IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE AND METHOD, PROGRAM, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE

摘要

An image processing method corrects the image concentration of pixel rows adjacent to a pixel row corresponding to a masked defective recording element. Different quantization methods are performed for a first image region including the pixel row corresponding to the masked defective recording element and the pixel rows adjacent to the pixel row and a second image region other than the first image region. For at least some gradations, a first quantization pattern which is obtained by the first quantization method applied to the first image region has a pattern characteristic in which a spatial frequency component in a first direction parallel to the moving direction of a recording medium relative to the recording head is suppressed with respect to all spatial frequency components in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, as compared to a second quantization pattern applied to the second image region.

主权项

1. An image processing method comprising:
a defect information acquisition step of acquiring defective recording element information that is information of a defective recording element in a recording head in which a plurality of recording elements are arranged; a mask processing step of performing a mask process that makes the defective recording element unusable on the basis of the defective recording element information acquired in the defect information acquisition step; an image correction step of correcting image concentration of pixel rows, which are adjacent to a pixel row corresponding to the masked defective recording element, in input image data to reduce visibility of a streak-like image defect caused by the mask process; and a quantization processing step of quantizing the image data whose concentration has been corrected in the image correction step to convert the image data into binary or multi-valued image data with a smaller number of gradations than the concentration-corrected image data, wherein the quantization processing step includes: a first quantization step of applying a first quantization method to a first image region which includes the pixel row corresponding to the masked defective recording element and the pixel rows adjacent to the pixel row corresponding to the defective recording element to perform quantization; and a second quantization step of applying a second quantization method different from the first quantization method to a second image region other than the first image region to perform quantization, and for at least some gradations, a first quantization pattern which is obtained by quantization using the first quantization method has a first pattern characteristic in which a spatial frequency component in a first direction parallel to a moving direction of a recording medium relative to the recording head is suppressed with respect to all spatial frequency components in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, as compared to a second quantization pattern which is obtained by quantization using the second quantization method.