Patent ID: 8373883

Claim:
A method, executed by a computer, for managing resource consumption during print production, comprising: receiving a print job and a set of print job constraints, wherein the print job includes a first pixel color specification, and the print job constraints include a content dependent constraint, which permits the first pixel color specification to be replaced with a second pixel color specification for specific content types in the print job; generating a set of color separation information by applying the set of print job constraints to the print job, wherein the generating comprises generating a first set of color separation information using the first pixel color specification; calculating a set of printing resources required to produce a print job output from the print job according to the set of print job constraints, wherein calculating includes, calculating the required printing resources based on the set of color separation information; measuring a set of available printing resources; producing the print job output from the print job, if the required printing resources are less than the available printing resources; and if the required printing resources are greater than the available printing resources, identifying a set of fall-back print job constraints, wherein the identifying comprises identifying different types of content in the print job, and the generating comprises generating a second set of color separation information for at least one of the different types of content in the print job; and repeating the calculating and producing steps using the fall-back constraints, wherein the producing comprises using the second set of color separation information for at least one of the different types of content in the print job and using the first set of color separation information for other types of content in the print job.