Patent ID: 8270049

Claim:
A method for characterizing color separation misregistration of a printer device using a color space having N color separations for marking a substrate, comprising: providing an input image including a pattern of patches including at least one measurement patch, each measurement patch including at least a first and second line screen each having a set of at least two lines, wherein the set of at least two lines corresponding to the respective at least said first and second line screens are each formed of different color separations of the N color separations, respectively, wherein the first line screen is shifted relative to the second line screen using only one phase shift so that the at least two lines of the first line screen partially overlap the at least two lines of the second line screen forming at least one overlapping portion; marking said substrate in accordance with the input image for generating an output image having a marked pattern of patches which corresponds to the pattern of patches; measuring spectral reflectance of at least one respective patch of the marked patch pattern of the output image, wherein the measuring includes measuring the spectral reflectance of the at least one overlapping portion marked on the substrate; generating respective spectral reflectance values corresponding to the measuring; characterizing misregistration between the color separations associated with each of the at least first and second line screens of a marked measurement patch that corresponds to a measurement patch of the at least one measurement patch based on the spectral reflectance value that corresponds to the marked measurement patch, wherein the pattern of patches further includes a plurality of calibration patches; and using spectral reflectance values corresponding to a marked plurality of calibration patches of the marked patch pattern that corresponds to the plurality of calibration patches for the characterizing the misregistration, and wherein the plurality of calibration patches includes a plurality of Neugebauer patches, including a Neugebauer patch formed of a different grouping for each possible permutation of the N color separations of the color space, including the substrate itself, the method further comprising: using spectral reflectance values corresponding to a marked plurality of Neugebauer patches of the marked patch pattern that corresponds to the plurality of Neugebauer patches for the characterizing the misregistration.