated with the fully correl ated dither bitmap techniques, without the introduction of objectionable ar tifacts that are associated with the fully uncorrelated dither bitmaps appr oach. Implementation details are given as well as the experimental results. (C) 1999 SPIE and IS&T. [S1017-9909(99)00502-4].