Patent ID: 9747532
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: B41J,G06K,H04N

Claim:
1. A system comprising: a controller for a printing system configured to receive colorant bitmaps that define printable features for a medium, to calculate a colorant coverage for the medium based on the colorant bitmaps, and to replicate the printable features from the colorant bitmaps having a colorant coverage higher than a threshold to a first protectant bitmap to generate first protectant features, wherein the first protectant bitmap specifies a first amount of a clear protectant to apply to the medium; the controller configured to replicate the printable features from the colorant bitmaps having a colorant coverage that is lower than the threshold to a second protectant bitmap to generate second protectant features, wherein the second protectant bitmap specifies a second amount of the clear protectant to apply to the medium that is different than the first amount; the controller configured to expand boundaries of the first and second protectant features to generate expanded first and second protectant features, to replicate the expanded first and second protectant features to a final protectant bitmap, and to determine an amount of the clear protectant to specify for the expanded first protectant features in the final protectant bitmap that is based on the first and second amounts specified in the first and second protectant bitmaps; the controller configured to direct print heads of the printing system to apply colorants to the medium to form the printable features on the medium based on the colorant bitmaps, and to direct a print head of the printing system to apply the clear protectant to the printable features formed on the medium based on the final protectant bitmap.