Central Controller for Multi-Printer Color Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
In digital printing, achieving consistent print quality across multiple printers is challenging, as existing systems often require sub-optimal print quality to ensure color consistency, compromising the ideal output of individual printers.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a central controller that communicates with multiple printers over a network, using both software and hardware databases to coordinate print settings, including color calibration and physical parameters, to ensure consistent print appearance across different printer models and technologies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple printers operate independently to output their own ideal print quality, then individual print quality is optimized, but consistency across multiple printers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where each printer reports its actual output characteristics (hardware response) and the central controller adjusts both software processing parameters and hardware settings based on this feedback. This allows the system to iterate toward achieving consistent output across all printers while maintaining optimal quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes both software parameters (image processing, color conversion) and hardware parameters (marking engine settings, physical conditions) to achieve consistency. By adjusting these parameters based on measured responses from all printers, the system resolves the contradiction between individual optimization and overall consistency.
2Stability of the object's composition
If color calibration data is transmitted around a network of printers and computers, then color consistency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central controller as an intermediary that manages the calibration process. Rather than requiring complex peer-to-peer communication and coordination between all printers and computers, the central controller acts as a mediator that receives data from all devices, processes calibration information, and coordinates adjustments, thereby reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges software calibration data with hardware response measurements into a unified calibration process managed by the central controller. By combining these previously separate aspects into a single coordinated system, the patent reduces the complexity that would arise from managing separate calibration processes across multiple devices.
3Stability of the object's composition
If consistency requirements force printers to output sub-optimal print quality, then color consistency across printers is improved, but individual print quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts calibration parameters for each printer based on its specific hardware response characteristics. Rather than applying a static compromise that forces all printers to sub-optimal quality, the system adapts individual printer settings dynamically to achieve consistency while preserving optimal quality output for each device.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality adjustments by tailoring calibration parameters to each individual printer's specific characteristics. Each printer receives customized calibration data based on its measured hardware response, allowing it to output optimal quality while still contributing to overall consistency, rather than being forced to uniform sub-optimal output.
Data Source
AI summary
A system controls multiple digital printers, each printer including a processor, which processes incoming image data to be printed, and an engine, which places marks on a print sheet. A system-wide database includes a software portion, which contains data relating to the processors in the various printers, and a hardware portion, which contains data relating to the various engines. A central control system can recognize, for each printer, whether a condition within the printer is primarily hardware- or software-related, and influence the printer accordingly.