Patent ID: 7898705

Claim:
A method of automatically determining color status of a scanned original in a multi-function peripheral device, comprising: receiving, at a scanner on the multi-function peripheral device, an original document; scanning the original document with the scanner to produce scanned image data; transmitting the scanned image data to a processor; executing, with the processor, instructions that cause the processor to: segment a binary halftone image into a predetermined number of local windows; determine which local windows are to undergo color status processing by comparing a dot count for each channel to a predetermined minimum, wherein color status processing comprises: converting each local window to a device-independent color space; determining a color space parameter for each local window; comparing the color space parameters for the local windows to a predetermined threshold to determine the color status of the scanned original; and transmitting the color status to a billing meter; and setting a particular rate based upon the color status.