Design of minimum visual modulation halftone patterns

The visibility of binary image noise at low-to-medium dot densities of current binary printers, i.e 300-400 dots/in, is not subthreshold. Standard halftoning algorithms such as clustered-dot or dispersed-dot dither produce periodic patterns at these dot densities that are easily visible at normal viewing distances in uniform areas. A novel method of halftoning computer-generated uniform areas that reduces noise visibility by using a database of minimum visual modulation bit patterns is introduced. Applications include all paint-by-numbers prints such as those that offer tint-fill or object highlighting