APPLICATIONS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING AND MONITORING CRITICAL COLORS IN A PRINT JOB AND USING AN EMBEDDED COLOR SENSING DEVICE TO MEASURE CRITICAL COLOR TEST PATTERNS INSERTED IN THE PRINT JOB

• US 20100045987A1
• Filed: 08/19/2008
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Bonikowski, Gregg A., Weber, Chris A., Kumar, Suraj
• Granted Patent: US 7,961,321 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 356/402
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 33/0036 Devices for scanning or checking the printed matter for quality control
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0264 Electrical interface; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/027 Control of working procedures of a spectrometer; Failure detection; Bandwidth calculation
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/46 Measurement of colour; Colour measuring devices, e.g. colorimeters measuring colour temperature G01J5/60
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/462 Computing operations in or between colour spaces; Colour management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/463 Colour matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/50 using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6033 using test pattern analysis H04N1/6055 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6044 involving a sensor integrated in the machine or otherwise specifically adapted to read the test pattern

Abstract

Applications, systems and methods for identifying and monitoring critical colors in a print job and using an embedded color sensing device to measure critical color test patterns inserted in the print job are disclosed. The applications permits the user to interact with a print job and select of one or more critical colors from within the print job. In one embodiment, an application is configured to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to facilitate the user in selecting critical colors. A printing system and method are disclosed for automatically monitoring critical colors in a print job and using an embedded color sensing device to measure critical color test patterns inserted in the print job. In one embodiment, printed critical color test patterns are separated from the printed customer documents and direct to a color sensing device for measurement.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring critical color quality for a printing system comprising:

selecting a print job;

allowing a user to interact with specific areas of the print job and to identify one or more user-selected critical colors within the print job;

generating a critical color test pattern, including at least one patch for each of the critical colors;

inserting image data for the critical color test pattern with the print job;

printing at least one critical color test pattern along with the print job; and

automatically measuring the at least one printed critical color test pattern to determine the actual colors printed.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining target color values for each of the one or more critical colors.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

comparing each measured color to a corresponding target color value; and

determining whether the difference between each measured color and its corresponding target color value is within a predefined threshold value.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

executing specific action in response to said measurement,

wherein the specific action comprises one or more of;

alerting the user, shutting down the printing system, or automatically invoking corrective action.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting the user with preview images for the print job; and

receiving a selection from the user for each of the one or more critical colors.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a selected point in said preview images from the user; and

determining a critical color corresponding to said selected point.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein determining a critical color corresponding to said selected point comprises:

using input image data for the print job for said critical color.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein determining a critical color corresponding to said selected point comprises:

determining whether the critical color matches a spot color; and

if so, using spot color information data for said critical color.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

separating the at least one printed critical color test pattern from the printed job.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one critical color test pattern is inserted with the print job according to a predetermined sampling frequency.

11. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

saving the critical color test pattern and target color values to a critical test pattern database.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the critical colors test patterns are associated with the print job in the critical test pattern color database.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

retrieving the critical color test pattern and target color values from the critical color test pattern database; and

reprinting the print job along with the critical color test patterns so as to ensure the print job'"'"'s critical colors in subsequent print runs accurately match those in the original print run.

14. A system for monitoring critical color quality for a printing system comprising:

an application for allowing a user to interact with specific areas of the print job and to select one or more critical colors within a print job, and for generating a critical color test pattern, including at least one patch for each of the critical colors;

a planner/scheduler for inserting image data for the critical color test pattern with the print job;

a marking engine for printing at least one critical color test pattern along with the print jobs; and

a color sensing device for measuring the at least one printed critical color test pattern.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the color sensing device comprises one of:

a spectrophotometer, a calorimeter, a densitometer, or spectral camera.

16. The system according to claim 14, further comprising:

a critical test pattern color database for storing the critical color test pattern and target color values.

17. The system according to claim 14, further comprising:

a diverter for separating the at least one printed critical color test pattern from the printed job for measurement with the color sensing device; and

22. The machine-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the critical color test pattern generator module receives a selected point in the print job from the user and determines a critical color corresponding to said selected point.

18. A machine-readable storage medium having machine-implemented instructions, executable by a processor, for allowing a user to interact with specific areas of a print job and to monitor critical color quality for a printing system, comprising:

a graphical user interface module for generating a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device and to interact with specific areas of a print job;

a preview module for presenting the user with preview images for a print job;

a critical color selection module for receiving a selection from the user of one or more critical colors within the print job;

a critical color test pattern generator module for generating a critical color test pattern, including at least one patch for each of the critical colors;

an interleaving module for inserting the critical color test pattern into the print job according to a predetermined frequency; and

an action response module for executing specific action in response to a measurement of the critical color test pattern.

19. The machine-readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the preview module generates and displays a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the print job.

20. The machine-readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the critical color selection module prompts the user if a user-selected critical color matches a spot colors in a spot color database.

21. The machine-readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the critical color test pattern generator module stores the critical color test pattern and target color values for critical colors in a critical test pattern color database.