Systems, methods and graphical user interfaces for printing object optimized images using virtual printers

A method for associating at least one set of rendering parameters with at least one document to be printed, comprising:

• providing a list of at least virtual printer, each virtual printer defining a plurality of sets of rendering parameters for rendering a document on a corresponding image output device;
• receiving at least one user input selecting at least one virtual printer desired by the user from the list of at least one virtual printer;
• and
• associating at least one set of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters for each selected virtual printer with the at least one document to be printed, wherein:
• receiving at least one user input selecting at least one virtual printer comprises receiving a plurality of user inputs selecting a plurality of the virtual printers;
• and
• associating the at least one set of rendering parameters for each selected virtual printer with the at least one document to be printed comprises associating each selected virtual printer with at least one different content type of the at least one document to be printed.

A method for defining a virtual printer associated with an image output device, comprising:

• providing a list of rendering parameters of the image output device;
• providing a list of rendering parameter options for each rendering parameter of the list of rendering parameters;
• receiving a user input selecting a rendering parameter option for a plurality of rendering parameters of the list of rendering parameters;
• and
• associating, for each at least one rendering parameter, the selected rendering parameter option with that rendering parameter for the virtual printer, wherein different portions of at least one document to be printed are printed using different rendering parameters.

A graphical user interface usable to associate various rendering parameter options for various rendering parameters with a virtual printer of an image output device, comprising:

• a virtual printer portion identifying a particular virtual printer of the image output device for which a plurality of rendering parameter options is to be associated;
• at least one rendering parameter portion that indicates a plurality of rendering parameters of the image output device;
• and
• at least one rendering parameter option portion that indicates a plurality of rendering parameter options for at least one of the plurality of rendering parameters indicated in the rendering parameter portion;
• wherein:
• each rendering parameter of the at least one rendering parameter portion is selectable to display the corresponding rendering parameter options;
• and
• each rendering parameter option of the at least one rendering parameter option portion is selectable to associate that rendering parameter option with the particular virtual printer identified in the virtual printer portion.

A method for determining the rendering parameters of a print engine of an image output device, comprising:

• providing at least one virtual printer, each virtual printer defining a plurality of sets of rendering parameters;
• receiving at least one user input for a document, selecting one of the at least one virtual printer;
• and
• associating at least two of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters of the selected virtual printer with the image output device;
• wherein a first portion of the document will be output using one of the at least two of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters, a second portion of the document will be output using another of the at least two of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters, and the first and second portions will be output on the print engine.

A method for defining a virtual printer associated with a print engine of an image output device, comprising:

• providing the rendering parameters supported by the print engine;
• providing the rendering parameter options for each supported rendering parameter,
• receiving a user input selecting a plurality of rendering parameter option for a plurality of the supported rendering parameters;
• and
• associating the plurality of rendering parameter options with the print engine;
• wherein whenever the virtual printer is selected, the document will be output on the print engine according to the plurality of rendering parameter options.

A graphical user interface usable to associate various rendering parameter options for various rendering parameters with a virtual printer of an image output device, comprising:

• a virtual printer portion identifying a particular virtual printer of the image output device for which at least one rendering parameter option is to be associated;
• at least one rendering parameter portion that indicates at least one rendering parameter of a print engine;
• and
• at least one rendering parameter option portion that indicates at least one rendering parameter option for at least one of the rendering parameters of the print engine indicated in the rendering parameter portion;
• wherein:
• each at least one rendering parameter of the at least one rendering parameter portion is selectable to display the corresponding rendering parameter options;
• and
• each at least one rendering parameter option of the at least one rendering parameter option portion is selectable to associate that rendering parameter option of the print engine with the particular virtual printer identified in the virtual printer portion;
• and
• each identified virtual printer is to be used to output a portion of a document according to a first set of rendering parameters and another portion of the document to be output using a second set of rendering parameters on the print engine.