System and method for print profile selection

A computer-based method and system for optimal print profile selection are provided. The method includes receiving a color document and print profiles into memory, identifying out-of-gamut regions within the color document, presenting the identified out-of-gamut regions to a user, receiving color accuracy requirements from the user for at least one out-of-gamut region, computing a color quality value for each of the at least one print profile based at least partially on the received color accuracy requirements, creating a ranked list comprising the at least one print profiles ranked at least partially according to the computed color quality value, and outputting the ranked list to a user terminal, a computer monitor, or computer memory.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS AND APPLICATIONS

The following co-pending applications, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference, are mentioned:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/464,212, filed May 12, 2009, entitled “Color Management System and Method using Natural Language Description of Color Differences,” by Robert J. Rolleston, et al.

BACKGROUND

The exemplary embodiment relates to print profile selection and finds particular application in connection with printing of a color document.

In digital production printing color workflows, document color is rendered on many different devices, such as RGB displays and color printers. Different devices have different gamuts (i.e., sets of colors which can be rendered), and are sometimes not able to reproduce the full set of colors contained in a color document. Gamuts differ not only between a display and a printer but also between printers of a different generation or printers using different types of print technology, ink, and paper.

Software tools known as gamut alarms have been used to alert users to the fact that the colors they are using within their document will be out of gamut for the selected print profile (i.e., a characterization of the combination of printer type, paper medium and print configuration) and therefore will not be reproduced accurately. Subsequently, to address this, users can change the print profile, restrict the colors in their document so as to only use print profile compatible colors, or just accept that out-of-gamut colors will print differently (i.e., an automatic gamut mapping transform algorithm will be applied). This creates a situation where gamut alarms need to be dealt with by the user in an individual one-by-one manner per printing profile. Users need to remember or record the different ways in which the print profiles relate to their color document. This makes selection of the best solution for their document difficult. Additionally, other factors that may be relevant to the user's print profile selection, such as cost, are not able to be factored into these decisions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In one aspect of the exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method for print profile selection is provided. The method includes receiving a color document and print profiles into computer memory, identifying at least one out-of-gamut region within the color document, based at least in part on at least one print profile, presenting the identified at least one out-of-gamut region to a user, receiving color accuracy requirements from the user for the at least one out-of-gamut region, computing a color quality value for each of the print profiles based at least in part on the received color accuracy requirements, creating a list comprising the print profiles, the list being ranked at least in part according to the computed color quality value, and outputting the ranked list.

In another aspect, a computer-based system for print profile selection is provided. The system includes memory which stores a color coverage review module, a print options review module and a processor in communication with the modules which executes instructions. The color coverage review module includes instructions for receiving a color document into computer memory, receiving print profiles into computer memory, and identifying at least one out-of-gamut region within the color document based at least in part on the print profiles. The print options review module includes instructions for presenting the identified at least one out-of-gamut region to a user, receiving color accuracy requirements from the user for the at least one out-of-gamut region, computing a color quality value for each of the print profiles based at least in part on the received color accuracy requirements, ranking the print profiles based at least in part according to the computed color quality value, and outputting the ranking.

In another aspect, a method for print profile selection includes for an input color document, with a computer processor, providing for identifying at least one out-of-gamut region within the color document based at least in part on at least one of a plurality of stored print profiles, obtaining a cost of printing at least one page of the document with each of the print profiles, computing a color quality value for each of the print profiles based at least in part on at least one of the identified out of gamut regions, ranking the print profiles at least in part according to the computed color quality value, separately ranking the print profiles according to the cost of printing the at least one page of the document, providing for a user to view the rankings and to select a print profile based on at least one of the profile's quality value and cost of printing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present exemplary embodiment relate to a method and system for providing a user with an integrated gamut and cost evaluation for printing a color document over a set of available print profiles. The method and system allow the user to make an informed decision regarding the most appropriate print profile for a color document. The method and system are capable of ranking the print profiles with respect to different factors in order to assist the user in making a decision. Examples of the different factors that can be used in ranking include: how well a print profile matches a color document, print cost per page, printer availability, printer proximity, printer speed, and combinations of these. While the method is described in terms of identifying an “optimal” print profile, it is to be appreciated that the word optimal is used in a relative sense, since several factors may go into the user's decision as to which profile is optimal for a given application.

The method described herein may be instantiated as one of the first steps within a print mediator system, as disclosed, for example, in above-mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/138,846. The print mediator system defines a framework for color problem review before submission of a color document to a print shop. In the context of print mediator, the present system may be implemented as a detector/corrector software plugin that is run as a preliminary step of the review process. For example, the system allows selecting of the appropriate print profile settings before performing any corrections. Selecting an appropriate print profile at an early stage may avoid the need to change the print profile later on and thus can avoid impacting and/or invalidating corrections previously performed by the print mediator system.

With respect to printing color documents, “gamut” refers to a subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circumstance, such as within a given color space or by a certain output device.

“Out-of-gamut regions” are regions of a color document whose colors are not contained in the gamut of a print profile. The regions can be of any shape or size. The present exemplary embodiment identifies two types of basic out-of-gamut regions.

The first type of region is identified through individual, well defined colors. Some examples of well defined color regions are:

Elementary graphic objects specified through a single out-of-gamut color, single-color rectangles for instance,

Elements of vector graphics defined through a single out-of-gamut color, and

Text elements, defined through an out-of-gamut background and/or foreground color.

The second region type uses a whole range of out of gamut colors. An example is an image or photograph sub region.

A “print profile” is a description of an individual printer setup, which includes the printer model capabilities (including its gamut), ink options, and paper type. The gamut of a print profile can be affected by the ink options and paper type.

The word “color” is used to refer to any aspect of color which may be specified, including, but not limited to, absolute color values, such as hue, chroma, and lightness, and relative color values, such as differences in hue, chroma, and lightness.

With regard toFIG. 1, a high-level overview of one aspect of a print profile selection system10is shown. The system10is adapted to perform a print profile integrated gamut and cost evaluation method as described below. The system10includes an integrated gamut and cost evaluation unit12, which may be embodied in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Unit12is communicatively connected to input devices14,16by wired or wireless links18,20. Input device14communicates with a user22, via a graphical user interface (GUI)24. The GUI may be implemented through one or more of a web interface, desktop interface, and client/server interface, or the like.

Input device14, or device16, may also receive an input color digital document26. Input device16receives print profiles28,30,34. The system10allows the user22to select a print profile28,30,32for the color document26that best fits the printing needs of the user. One or more print profiles28,30,32are available to print the color document26. Each individual print profile28,30,32has an associated known achievable device gamut for a specific printer and includes or is associated with data34,36,38including, for example, printer speed, printer proximity, printer availability and a predetermined cost per page, one or more of which can be used as factors in ranking the print profiles for printing the document26. The user22is able to consider some or all of this data before requesting printing of the color document26with a chosen print profile, such as profile28. As will be appreciated, while three profiles28,30,32are shown, corresponding to three different printers, or types of printer, there may be any number of available profiles, such as two, three, four, five or more. Additionally, a given printer may have more than one print profile. The print profiles may be provided to the system10by the respective printers and may be periodically updated.

The integrated gamut and cost valuation unit12of the exemplary system10receives print profile information28,30,32via input device16and calculates the similarity (e.g., extent of overlap) between each print profile's device gamut and the colors used color document26. Unit12may also calculate the average cost per page according to a print profile's associated data34,36,38, if this information is not provided in the profile.

The evaluation unit12is configured for creating a list40of print profiles that is optionally ranked according to the calculated gamut similarity and/or one or more of factors based on the associated profile data34,36,38. The ranked list40is presented to the user22via the user interface24. In the exemplary embodiment, the ranked list40is presented to the user even if one of the print profiles28,30,32is capable of printing the color document26perfectly (within its gamut). For example, the user22may choose to use a print profile30with an imperfectly matching color gamut rather than a print profile28with a perfectly matching color gamut to lower printing costs. The user selects a print profile28,30,32from the ranked list40to use and communicates a profile selection44to the integrated gamut and cost evaluation unit12via user interface24. The evaluation unit12may send the color document26to a printer46corresponding to the selected print profile28.

The system10causes problematic areas54,56to be highlighted on the display50. The exemplary problematic areas54,56are areas of the color document26that contain a color unable to be reproduced accurately (such as “sky blue” instead of “deep sky blue”) by one or more of the print profiles28,30,32(FIG. 1), and are thus considered to be out-of-gamut regions. The example GUI displays several user interface controls60,62,64, that assist a user in navigating between the out-of-gamut regions54,56and viewing/setting properties of the regions54,56with respect to the print profiles28,30,32, and optionally in identifying critical regions68. The show region control60allows the user to choose between showing all identified out-of-gamut regions54,56, or showing only the regions that the system10has identified as being important. This feature is described in more detail with respect toFIG. 6. The region switching control62allows the user to indicate which out-of-gamut region54,56the user wants to control. The color accuracy requirement control64allows the user to set a color accuracy category for the out-of-gamut region currently indicated by the region switching control60. This feature is described in more detail with respect toFIGS. 6 and 7.

With reference toFIG. 3, an example ranked list40as presented to the user via the user interface display50of the print profile selection system10is shown. The user interface24allows the user to view the ranked list40ranked (or otherwise sorted) by one of the data fields72,74,76,78,80available. The ranked list40shown inFIG. 3is sorted by the cost per page criterion74in ascending order. The user interface24also allows the user to select a print profile to use when printing the color document26. InFIG. 3, the profile labelled “Profile SE Color” has been chosen by the user, e.g., by clicking on the profile and actuating the accept button82. The user can cancel the selection with the cancel button84, and select a new ranking criteria, e.g., by selection of the quality72data field.

With reference toFIG. 4, the integrated gamut and cost valuation unit12includes two functional components90,92accessible by the user22through the system's GUI24. Each of the two components90,92may be composed of multiple smaller components that operate functionally as a single component. A first component is a color coverage review component90. This component receives, as input, the color document26and print profile gamut data94from a print profile database96, which stores profiles28,30,32. The color coverage review component90identifies out-of-gamut regions54,56within the color document26, based on the gamut information. Regions54,56are areas where the document colors lie outside at least some printer gamuts94. The color coverage review component90does not target one specific print profile but considers the set of available printing profiles28,30,32as a whole. Additionally, the color coverage review component90is configured for filtering out out-of-gamut regions that are unlikely to be important to the user.

The second component is the printing options review component92. This component receives the out-of-gamut regions54,56identified by the color coverage review component90and creates a ranked list40of print profiles. The ranked list40is then presented to the user22via the user interface24. The print profiles in the ranked list40are ranked based on the individual print profile's document color coverage, user designated criticality of critical regions68, cost, and optionally, any other user specified criteria. The user22reviews the resulting ranked print profile list40and selects a print profile that is appropriate for the color document26.

Both system components90,92rely on the database96of print profiles. The database96contains data for each available print profile28,30,32, including the achievable gamut and the cost per page information. The database96may also contain additional data related to each print profile, such as, for example, printer availability, printer proximity to a user, printer speed and any other useful information.

FIG. 5illustrates the exemplary system10for optimal print profile selection as a computer system. The system10includes an input device14, for receiving a color document26and a set of print profiles (and their associated data)28,30,32retrievable from the print profile database96. Prior to inputting, the color document26and print profiles28,30,32may be stored in any suitable tangible media such as a ROM or RAM drive or may be input into the system10in the form of a carrier wave, e.g., via the Internet. Alternatively, the color document26and the print profiles28,30,32may be generated within the system10, itself. The input devices14,16may each include a modem link, a wired or wireless connection, USB port, floppy or hard disk receiver, or the like and may be separate or combined.

The system10includes data memory100for storing the color document26and print profiles28,30,32while the document is being processed. Main memory102of the system stores a color coverage review component90and a print options review component92. The color coverage review component90receives as input the color document26and set of one or more print profiles28,30,32via the input device14,16. The print options review component92receives as input the critical areas68identified by the color coverage review component90as well as the print profiles and associated data28,30,32received via the input device14,16. The print options review component92presents the ranked print options list40and optionally a list of critical areas68to a user22via an input/out device14,16. The user22, via a display/user terminal24then selects a print option44from the list of ranked print options40and sends it to the system10via an input/output device16. Alternatively, if the user22received a list of critical areas68, the user may send color accuracy requirements106back to the print options review component92.

The user22may optionally connect remotely to the input/output device16via a network108, such as a local area network, or wide area network108, such as through an internet browser, or from a remote terminal24. The database96of print profiles may also be connected remotely to the input/output device14,16via a network110for providing print profile information to the components90,92. After the user22has chosen a print option44, the color document26can then be sent to the printer46corresponding to the chosen print profile. The color coverage review component90and a print options review component92may be implemented as hardware or software or a combination thereof. In the exemplary embodiment, the components90,92comprise software instructions stored in main memory102, which are executed by a computer processor112. The processor112, such as the computer's CPU, may control the overall operation of the computer system by execution of processing instructions stored in memory102. Components14,16,100,102,112may be connected by a data control bus114.

As will be appreciated, the optimal print profile selection system10may comprise one or more computing devices, such as a personal computer, PDA, laptop computer, server computer, or combination thereof. Memories100,102may be integral or separate and may represent any type of computer readable medium such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), magnetic disk or tape, optical disk, flash memory, or holographic memory. In one embodiment, the memories100,102comprise a combination of random access memory and read only memory. In some embodiments, the processor112and memory100and/or102may be combined in a single chip.

FIG. 6illustrates a method for selecting an optimal print profile which can be performed with the system ofFIG. 5. The method begins at S100.

At S102, a color document26and a set of one or more print profiles28,30,32and their associated data are provided to the input device14,16. The inputs14,16are then forwarded to the color coverage review module90and the print options review component92.

At S104, the color coverage review component90identifies out-of-gamut regions54,56within the color document26and passes the identified regions54,56to the print options review component92. At this stage, three options may be presented to the user22. The first option is to review the color document26against a standard—or baseline—print profile, i.e., a profile corresponding to a gamut that all available print profiles support. The second option is to review the color document26against all of the actually available print profiles. The second option also allows for the computation of the smallest common denominator among all the print profiles28,30,32—i.e., computing the smallest common gamut that can be achieved by all available printing profiles28,30,32and using this gamut as reference to determine the out-of-gamut regions54,56. The third option is to use the print profile28that corresponds to the default or usual printer option taken by the user22. In this case, if the profile28provides a perfect covering of the document colors, the user can validate its use, otherwise the system10will restart the identification of out-of gamut regions using one of the first and second options.

Regardless of the option the user22chooses, the system10will identify one or more basic out-of-gamut regions54,56. Conceptually, each of these identified basic regions54,56can be considered separately. However, it is more efficient and also makes sense to group and evaluate some of these regions together. In particular, basic out-of-gamut regions of the first type that are defined through the same basic color (calculated as the same or within a given tolerance level) may be grouped together for the rest of the process. Indeed, evaluating the problem for the corresponding individual basic regions is equivalent to evaluating it for the whole set. The evaluation of out-of-gamut image sub regions may be different. If all sub regions within an image are equally important, the whole set of sub regions can indeed be grouped and evaluated together. Otherwise, if some particular sub regions are more important than others, they should be handled differently. Some sub regions may for instance represent particularly important objects—such as company products; other may contain less relevant background. In such a case, these different regions should be evaluated separately. By default, the color coverage review component90initially groups all image regions belonging to the same image together. Nevertheless this decision is not definite. The user may reconsider it in a later stage of the process S108, and require higher color consistency for more important sub regions, and lower consistency for background sub regions.

At S106, the print options review module92computes the a priori importance for each of the out-of-gamut regions (i.e., critical areas)68identified by the color coverage review module90. The a priori importance of out-of-gamut regions54,56is an measurement of importance that can be calculated independent of any input from the user22. A priori importance can be computed according to heuristics based on general criteria, e.g., the size of the concerned region, the location of the concerned region (regions located on the first page are in general more important than regions located towards the end of the document), the concerned color (if a color is known to be a company color or is repeatedly used within the document it is probably more important), the type of the concerned document element (logos are in general vector graphics that appear often and/or on all pages in the document), the content of the region (within images and photographs, certain subregions will in general be of special interest: regions containing faces for instance are usually important; such regions can be easily identified through use of a face detector).

Another characteristic of an out-of-gamut region may be the variance of the available print profile gamuts with respect to the original document color. For example, if the level of required color consistency for such a region across different print profiles is high, these regions will provide a relevant input for the color quality ranking of the available profiles (and may prompt printing choices or even discourage the user from making such a color selection if the user has not evidenced particular attachment to it).

At S108, the print options review component92presents the out-of-gamut regions54,56to the user22and then collects color accuracy requirements106from the user22. First, the system10displays the color document26to the user22highlighting the out-of-gamut regions54,56as shown inFIG. 2. If too many regions54,56have been detected, the system10may optionally display only the regions determined by the system via the a priori importance calculation of S106to be the most important, first. Otherwise the system10may provide the user22with a list of critical areas68ranked by the a priori importance using the color coverage review component90. The user interface24allows the user22to view directly a corresponding region by using the corresponding user control60(FIG. 2).

The user22can then inspect each problematic region and specify corresponding color accuracy requirements, which are then sent back to the print options review component92via the input/output device16. For each region the user22may, for instance, require a level of color consistency selected from a plurality of levels, such as one of strong (high), approximate (medium), and no particular (low) color consistency. In the latter case, the corresponding region54,56is tagged as ignored and not considered in the remaining steps.

Optionally, a natural language description indicating how close or far the document color is from the gamut for all or some of the available profiles is accessible to the user22(e.g., displayed on the display next to the problem region) and can help the user in specifying color accuracy requirements. Indeed if no printer profile can adequately print a region, the user may decide to change the region's color or to adapt the corresponding color accuracy requirements.

At S110, the print options review component92computes a color quality value for each available profile28,30,32, which may take into account the requirements for the individual regions54,56collected from the user22and/or the closeness of the color achieved for each region by the individual profile with respect to the color specified in the original document26. The quality values are then used at S112. Further details about S110are provided with respect toFIG. 7.

At S112, the system10provides the user22with a ranked list40of print profiles, displaying side-by-side the achieved quality calculated by the print options review component92in S110, a printing cost, and optionally printer availability, printer proximity to a user, and printer speed provided by the print profile database96and input with the print profiles28,30,32.

TABLE 1 illustrates an example ranked print profile list40. In this embodiment, the user22can sort the list40either by quality or by printing cost (although other criteria may be selectable as illustrated inFIG. 3). The profiles28,30,32are labelled with a quality level, such as perfect, medium, or low quality, depending on the profile's satisfaction of the user specified color accuracy requirements68. In one embodiment, perfect quality means that the profile respects all user color accuracy requirements68; medium quality means that some requirements68cannot be met, for instance some regions where strong consistency was required can only be printed with approximate consistency. Low quality means that some strong requirements cannot even be approximately respected.

For each print profile28,30,32, the user22can also access the list of open out-of-gamut issues (i.e., out-of-gamut regions that do not perfectly match the required color accuracy) and a natural language description of the discrepancy between the original document color and the color achievable with this print profile28,30,32. The user22can also filter the profiles by specifying a maximal acceptable cost, a minimal required quality level, or by any other available criteria. These criteria, but also other characteristics of the print profiles, such as the required type of paper, allows for filtering out further inadequate profiles at any stage and even from the beginning of the process.

At S114, the user22selects a print profile28,30,32from the ranked list of print profiles40. The selected print profile is then sent to the print profile selection system10via the input/output device16.

At S116, the print profile selection system10sends the color document26to the printer46corresponding to the selected print profile28. The color document26is then printed. The method ends at S118.

With reference now toFIG. 7, S110ofFIG. 6is illustrated in more detail. S110computes a document color quality value for each available printer profile. The method begins with a set of out-of-gamut regions54,56calculated by the color coverage review component90and a set of color accuracy requirements86received from the user22at S108. Actions S200through S214are performed for each out-of-gamut region.

At S200, for each profile, the print options review component92computes the mean difference value Δpr(where p=print profile and r=region) between the document color in the region and closest in-gamut color of the print profile28,30, or32. The closest in-gamut color is the document color itself if the color is within the gamut of the print profile/intersection or is the on the gamut boundary with the minimal perceptual distance from the document color in the case that the document color is outside of the gamut.

At S202, the print options review component92verifies how close the color achieved by the respective print profile28,30,32is to the original document26color based at least partially on the computed mean difference value Δprand determines a color accuracy category for the region. Taking c1and c2as constant parameters with c1<c2:1. If 0<=Δpr<c1*ΔEthe color is close to the original document color and the color accuracy category is determined to be strong;2. if c1*ΔE<=Δpr<c2*ΔEthe color approximates the original document color and the color accuracy category is determined to be approximate; and3. if c2*ΔE<Δprthe color is far from the original document color and the color accuracy category is determined to be low.

where c1and c2are degrees of tolerance and can be computed for each system10with simple experimentation, and where ΔEis a conversion constant that enables an expression of the “distance” between two colors in the Euclidian distance metric. The value of c1will typically be less than the value of c2, and, as will be appreciated in the art, the smallest color difference the human eye can see is equal to 1.0 in the Euclidian distance metric. In an alternative embodiment, instead of three color accuracy categories labelled strong, approximate, and low, the system10can determine color accuracy categories on a graduated scale with a large number of possible color accuracy categories.

At S204, the print options review component92receives the user specified color accuracy requirement for the current out-of-gamut region that was input at S108. As stated above, the exemplary embodiment expects that the user22will input either strong, approximate (medium), or no particular (low) color consistency as the color requirement. In the latter case, the corresponding region is tagged as ignored and not considered in the remaining steps. In an alternative embodiment, the user specified color accuracy requirements may be on a graduated scale with a large number of possible color accuracy requirement categories.

At S206, the print options review component92computes an indicator Iprc(c=color requirements level) indicating if the user specified color accuracy requirement concerning the out-of-gamut region is satisfied. The value of Iprcis 0 if the observed color accuracy category is lower than or equal to the required color accuracy level and 1 otherwise.

At S208, the print options review component92determines whether the user color accuracy requirements have been satisfied or not. If the indicator Iprcequals 1, then the method proceeds to S210. Else, the method proceeds to S212.

At S210, the print options review component92computes a severity Sprcof the color difference between the out-of-gamut region and each print profile28,30,32gamut. The severity Sprcmay have a value normalized to between 0 and 1. For instance, in the present exemplary embodiment, if strong consistency is required, then Sprc=tan h(Δpr/k). Else if approximate consistency is required, then Sprc=tan h((Δpr−c1)/k). Here, k is a constant to be tuned and adjusts how fast the severity will increase with the color difference, and the tan h(x) function is a common hyperbolic tangent function equal to

ⅇ2⁢⁢x-1ⅇ2⁢⁢x+1.
The method then proceeds to S212.

At S212, the print options review component92computes a quality value Qprcfor the region based at least partially on the indicator Iprc, calculated at S206and the severity Sprccalculated at S210. The resulting quality value for the region may be determined as Qprc=1−(Iprc*Sprc).

At S214, the method returns to S200if there are more out-of-gamut regions to be processed. Else, the method proceeds to S216.

At S216, for each print profile28,30,32, the print options review component92computes a global color quality value Qgfor the input color document by aggregating the color quality values Qprcof each out-of-gamut region calculated above. If a print profile28,30,32respects, for all out-of-gamut regions54,56, the corresponding quality requirements, then Qgis determined to be perfect. If the profile only provides approximate consistency for one or more regions where strong color quality was required by the user22, then Qgwith respect to the print profile28,30,32is determined to be of medium quality. Finally, if there are more substantial differences (such as the user22requiring perfect consistency where the print profile28,30,32provides low consistency) the print profile is of low quality.

To further rank each print profile28,30,32within these classes, the print options review component92may compute a weighted sum of differences:
Σprc=ΣwcQprc.

where wcis a weight corresponding to the color requirements level (e.g.: strong→w=10; approximate→wc=1). This provides a global Quality value Qgfor the print profile28,30,32. Furthermore, this sum can be normalized to obtain values between 0 and 1: Qp=Σprc/Σwc.

After S216is complete, the method then proceeds to S112.

The method illustrated inFIGS. 6 and 7may be implemented in a computer program product that may be executed on a computer. The computer program product may be a tangible computer-readable recording medium on which a control program is recorded, such as a disk, hard drive, or the like. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic storage medium, CD-ROM, DVD, or any other optical medium, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, or other memory chip or cartridge, or any other tangible medium from which a computer can read and use. Alternatively, the method may be implemented in a transmittable carrier wave in which the control program is embodied as a data signal using transmission media, such as acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications, and the like.

The exemplary method may be implemented on one or more general purpose computers, special purpose computer(s), a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, Graphical card CPU (GPU), or PAL, or the like. In general, any device, capable of implementing a finite state machine that is in turn capable of implementing the flowchart shown inFIGS. 6 and 7, can be used to implement the method for selecting an optimal print profile.

As will be appreciated, the steps of the method need not all proceed in the order illustrated and fewer, more, or different steps may be performed.

The benefits of using an integrated gamut as supported by the exemplary method and system include supporting the selection of an optimal print profile for a given document, i.e., the print profile that provides the best color coverage with respect to those colors used in the document. In this respect, one may avoid using a rather expensive printing option when an inexpensive printing option is available. By responding to different user requirements, the method and system take into account printing cost in order to support the selection of the print profile that provides the best compromise between color coverage and printing cost for the user.

Additionally, most gamut alarm tools (i.e., tools that alert a user when a document is out-of-gamut) are preset to work against standard offset color profiles such as SWOP (Specifications Web Offset Publications). Users tend to use these settings for any print device and are not encouraged to test their work against a specific digital printer color profile that potentially provides better coverage. In this context, a tool such as the exemplary system allows the investigation of the available print options therefore promotes an awareness of the benefits of digital printer wherever they are under-estimated.