1. A liquid container adapted to be removably mounted on a portable liquid ejecting unit having a liquid ejecting head for ejecting a liquid toward an object, said portable liquid ejecting unit being able to independently perform a liquid ejection operation to said object both when it is separated from and when it is mounted on and separably united with a stationary unit having a liquid tank storing a liquid to be fed to said liquid ejecting head, comprising:
a container body including a storage space for storing a liquid to be fed to said liquid ejecting head;
a liquid feed port installed on said container body, said liquid feed port being structured so as to removably receive a liquid feed needle installed on said portable liquid ejection unit used to interconnect said storage space of said container body and said liquid ejecting head with each other when said liquid container is mounted on said portable liquid ejecting unit with the liquid feed needle inserted into the liquid feed port; and
a liquid injection port installed on said container body, said liquid injection port being structured so as to interconnect said storage space of said container body and said liquid tank of said stationary unit with each other when said portable liquid ejecting unit on which the liquid container is mounted is united with said stationary unit;
said liquid injection port including a valve to seal the storage space of the container body at the location of the valve, said valve constructed to be in an unsealed condition when a liquid injection needle on the stationary unit is inserted therein and the liquid feed port and the liquid injection port are arranged on opposite walls of the container body and the liquid injection port is arranged on an axis of an insertion direction of the liquid feed needle into the liquid feed port.
2. A liquid container according to claim 1, wherein:
said storage space of said container body comprises a plurality of storage spaces which are formed in said container body so as to be separated from each other,
said liquid feed port and said liquid injection port respectively comprises a plurality of liquid feed ports and a plurality of liquid injection ports which are installed in said plurality of storage spaces respectively.
3. A liquid container adapted to be removably mounted on a liquid ejecting apparatus having a liquid ejecting head for ejecting a liquid toward an object, said liquid container being structured to be fixed in said liquid ejecting apparatus separately from said liquid ejecting head so that a liquid is fed to said liquid ejecting head via a flexible pipe member, comprising:
a container body including a storage space for internally storing said liquid to be fed to said liquid ejecting head;
a liquid feed port installed on said container body, said liquid feed port being structured so as to removably receive a liquid feed needle installed on said portable liquid ejection unit and to interconnect said storage space of said container body and said liquid ejecting head with each other when said liquid container is mounted on said portable liquid ejecting unit with the liquid feed needle inserted into the liquid feed port; and
a liquid injection port installed on said container body so that a liquid injection needle for injecting a liquid into said container body is inserted therein, said liquid injection port including a valve to isolate said storage space of said container body from an outside when said liquid injection needle is not inserted therein, wherein the liquid feed port and the liquid injection port are arranged respectively on a pair of opposite walls of the container body and the liquid injection port is arranged on an axis of an insertion direction of the liquid feed needle into the liquid feed port.
4. A liquid container according to claim 3, wherein:
said storage space of said container body comprises a plurality of storage spaces which are formed in said container body so as to be separated from each other,
said liquid feed port and said liquid injection port respectively comprises a plurality of liquid feed ports and a plurality of liquid injection ports which are installed in said plurality of storage spaces respectively.
5. A liquid container adapted to be removably mounted on a liquid ejecting apparatus having a liquid ejecting head for ejecting a liquid toward an object, comprising:
a container body including a storage space for internally storing a liquid to be fed to said liquid ejecting head; and
a pair of liquid flow ports installed on said container body, said pair of liquid flow ports having a common structure and common dimensions, each of said pair of liquid flow ports including a valve which is structured so that said storage space of said container body is isolated from an outside when said liquid container is not mounted on said liquid ejecting apparatus, and said storage space of said container body and said liquid ejecting head are interconnected with each other when said liquid container is mounted on said liquid ejecting apparatus so that a liquid feed needle installed on said liquid ejecting apparatus is inserted into either of said pair of liquid flow ports;
wherein the pair of liquid flow ports are arranged on a pair of opposite walls of the container body and the pair of liquid flow ports are arranged on a common axis of the insertion direction of the liquid feed needle.
6. A liquid container according to claim 5, wherein:
said storage space of said container body comprises a plurality of storage spaces which are formed in said container body so as to be separated from each other,
said pair of liquid flow ports comprises a plurality of pairs of liquid flow ports which are installed in said plurality of storage spaces respectively.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of enhancing the tonal and chrominance characteristics of a digital image, comprising the steps of:
a) receiving a source digital image including a plurality of pixels wherein the source digital image is in a luminance-chrominance representation having a luminance digital image channel and at least two chrominance digital image channels;
b) producing a tone scale function that can be used to enhance the tonal characteristics of the source digital image;
c) classifying the tone scale function into one of two or more categories based on the effect the tone scale function will have on the numerical range of pixel values of a processed digital image wherein the classification categories include expansive and compressive;
d) using the tone scale function and the luminance digital image channel to produce an enhanced luminance digital image channel; and
e) amplifying the chrominance digital image channels to produce modified chrominance digital channels when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein step e) further includes the steps of:
i) calculating a corresponding slope function for the tone scale function; and
ii) using the corresponding slope function to amplify the pixels values of the chrominance digital image channels.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein step e) further includes the steps of:
calculating a chrominance amplification factor for each pixel of the source digital image by evaluating the corresponding the slope function; and
using the color weighting factors to amplify the pixel values of the chrominance digital image channels.
4. The method of claim 1 further including the step of combining the enhanced luminance digital image channel and the chrominance digital image channels to produce an enhanced digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive and combining the enhanced luminance digital image channel and the modified chrominance digital image channels to produce an enhanced digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
5. The method of claim 4 using a sigmoid shaped rendering function independent of the source digital image and the enhanced digital image to produce a rendered digital image.
6. The method of claim 1 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce the tone scale function.
7. The method of claim 1 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the tone scale function.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the tone scale function maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined paper density and a different fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a second paper density.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the pixels of the source digital image have a logarithmic relationship to original scene intensities.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the tone scale function is manually controlled with at least one control parameter.
11. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:
producing the tone scale function having a highlight tone scale segment and a shadow tone scale segment defined relative to a reference point on the tone scale function, wherein:
i) the highlight tone scale segment is defined by a different mathematical function than the shadow tone scale segment;
ii) the highlight tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or greater than the reference point; and
iii) the shadow tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or less than the reference point.
12. The method of claim 11 further including the steps of:
i) classifying the highlight tone scale segment as either expansive or compressive;
ii) classifying the shadow tone scale segment as either expansive or compressive;
iii) classifying the tone scale function as compressive when either the highlight or shadow tone scale segment has been classified as compressive and classifying the tone scale function as expansive when both the highlight and shadow tone scale segment have been classified as expansive.
13. The method of claim 11 wherein the slopes of the highlight and shadow tone scale segments are each equal at the reference point.
14. The method of claim 11 wherein the slopes of the highlight and shadow tone scale segments are unequal at the reference point.
15. The method of claim 11 wherein the tone scale function has an inflection point at the reference point.
16. The method of claim 11 wherein the reference point is calculated using the pixels of the source digital image.
17. The method of claim 11 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the highlight tone scale segment.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein the highlight tone scale segment maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined paper density.
19. The method of claim 17 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the shadow tone scale segment.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the shadow tone scale segment maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined density.
21. A method of enhancing the tonal and color characteristics of a digital image, comprising the steps of:
a) receiving a source digital image including a plurality of pixels;
b) producing a tone scale function having a highlight tone scale segment and a shadow tone scale segment defined relative to a reference point on the tone scale function, and that is adapted to operate on the source digital image to improve its tonal characteristics, wherein:
i) the highlight tone scale segment is defined by a different mathematical function than the shadow tone scale segment and is defined for points that are equal to or greater than the reference point; and
ii) the shadow tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or less than the reference point; and
c) classifying the tone scale function into two or more categories based on the effect the tone scale function will have on the numerical range of pixel values of a processed digital image wherein the classification categories include expansive and compressive;
d) using the tone scale function and the source digital image to produce an enhanced luminance digital image wherein the chrominance characteristics of the enhanced digital image are identical to the source digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive; and using the tone scale function and the source digital image to produce an enhanced luminance digital image wherein the chrominance characteristics of the enhanced digital image are amplified relative to the source digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
22. A method of enhancing the tonal characteristics of a digital image, comprising the steps of:
a) receiving a source digital image including a plurality of pixels wherein the source digital image is a color digital image having pixels of at least three colors;
b) producing a tone scale function that can be used to enhance the tonal characteristics of the source digital image;
c) classifying the tone scale function into two or more categories based on the effect the tone scale function will have on the numerical range of pixel values of a processed digital image wherein the classification categories include expansive and compressive;
d) using the tone scale function and the source digital image to produce an enhanced luminance digital image wherein the chrominance characteristics of the enhanced digital image are identical to the source digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive, and using the tone scale function and the source digital image to produce an enhanced luminance digital image wherein the chrominance characteristics of the enhanced digital image are amplified relative to the source digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
23. A method of enhancing the tonal and color characteristics of a digital image, comprising the steps of:
a) receiving a source digital image having a plurality of digital image channels corresponding to different colors wherein each digital image channel includes a plurality of pixels;
b) producing a tone scale function that can be used to enhance the tonal characteristics of the source digital image;
c) classifying the tone scale function into one of two or more categories based on the effect the tone scale function will have on the numerical range of pixel values of a processed digital image wherein the classification categories include expansive and compressive;
d) transforming the source digital image into a luminance-chrominance digital image having a luminance digital image channel and two or more chrominance digital image channels, and using the tone scale function and the luminance digital image channel to produce an enhanced luminance digital image channel when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive, and applying the tone scale function directly to the source digital image to produce an enhanced digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
24. The method of claim 23 further including the step of combining the enhanced luminance digital image channel and the chrominance digital image channels to produce an enhanced digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive.
25. The method of claim 24 using a sigmoid shaped rendering function independent of the source digital image and the enhanced digital image to produce a rendered digital image.
26. The method of claim 23 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce the tone scale function.
27. The method of claim 23 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the tone scale function.
28. The method of claim 27 wherein the tone scale function maps a first fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined first paper density and a second fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined second paper density.
29. The method of claim 23 wherein the pixels of the source digital image have a logarithmic relationship to original scene intensities.
30. The method of claim 23 wherein the tone scale function is manually controlled with at least one control parameter.
31. The method of claim 23 further including the steps of:
producing the tone scale function having a highlight tone scale segment and a shadow tone scale segment defined relative to a reference point on the tone scale function, wherein:
i) the highlight tone scale segment is defined by a different mathematical function than the shadow tone scale segment;
ii) the highlight tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or greater than the reference point; and
iii) the shadow tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or less than the reference point.
32. The method of claim 31 further including the steps of:
i) classifying the highlight tone scale segment as either expansive or compressive;
ii) classifying the shadow tone scale segment as either expansive or compressive;
iii) classifying the tone scale function as compressive when either the highlight or shadow tone scale segment has been classified as compressive and classifying the tone scale function as expansive when both the highlight and shadow tone scale segment have been classified as expansive.
33. The method of claim 31 wherein the slopes of the highlight and shadow tone scale segments are each equal at the reference point.
34. The method of claim 31 wherein the slopes of the highlight and shadow tone scale segments are unequal at the reference point.
35. The method of claim 31 wherein the tone scale function has an inflection point at the reference point.
36. The method of claim 31 wherein the reference point is calculated using the pixels of the source digital image.
37. The method of claim 31 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the highlight tone scale segment.
38. The method of claim 37 wherein the highlight tone scale segment maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined density.
39. The method of claim 37 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the shadow tone scale segment.
40. The method of claim 39 wherein the shadow tone scale segment maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined paper density.
41. A method of enhancing the tonal and chrominance characteristics of a digital image, comprising the steps of:
a) receiving a source digital image including a plurality of pixels wherein the source digital image is in a luminance-chrominance representation having a luminance digital image channel and at least two chrominance digital image channels;
b) producing a tone scale function that can be used to enhance the tone characteristics of the source digital image;
c) classifying the tone scale function into one of two or more categories based on the effect the tone scale function will have on the numerical range of pixel values of a processed digital image wherein the classification categories include expansive and compressive;
d) using the tone scale function and the luminance digital image channel to produce an enhanced luminance digital image channel when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive, and transforming the source digital image into a multi-color digital image having a plurality of digital image channels each corresponding to a different color and using the tone scale function and the multi-color digital image to produce an enhanced digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
42. The method of claim 41 further including the step of combining the enhanced luminance digital image channel and the chrominance digital image channels to produce an enhanced digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive.
43. The method of claim 42 using a sigmoid shaped rendering function independent of the source digital image and the enhanced digital image to produce a rendered digital image.
44. The method of claim 41 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce the tone scale function.
45. The method of claim 41 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the tone scale function.
46. The method of claim 45 wherein the tone scale function maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined paper density and a second fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a second paper density.
47. The method of claim 41 wherein the pixels of the source digital image have a logarithmic relationship to original scene intensities.
48. The method of claim 41 wherein the tone scale function is manually controlled with at least one control parameter.
49. The method of claim 41 further including the steps of:
producing the tone scale function having a highlight tone scale segment and a shadow tone scale segment defined relative to a reference point on the tone scale function, wherein:
i) the highlight tone scale segment is defined by a different mathematical function than the shadow tone scale segment;
ii) the highlight tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or greater than the reference point; and
iii) the shadow tone scale segment is defined for points that are equal to or less than the reference point.
50. The method of claim 49 further including the steps of:
i) classifying the highlight tone scale segment as either expansive or compressive;
ii) classifying the shadow tone scale segment as either expansive or compressive;
iii) classifying the tone scale function as compressive when either the highlight or shadow tone scale segment has been classified as compressive and classifying the tone scale function as expansive when both the highlight and shadow tone scale segment have been classified as expansive.
51. The method of claim 49 wherein the slopes of the highlight and shadow tone scale segments are each equal at the reference point.
52. The method of claim 49 wherein the slopes of the highlight and shadow tone scale segments are unequal at the reference point.
53. The method of claim 49 wherein the tone scale function has an inflection point at the reference point.
54. The method of claim 49 wherein the reference point is calculated using the pixels of the source digital image.
55. The method of claim 49 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the highlight tone scale segment.
56. The method of claim 55 wherein the highlight tone scale segment maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined paper density.
57. The method of claim 55 further including the step of using the pixels of the source digital image to produce a histogram and using the histogram to produce the shadow tone scale segment.
58. The method of claim 57 wherein the shadow tone scale segment maps a fixed percentile of the histogram to a predetermined output value relating to a predetermined paper density.
59. A method of enhancing the tonal and color characteristics of a digital image, comprising the steps of:
a) receiving a source digital image having a plurality of digital image channels wherein each digital image channel includes a plurality of pixels;
b) producing a tone scale function that can be used to enhance the tonal characteristics of the source digital image;
c) classifying the tone scale function into one of two or more categories based on the effect the tone scale function will have on the numerical range of pixel values of a processed digital image wherein the classification categories include expansive and compressive; and
d) producing an enhanced digital image by applying the tone scale function to exactly one digital image channel derived from the source digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as compressive, and applying the tone scale function to each of a plurality of digital image channels derived from the source digital image when the tone scale function has been classified as expansive.
60. A computer storage product having at least one computer storage medium having instructions stored therein causing one or more computers to perform the method of claim 1.
61. A computer storage product having at least one computer storage medium having instructions stored therein causing one or more computers to perform the method of claim 21.
62. A computer storage product having at least one computer storage medium having instructions stored therein causing one or more computers to perform the method of claim 22.
63. A computer storage product having at least one computer storage medium having instructions stored therein causing one or more computers to perform the method of claim 23.
64. A computer storage product having at least one computer storage medium having instructions stored therein causing one or more computers to perform the method of claim 41.
65. A computer storage product having at least one computer storage medium having instructions stored therein causing one or more computers to perform the method of claim 59.