Patent ID: 8075942

Claim:
A system, comprising: a printing device having a printing resolution; and a processor configured to: receive a target transmission spectrum for an optical filter design, wherein an optical filter filters electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, or combinations thereof, regions of the electromagnetic spectrum; select a set of one or more filter component materials based, at least in part, on a stored transmission spectrum of each component; multiply the stored transmission spectrum of each selected filter component material by an associated component weight factor to produce a weighted transmission spectrum for each selected filter component material; combine the weighted transmission spectrum of each selected filter component material to produce a composite transmission spectrum; optimize the value of the component weight factor associated with each component material so that the composite transmission spectrum matches the received target transmission spectrum; calculate a corresponding fill factor and a thickness for each selected filter component material based, at least in part, upon the component weight factor associated with each selected filter component material, wherein the fill factor comprises a fraction of a filter area to be covered by the filter component material; and cause the printing device to print each of the selected filter component materials according to its corresponding thickness and fill factor to form an optical filter.