Patent ID: 7284812

Claim:
A method for printing with a color ink-jet printer having at least four ink cartridges respectively containing basic colors and at least one supplementary cartridge containing an ink of a pale color, wherein a requested color can comprise a plurality of component colors selected from said basic colors and said pale color, and the printing of a requested color is performed by depositing a drop of ink for each of said component colors, superimposed upon one another, said method comprising the following steps: for each of a plurality of requestable colors, establishing an equivalent color having a smaller amount of components than the requestable color; storing said equivalent colors in association with the corresponding requestable colors; in response to a request to print a color at a location for a given pixel, retrieving the stored equivalent color for the requested color; and depositing a drop of ink for each component of the retrieved equivalent color at said location, to thereby print said equivalent color in place of the requested color for said pixel.