Seiko-Epson licenses 'blue noise mask'

halftoning technology developed by University engineers has been licensed to Seiko-Epson Corp., one of the world's largest makers of computer printers.

The licensing is part of a settlement between Epson and Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) of Tucson, Arizona, which holds the patents to the technology and had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the firm.

No other terms were disclosed.

Invented by University researchers a decade ago, the "blue noise mask" relies on a unique combination of randomness and order to create high-quality halftones rapidly.

Kevin Parker, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and former graduate student Theophano Mitsa, now a scientist at a Boston-based medical equipment company, invented the technology as part of an effort to improve the printouts of ultrasound images.

"Blue noise" refers to a certain type of pattern of black and white dots that has visually pleasing properties; blue noise patterns skirt the line between randomness and order, incorporating enough of both to offer an especially appealing image.

The technology governs how printers, fax machines, and other devices lay down particles of toner in ways that the eye finds attractive. Natural blue noise patterns include the way raindrops accumulate on a windshield, and the patterns in which cactus plants sometimes arrange themselves in the desert.

More than a dozen companies have licensed the technology, which is widely used in the graphic arts and printing industry and in hundreds of thousands of printers and fax machines around the world. In addition to Epson, licensees include Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest maker of printers.

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