Patent ID: 6956676

Claim:
A digital halftoning system that converts continuous tone image data to halftone image data, comprising: a plurality of Holladay counters including at least one stochastic counter and at least one clustered-dot counter; a selection circuit that selects one of the plurality of Holladay counters based on a selection indicator that corresponds to a characteristic of the continuous tone image data; a look-up table including at least one clustered-dot halftone screen and at least one stochastic halftone screen, wherein the look-up table outputs halftone image data based on a state of the selected Holladay counter and the continuous tone image data; and a digital logic circuit that receives the halftone image data, and that, based on the selected Holladay counter determines whether the halftone image data is packed, and if it is determined that the halftone image data is not packed, passes the halftone image data without changes and if it is determined that the halftone image data is packed, selects at least a portion of the halftone image data and replicates the selected portion of the halftone image data to produce replicated halftone image data.