Patent ID: 8014024

Claim:
A method for calibrating a printing system comprising a plurality of printers, the method comprising: designating one of said plurality of printers as a reference printer; defining color values in an L*, a*, b* color space for a target response sought for one or more printed test patches on a control page, the target response color values for each patch including a first colorant value L* and second and third colorant values a 0 and b 0 , which are both zero; through a first iterative process, generating a printed control page with said reference printer, said control page including one or more of said test patches, measuring a response of said printed control page, the response including a first color colorant value L* and second and third colorant values a* and b*, the second and third colorant values of the response optionally being non-zero, adjusting a tone reproduction curve for said reference printer based on said measured response to bring a* and b* closer to zero, and repeating said process to approach the target color values a 0 and b 0 of the response sought; designating the measured response a f and b f from the reference printer as the target response sought for a second of said printers; through a second iterative process, generating a printed control page with the second of said printers, said control page including one or more of said test patches which, when measured, has a measured response, adjusting a tone reproduction curve for said second printer based on said measured response of said second printer, and repeating said process to approach the measured response a f and b f of the reference printer.