A printing device includes a printing engine, a storage unit, and a controller. The printing engine prints on a printing medium. The storage unit stores an overall patch image including patches for color calibration for printing an image based on image data. The patches include basic patches corresponding to predetermined colors. The overall patch image has a first patch area in which the basic patches are arranged and a second patch area different from the first patch area. The controller performs: generating a specified patch that is a patch for a color specified by a user in a preview image corresponding to the image; and printing the overall patch image using the printing engine. In a case where the specified patch is generated, in the printing the generated specified patch is printed in the first patch area and one of the basic patches is printed in the second patch area.

Variable digital optical images may be fabricated using generic optical matrices. A generic optical matrix may have pixels corresponding to color and subpixels corresponding to noncolor effects. The pixels may include first pixels corresponding to a first color and second pixels corresponding to a second color. The subpixels may include first subpixels corresponding to a first noncolor effect and second subpixels corresponding to a second noncolor effect. Individual ones of the pixels and/or subpixels of the generic optical matrix may be obliterated according to a negative while remaining pixels and/or subpixels may be preserved. The remaining pixels and/or subpixels may form an optical image corresponding to a base image. The optical image may be colored based on the remaining pixels. The optical image may exhibit noncolor effects corresponding to the remaining subpixels. The optical image may comprise a hologram or a stereo image.

Variable digital optical images may be fabricated using generic optical matrices. A generic optical matrix may have a substrate and a plurality of pixels corresponding to color and sub-pixels corresponding to non-color effects. The pixels may include first pixels corresponding to a first color and second pixels corresponding to a second color. The sub-pixels may include first sub-pixels corresponding to a first non-color effect and second sub-pixels corresponding to a second non-color effect. Individual ones of the pixels and sub-pixels of the generic optical matrix may be obliterated according to a negative while remaining pixels and/or sub-pixels may be preserved. The remaining pixels and sub-pixels may form an optical image corresponding to a base image. The optical image may be colored based on the remaining pixels. The optical image may exhibit non-color effects corresponding to the remaining sub-pixels. The optical image may comprise a hologram or a stereo image.

An apparatus and method for formatting a label are provided. An example method includes receiving data, a first portion of the data being encoded in a first encoding scheme; defining, via a processor, a first field block based on first text layout information received in association with a first field block command, the first field block for rendering text on a label; and formatting, via the processor, the first portion of the data within the first field block according to a first text display direction received in association with a first field parameter command.

Apparatus and methods for providing downgraded fonts for VDP printing application are described. A server system may be configured to generate and/or select a set of downgraded rasterized fonts for delivery to a client system in order to provide limited client-side WYSIWIG display functionality using the downgraded fonts. A client side application may use the downgraded fonts to provide a display-only or draft print only rendering of a VDP print job.

A printing apparatus includes a reception unit that receives outline information representing an outline of a character, a generation unit that generates, using the outline information, a bitmap including pixels corresponding to the character, the pixels being associated with a graphic attribute, a changing unit that refers an attribute associated with a pixel adjacent to one of the pixels corresponding to the character, and changes a density value of the adjacent pixel associated with the referred attribute being different from a graphic attribute and a character attribute to a density which is based on a density value of the one pixel, and a printing unit that prints an image based on the bitmap after the change.

A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes a color management unit including optimization logic to generate a multi-dimensional color management lookup table derived from an input color to output color mapping, wherein the multi-dimensional color management lookup table has a non-uniform spacing of grid points specifying a correspondence between each of a plurality of input color space dimensions and output color space dimensions, and a color engine to receive an input color in an input color space, perform a multi-dimensional interpolation via the multi-dimensional color management lookup table to map the input color to an output color in an output color space; and return the output color.

Methods, systems, and storage media for outline character printing on a printing device are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: allocate cache memory of a printing device for registration of an outline character; register outline character data wherein the metadata portion comprises a description of the outline character and the data portion comprises a scanline table for the outline character; receive a print job data at the printing device; determine the print job data identifies the outline character in the cache memory at the printing device; render the scanline table accessed from the cache memory as a pattern of pixels for the outline character for the print job data received; and print, on the printing device, the pattern of pixels rendered from the scanline table accessed from the cache memory for the print job data received.

A terminal device may generate a first label file based on a specific label file. The specific label file may include one or more object regions in which a print target object is to be placed and first text information written in a first object region of the one or more object regions. The first label file may include the one or more object regions and does not include the first text information. The terminal device may generate a first database file associated with the first label file. The first database file may store a first field name corresponding to the first object region and a first text obtained by using the first text information in association with each other. The terminal device may generate first print data by using the first label file and the first database file, and send the first print data to a label printer.

A color printing system manages ICC profiles by controlling ink use without performing the ICC profile creation operations. To obtain an ink limit for an ICC profile, a table associated with the ICC profile is parsed to determine the ink limit. The ink limit is decreased or increased. For an ink limit decrease, a color over the decreased ink limit is adjusted to meet the new ink limit. The ICC profile is updated accordingly. For an ink limit increase, the combination of primary colors are boosted by a percentage amount. Checks are made with regard to the volume-based ink limit and an quality check operation to accepted the boosted amount. The ICC profile is updated accordingly.