Patent ID: 8031363

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for soft proofing image data comprising a plurality of pixels, the method comprising: receiving, with a computer, a halftone screen parameter; calculating, with the computer, a plurality of halftone screen threshold values based on the halftone screen parameter; identifying, with the computer, a subset of the pixels in an image for display; simulating dot gain of said subset of the pixels resulting in identified, simulated pixels; automatically detecting the presence of a moiré pattern in said identified simulated pixels using Fourier analysis; generating, with the computer, halftone output data by screening only the identified, simulated pixels with the calculated threshold values; storing, with the computer, the halftone output data in a cache; displaying, with the computer, the halftone output data on a display device in real-time; modifying, with the computer, a halftone screen parameter upon the detection of a moiré pattern; clearing the cache of the halftone output data associated with the pixels affected by the modified halftone screen parameter; calculating, with the computer, updated halftone screen threshold values associated with pixels affected by the modified screen parameter; calculating, with the computer, updated halftone output data only for the identified, simulated pixels affected by the updated halftone screen threshold values; displaying, with the computer, the updated halftone output data for the identified pixels affected by the modified screen parameter; displaying, with the computer, the cached halftone output data for the identified, simulated pixels not affected by the modified screen parameter; and responsive to a completion of modifying, with the computer, the halftone screen parameter, generating halftone output data for the entire image.