Patent ID: 7835043

Claim:
An imaging method comprising: forming a plurality of hard color images upon media with an imaging device using user-defined image data, the hard color images corresponding to the user-defined image data; sensing an optical characteristic of at least a portion of the hard color images at a plurality of different spatial locations of the hard color images, the optical characteristic corresponding to a color measurement of the hard color images; comparing the color measurement of the hard color images with a color profile of the user-defined image data; and calibrating an imaging operation of the imaging device with respect to forming the hard color images to maintain the color measurement of the hard color images within a tolerance level relative to the color profile, wherein comparing the color measurement of the hard color images with a color profile of the user-defined image data comprises one of identifying locations of the hard color images where measurement of the optical characteristic is substantially constant along one or more scan paths and identifying locations of the user-defined image data that provide a range of colors sufficient for color-profiling and calibrating of the imaging device.