PRINTING OF VARIABLE DOT SIZES DEPENDENT UPON IMAGE DENSITY FOR IMPROVED GRAPHICS

The present invention improves the quality of halftone graphics patterns which convey shades of gray using dots. In the preferred embodiment, an initial low resolution graphics pattern is translated into a higher resolution graphics pattern by printing a variable number of high resolution dots for each dot in the low resolution graphics pattern. The number of high resolution dots printed for each initial low resolution dot is dependent upon the density of dots in the low resolution pattern. In another embodiment, the size of each dot printed, rather than the number of dots, is varied depending upon the density of dots in the low resolution pattern. When the dot density increases to where the low resolution pattern appears to be part of a text pattern, a different set of enhancement rules are then applied to correct the text pattern. Using the above method, an enhanced high resolution graphics pattern may be produced from a lower resolution graphics pattern without objectionable clumping of dots, thus producing a more homogenous and pleasing graphics pattern.