Adaptive cluster dot dithering

Cluster dot dithering is one of the most common halftoning techniques. It is fast, low in complexity and allows for variability and inconsistencies in point spreads in printer outputs. Determination of the basic dither cell size is critical for the quality of the halftoning. There is a basic tradeoff between large and small cell sizes: spatial resolution versus gray tone resolution. Large dither cell sizes produce good tone resolution but poorly reproduce spatial details in the image. Small dither cells, on the other hand, produce fine spatial resolution but lack the tone resolution which produces smooth gray tone gradients in halftone images. Typically, cluster dot dithering assumes a predefined dither cell size that compromises between fine detail reproduction and good gray tone reproduction. It is clearly advantageous to allow variability in the dither cell size using small cell sizes in image regions of fine details and using large cell sizes in image regions where gray tones are to be accurately reproduced. In this paper, we introduce and discuss several adaptive dithering techniques based on cluster dot dithering.