Mid Sweden University

We propose expanding the Murray-Davies formula by adding the effect of edges of solid inks in a halftoned image. The expanded formula takes into account the spectral reflectance of paper white, full tone ink and mixed area scaled by the fractional area coverages. Here, mixed area mainly refers to the edge of an inked dot where the density is very low, and lateral exchange of photons can occur. Also, in such area the paper micro components may have higher scattering power than ink, especially, in uncoated paper. Our methodology uses cyan, magenta and yellow separation ramps printed on different papers by impact and non-impact based printing technologies. The samples include both frequency and amplitude modulation halftoning methods of various print resolutions. Based on pixel values, the captured microscale halftoned image is divided into three categories: solid ink, mixed area, and unprinted paper between the dots. The segmented images are then used to measure the fractional area coverage that the model receives as parameters. We have derived the characteristic reflectance spectrum of mixed area by rearranging the expanded formula and replacing the predicted term with the measured value using half of the maximum colorant coverage. Performance has clearly improved over the Murray-Davies model with and without dot gain compensation, more importantly, preserving the linear additivity of reflectance of the classical physics-based model.

A method has been proposed, whereby k-means clustering technique is applied to segment microscale single color halftone image into three components—solid ink, ink/paper mixed area and unprinted paper. The method has been evaluated using impact (offset) and non-impact (electro-photography) based single color prints halftoned by amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) technique. The print samples have also included a range of variations in paper substrates. The colors of segmented regions have been analyzed in CIELAB color space to reveal the variations, in particular those present in mixed regions. The statistics of intensity distribution in the segmented areas have been utilized to derive expressions that can be used to calculate simple thresholds. However, the segmented results have been employed to study dot gain in comparison with traditional estimation technique using Murray-Davies formula. The performance of halftone reflectance prediction by spectral Murray-Davies model has been reported using estimated and measured parameters. Finally, a general idea has been proposed to expand the classical Murray-Davies model based on experimetal observations. Hence, the present study primarily presents the outcome of experimental efforts to characterize halftone print media interactions in respect to the color prediction models. Currently, most regression-based color prediction models rely on mathematical optimization to estimate the parameters using measured average reflectance of a large area compared to the dot size. While this general approach has been accepted as a useful tool, experimental investigations can enhance understanding of the physical processes and facilitate exploration of new modeling strategies. Furthermore, reported findings may help reduce the required number of samples that are printed and measured in the process of multichannel printer characterization and calibration.

The spectral radiance factor and thereby the appearance of fluorescing material is known to depend strongly on the spectral power distribution (SPD) of the illumination in the fluorophore's excitation wavelength band. The present work demonstrates the impact of the SPD in the fluorescence emission band on the total radiance factor. The total radiance factor of a fluorescing paper is measured in three different illuminations. The presence of peaks in the SPD of fluorescent light tubes dramatically decreases the luminescent radiance factor. This effect will impact the appearance of fluorescing media under illuminations with large variation in SPD, which includes recent LED illuminations. © 2013 IEEE.

In this work, a non-destructive method is presented that enables the measurement of filler content in paper with high spatial resolution. The method uses an X-ray fluorescence setup that enables high resolution measurements of calcium content in the paper, together with a beta radiography measurement method, to assess the local filler content in the paper. An image registration method is used to combine the two measurement maps, and a calibration polynomial is applied to the point-wise values in order to calculate the local filler content. The measurement methods show good accuracy. The grammage and the calcium content can be measured at a spatial resolution of 0.1 mm × 0.1 mm but the resolution for the filler content map was in this work chosen to 1 mm × 1 mm in order to minimize image registration errors. The method is illustrated using two paper samples, a laboratory paper and a commercial 80 g/m2 copy paper. From the methods used in this work, a difference is shown between the two paper samples in how the filler content distribution is related to the paper formation. With the help of image registration, point-wise measurements of filler content from both sides of the samples can be compared. The method can be used together with other high resolution measurements in order to analyze the simultaneous interrelation between different paper properties. The high resolution measurements of filler content will be particularly valuable for the analysis of the underlying causes to optical variations in paper and print.

A method to predict optical variations from high resolution measurementsof paper properties is evaluated in this work. The method combines thepoint-wise values of high resolution maps of filler content and grammagewith an empirical model derived in an earlier study to predict thespatial optical variations in paper.The method has been applied on two paper samples, a laboratory paper anda commercial 80 g/m(2) copy paper. The optical variations have beenpredicted at a scale of 1 mm(2). Validation has been made by using ahigh resolution spectrophotometric setup to measure the spatialreflectance variations in the paper. The results show that for thesamples used, the influence of filler content variations and densityvariations on the optical variations is small compared to influence ofthe grammage variations.

Conventional 3-channel color images have limited information andquality dependency on parametric conditions. Hence, spectral imaging andreproduction is desired in many color applications to record and reproduce thereflectance of objects. Likewise RGB images lack sufficient information tosuccessfully analyze diabetic retinopathy. In this case, spectral imaging may bethe alternative solution. In this article, we propose a new supervised techniqueto detect and classify the abnormal lesions in retinal spectral reflectance imagesaffected by diabetes. The technique employs both stochastic and deterministicspectral similarity measures to match the desired reflectance pattern. At first, itclassifies a pixel as normal or abnormal depending on the probabilistic behaviorof training spectra. The final decision is made evaluating the geometricsimilarity. We assessed several multispectral object detection methodsdeveloped for other applications. They could not proof to be the solution. Theresults were interpreted using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curvesanalysis.

This paper presents a method to describe, with good accuracy, the relation between variations in paper properties and variations of the spectral optical response of an uncoated paper. The dependence between density, filler content, grammage, and the spectral optical response is characterized by a multivariate model. The model is based on large-scale measurements data on a set of paper samples that have been produced with different values of grammage, density and filler content, representing the variations within a normal 80 g/m² uncoated paper. From the optical measurements the light scattering (s) and light absorption (k) coefficients have been estimated according to the Kubelka-Munk theory.The results from this study will give valuable input to optical modeling activities, where the optical variations are predicted from measured small-scale variations in underlying paper properties.The variations in the paper properties can be used to model the light scattering coefficient, s, but there were too small variations in the light absorption coefficient, k, to find any significant dependence to the paper properties for the samples studied in this work. Furthermore, linear models give sufficient accuracy in the intervals studied. Additional findings from this study are the different effects of wet-pressing and calendering on the light scattering coefficient. 

The quality of a printed image is strongly influenced by the physical and the chemical interactions between the ink and the paper. Print quality can be evaluated either by objective measurements using instruments or by visual assessment studies involving panel of observers judging the final print. In this article, the print quality on commercial papers as well as on non-commercial papers with different amounts of salt for surface fixation has been studied. Perceived detail reproduction depends not only on sharp edge definition but also on the level of color saturation (Chroma). Color saturation and edge definition originate from two different ink and paper interaction processes. Color saturation is heavily dependent on ink penetration while edge definition correlates to ink spreading. In order to gain understanding of the performance of surface treatment by salt, large efforts have been put on splitting up of the increase in color saturation (Chroma) and improved edge definition. The printouts have been made with a desktop printer using pigmented inks. Cross section images have been taken with a light microscope to analyze the ink penetration depth. SEM analysis has been made to analyze the aggregation of the pigments on the surface. The print quality measurements have been both objective measurements such as print density and subjective image evaluation using a test panel of observers in a perceptual study. The perceptual study focused on detail reproduction, and efforts were made to separate the influence of the print density from the edge definition on the detail reproduction. The result from this study shows that an increased level of salt as surface fixation improves the detail reproduction due to aggregation of the pigments on the surface and that the ink penetration depth can be reduced by adding salt as surface fixation resulting in a higher print density.

The angular variations of color of a set of paper samples are  experimentally assessed using goniophotometric measurements.  The corresponding simulations are done using a radiative transfer based simulation tool, thus considering only the contribution  of bulk scattering to the reflectance. It is seen that measurements  and simulations agree and display the same characteristics, with  the lightness increasing and the chroma decreasing as the observation  polar angle increases. The decrease in chroma is larger  the more dye the paper contains. Based on previous results about  anisotropic reflectance from turbid media these findings are explained.  The relative reflectance in large polar angles of wavelengths  with strong absorption is higher than that of wavelengths  with low absorption. This leads to a loss of chroma and color information  in these angles. The increase in lightness is a result  of the anisotropy affecting all wavelengths equally, which is the  case for transmitting media and obliquely incident illumination.  The only case with no color variations of this kind is when a nonabsorbing,  non-transmitting medium is illuminated diffusely. The  measured and simulated color differences are clearly large, and  it is an open issue how angle resolved color should be handled  in standard color calculations.