Method and system for printing with an inkjet printer to simulate screen printing

A system for printing an image on a wide format recording medium with an ink jet printer, wherein said system can simulate screen printing, comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, said ink jet printer being adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, wherein said computer is programmed to:

• (1) accept a data input constituting said image in an acceptable file format selected from the group consisting of an indexed RGB file format and a monochromatic image format;
• (2) transform said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
• (3) map said color gamut of said image in said L*a*b* file format against an estimated screen gamut of a screen printer so that said color gamut is limited to said estimated screen gamut;
• (4) convert said color gamut limited L*a*b* file format into a driver format which can drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium;
• and
• (5) communicate said driver format to said printer.

A method for printing an image on a wide format recording medium with a system comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, comprising the steps of

• (1) accepting into said computer a data input constituting said image in a plurality of acceptable file formats, at least one of said acceptable file formats being an indexed RGB file format, and at least another of said acceptable file formats being a monochromatic image format;
• (2) transforming in said computer said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
• (3) converting in said computer said suitable L*a*b* file format into a driver format which can drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium;
• and
• (4) communicating said driver format to said ink jet printer to drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium.

A method of printing an image on a wide format recording medium with a system comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, comprising the steps of:

• (1) accepting into said computer a data input constituting said image in a plurality of acceptable file formats, at least one of said acceptable file formats being an indexed RGB file format, and at least another of said acceptable file formats being a monochromatic image format;
• (2) transforming in said computer said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
• (3) mapping in said computer said color gamut of said image in said L*a*b* file format against an estimated screen gamut of a screen printer so that said color gamut is limited to said estimated screen gamut;
• (4) converting in said computer said color gamut limited L*a*b* file format into a driver format which can drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium;
• and
• (5) communicating said driver format to said ink jet printer to drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium.

A method of limiting the color gamut of an image in data form to an estimated screen gamut of a screen printer, comprising the steps of:

• (1) estimating the screen gamut of a screen printer by characterizing a set of mother inks for said screen printer to produce said estimated screen gamut;
• (2) mapping said color gamut of said image against said estimated screen gamut to identify one or more colors of said color gamut that fall outside of said estimated screen gamut;
• and
• (3) reassigning said identified one or more colors in said color gamut to a color within said estimated screen gamut to produce a gamut limited color gamut.