Methods for calibrating a virtual printer

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, measuring the test pattern 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.

1 . A method for calibrating a virtual printer comprising a plurality of color marking engines adapted to print multiple colorants, each color marking engine 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 calorimetric values;    measuring the test pattern to determine measured calorimetric 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;    measuring each test pattern 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 adapted to print multiple colorants, each color marking engine 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;    measuring the test pattern 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;    measuring each test pattern 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.