Patent ID: 7209245

Claim:
A printing system comprising: a printing device for printing on a plurality of printing media in accordance with a plurality of adjustable settings; a memory to store multiple configurations of the adjustable settings, each configuration of the adjustable settings corresponding to a different printing medium; an interface; and a controller for controlling the adjustable settings of the printing device responsive to inputs from the interface, the controller having an on line mode wherein the printing device prints while the adjustable settings are unchanging, and an off line mode for characterizing one or more of the printing media by determining one or more of the corresponding configurations of the adjustable settings; wherein the controller is adapted to, while in the off line mode, identify a plurality of first calibration values for a first setting of the adjustable settings through derivation of at least one trigger value, where the derivation includes incrementing the trigger value by at least a preset or user-defined incremental value, iteratively set the first setting of the printing device to each of the first calibration values, where the printing device, after each iteration, prints a corresponding sample image according to the first setting, and receive a first feedback input that identifies one of the first calibration values as preferred for the first setting; where the controller is adapted to receive a sample value from the interface, where the sample value to identify a number of first calibration values to be derived by the controller; and where the sample value identifies a maximum first calibration value, where the controller to cease incrementing the trigger value when one of the derived first calibration values is greater than or equal to the maximum first calibration value.