Patent ID: 8681381

Claim:
A method of generating a halftone image from an input image comprising a plurality of colors, the method comprising: comparing, by a controller, threshold values corresponding to color planes associated with the plurality of colors comprising the input image; based on the comparison, dynamically setting a halftoning sequence by determining an order of color planes to perform a halftone image analysis from amongst the color planes associated with the plurality of colors comprising the input image; performing, by the controller, halftone image analysis on the portion of the input image in a first color plane according to the halftoning sequence, wherein the halftone image analysis in the first color plane references a first threshold value to determine whether to generate a dot in a first color corresponding to the first color plane in the portion of the input; performing, by the controller, halftone image analysis on the portion of the input image in a second color plane according to the halftoning sequence, wherein the halftone image analysis on the portion of the input image in the second color plane references a second threshold value that is adjusted to increase or decrease a likelihood that a dot of a second color corresponding to the second color plane is generated in the portion of the input image during the halftone image analysis, the second threshold value being based on whether the controller determines to generate a dot of the first color corresponding to the first color plane in the portion of the input image; and outputting the halftone image based on the halftone image analysis.