Color Halftoning with Generalized Error diffusion

In this paper, we introduce a novel technique for digital color halftoning with green-noise, stochastic dither patterns composed of homogeneously distributed minority pixel clusters. This new technique employs scalar error diffusion with output-dependent feedback in each of the four process colors where, unlike mono-chrome halftoning, an interference term is added such that the overlapping of pixels of different colors can be regulated for increased color control. As is the case with monochrome halftoning, this new technique is tunable, allowing for large clusters in printers with high dot-gain characteristics and small clusters in printers with low dot-gain characteristics. This new technique also incorporates several other advancements that have been introduced since error diffusion's original inception including edge enhancement through threshold modulation.