Method for calibrating a color marking engine for halftone operation

• US 7,301,671 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2003
• Issued: 11/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fiery LLC
• Original Assignee: Electronics For Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Zuber, Peter A.
• Primary Examiner(s): GARCIA, GABRIEL I
• Application Number:
  US10/657,735
• Publication Number:
  US 20040125391A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,541 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.1, 358/1.9, 358/2.1, 358/2.99, 358/3.01, 358/3.06, 358/3.23, 358/1.14, 358/515, 358/518, 358/536, 358/461, 382/162, 382/163
• US Class Current: 358/1.9
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 29/393 Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine ; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5062 by measuring the characteristics of an image on the copy material
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5087 for receiving image data
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00021 Plural substantially independent image forming units in cooperation, e.g. for duplex, colour or high-speed simplex
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/0005 without production of a specific test patch
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00109 Remote control of apparatus, e.g. by a host
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1514 Sub-job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1211 Improving printing performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1215 achieving increased printing speed, i.e. reducing the time between printing start and printing end
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1217 achieving reduced idle time at the output device or increased asset utilization
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/124 Parallel printing or parallel ripping
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1241 Dividing a job according to job requirements, e.g. black/white and colour pages, covers and body of books, tabs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1281 Multi engine printer devices, e.g. one entity having multiple output engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1282 High volume printer device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/02 using printers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1806 Receiving job control commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1856 characterized by its workflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1857 involving parallel processing in the same printing apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Methods are described for calibrating a virtual printer including a plurality of color marking engines. The methods include printing a test pattern on one of the marking engines, the test pattern including a plurality of test patches, each test patch including corresponding expected colorimetric values, reading the test pattern with a colorimeter to determine measured colorimetric values associated with each of the test patches, and creating a lookup table that maps the measured colorimetric values to the expected colorimetric values.

Claims

1. A method for calibrating a virtual printer comprising a plurality of color marking engines, each color marking engine adapted to print multiple colorants, each of the color marking engines adapted to receive raster image data from a single raster image processor, the raster image data color balanced to a system color space, the method comprising:

printing a test pattern on one of the marking engines, the test pattern comprising a plurality of test patches, each test patch comprising corresponding expected colorimetric values;

reading the test pattern with a colorimeter to determine measured colorimetric values associated with each of the test patches; and

creating a lookup table that maps the measured colorimetric values to the expected colorimetric values.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the test patches comprise cyan, magenta and yellow colorants.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each test patch is associated with a corresponding toner density.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the test pattern comprises 256 test patches per colorant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the colorimetric values comprise XYZ values.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

printing a test pattern on each of the marking engines;

reading each test pattern with a colorimeter to determine measured colorimetric values associated with each of the test patches; and

creating a corresponding lookup table for each marking engine, each lookup table mapping the corresponding measured colorimetric values to the expected colorimetric values.

7. A method for creating a calibration lookup table for a virtual printer comprising a plurality of color marking engines, each color marking engine adapted to print multiple colorants, each of the color marking engines adapted to receive raster image data from a single raster image processor, the raster image data color balanced to a system color space, the method comprising:

printing a test pattern on one of the marking engines, the test pattern comprising a plurality of test patches, each test patch comprising corresponding expected colorimetric values;

reading the test pattern with a colorimeter to determine measured colorimetric values associated with each of the test patches; and

mapping the measured colorimetric values to the expected colorimetric values.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the test patches comprise cyan, magenta and yellow colorants.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein each test patch is associated with a corresponding toner density.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the test pattern comprises 256 test patches per colorant.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the colorimetric values comprise XYZ values.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

printing a test pattern on each of the marking engines;

reading each test pattern with a colorimeter to determine measured colorimetric values associated with each of the test patches; and

creating a corresponding lookup table for each marking engine, each lookup table mapping the corresponding measured colorimetric values to the expected colorimetric values.