Method and apparatus for providing a color-balanced multiple print engine
AssigneeElectronics for Imaging, Inc.
InventorsMichael W. Barry, Jack N. Bartholmae, Francis A. Rowe, E. Neal Tompkins, Peter A. Zuber
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed for color balancing page data, from a variety of input sources having non-consistent device color profiles, among a plurality of individually accessible print engines arranged in a system for color printing multiple copies of multiple page documents. Input page data is converted to a common color space, rasterized and routed to a selected print engine. Page data routed to each marking engine is color balanced to the selected marking engine where at least a portion of the color balancing occurs following the rasterizing of the page data.
Claims8
A method of matching the printed color outputs of a plurality of marking engines operable in combination in a printing system to produce defined portions of a print job routed to selected ones of the plurality of marking engines, wherein each marking engine includes a color space profile, the method comprising:
- receiving the print job defined in a first color space;
- converting the print job to an intermediate color space;
- converting the print job to a system color space common to the plurality of marking engines operable in the system;
- and
- modifying each portion of the print job such that each marking engine selected to print a defined portion of the print job performs a third color space conversion to conform its printed output to the common color space.
Apparatus for matching the printed color outputs of a plurality of marking engines operable in combination in a printing system to produce defined portions of a print job routed to selected ones of the plurality of marking engines, wherein each marking engine includes a color space profile, the apparatus comprising:
- means for receiving the print job defined in a first color space;
- means for converting the print job to an intermediate color space;
- means for converting the print job to a system color space common to the plurality of marking engines operable in the system;
- and
- means for modifying each portion of the print job such that each marking engine selected to print a defined portion of the print job performs a third color space conversion to conform its printed output to the common color space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.