Method of printing using a spatial light modulator

摘要

A method for defect-correction printing. A spatial light modulator that is used to generate the image is mapped for defects. The ON defects are compensated by setting a background level that is equal to the cumulative exposure of the ON defects, and then this background level becomes the threshold for development by the electrophotographic process. The system compensates for OFF defects by allocating the bits and exposures necessary to approximate the OFF defects to operative elements, thereby keeping the cumulative exposure for that pixel in the final printed image exactly, or as closely as possible, equal to the desired exposure. The corrections are contained in a defect correction module (10) that generates the appropriate patterns with the correct allocations to minimize error. <IMAGE>