Modified Jointly Blue Noise Mask Approach Using S-CIELAB Color Difference

摘要

The current paper proposes a modified jointly-blue noise mask (MJBNM) method using the S-CIELAB color measure. Based on an investigation of the relation between the pattern visibility and the chromatic error of a blue noise pattern, a halftoning method is proposed that reduces the chromatic error, while preserving a high quality blue noise pattern. Although the jointly-blue noise mask (JBNM) method provides a visually pleasing pattern for single and multiple color planes, the halftone outputs of a JBNM mask exhibit a higher chrominance error. Accordingly, to reduce the chrominance error, the low-pass filtered error and S-CIELAB chrominance error are both considered during the mask generation procedure and calculated for single and combined patterns. Using the calculated low-pass filtered error, the patterns are then updated by either adding or removing dots from the multiple binary patterns. Finally, the pattern exhibiting the lower S-CIELAB chrominance error is selected. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed algorithm can produce a visually pleasing halftoned image with a lower chrominance error than the JBNM method.