Patent ID: 7570401

Claim:
Method of producing a validated print-out comprising: (a) providing a printing apparatus comprising a memory, a processor, a printhead and a spectrophotometer, the printhead and the spectrophotometer being mobile along a scan axis; (b) loading an original virtual image data into the memory; (c) creating a modified virtual image which comprising the data from the original virtual image and a virtual original series of color patches representative of a color gamut, the modified virtual image being in the form of raster data; (d) provide a print-out of the modified virtual image on a media using the printing apparatus to obtain a printed image comprising a printed series of the color patches representative of the color gamut; (e) scanning the printed series of the color patches representative of the color gamut using the spectrophotometer to provide a spectrophotometer output; (f) analyzing the output using the processor to compare the output to an admissible range stored in the memory; (g) if the output is within the admissible range, validate the print-out of the modified virtual image, and, if the output is outside of the admissible range, either validate the print-out of the modified virtual image after an analysis of the position of the data points of the modified virtual image in relation to an admissible color gamut, or change the modified virtual image and repeat steps (d) to (g) until validation of a print-out of a modified virtual image, wherein the analysis of the position of the data points of the original virtual image comprises an identification of the proportion of the data points situated outside of the admissible color gamut, comparing the proportion to a proportion threshold, wherein the print-out of the modified virtual image is validated if the proportion is below the threshold and wherein the modified virtual image is changed and the steps (d) to (g) repeated until validation of a modified virtual image if the proportion is above the threshold.