Patent Document ID: 5406379
Application ID: 07980030
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of making a halftone image reproduction, comprising the steps of: applying marking cell selection rules to minimize sensitivity to noise by selecting a first maximum number and a second maximum number, said first maximum number representative of a maximum number of gray pixels in a single marking cell, said first maximum number being no greater than one-half a total number of pixels in the single marking cell, said second maximum number representative of a maximum number of gray pixels in the single marking cell having an identical intermediate gray level, said second maximum number being no greater than three; storing an initial set of marking cells in a memory, each stored marking cell being a two-dimensional array of pixels conforming with the selected marking cell rules, each pixel having a level selected from the group consisting of a white level, a black level and at least one gray level, each marking cell stored in the memory having a total number of gray pixels no greater than the first maximum number and a number of gray pixels having the identical intermediate gray level no greater than the second maximum number; scanning an image and in timed relation therewith generating image signals representative of the density of successively viewed elemental areas within the image; based on said image signals, selecting a set of the marking cells from the initial set of marking cells stored in the memory; outputting hybrid halftone output image signals from a set of predetermined hybrid halftone image signals corresponding to the selected set of marking cells; and forming a halftone image on an image receiving member using said output hybrid halftone output image signals.