Research opportunities |
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Traditional analog printing used for magazines or catalogues provides high quality and high visual impact, but it is limited because it is a mass-production technology.
By contrast, digital presses can print each page differently at no extra cost -- reducing waste and storage needs and allowing for highly customized marketing material to be printed on demand.
HP Labs is helping bring the same sort of digital revolution we brought to the desktop into other segments of printing. |
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Our approach |
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HP's solution for commercial printing -- the Indigo Digital Press -- employs liquid electrophotography (LEP). LEP combines the electrostatic image creation of laser printing with the blanket image transfer technology of offset lithography. The result: a high-resolution, high-speed and variable printing method that works well on a variety of media.
HP Labs helps support HP's Indigo technology by analyzing and reinventing key fundamentals of the LEP process. |
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Research focus |
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Our goal is to automate as many of the Indigo's processes as possible to lower cost, increase speed, enhance image quality and consistency, and simplify press operation. Researchers also contribute technologies to HP's Scitex industrial wide-format printers.
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Current work |
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Areas of research include:
- developing new sensors to help monitor the printing process
- enhancing image processing and print quality
- increasing the life of imaging components
- refining press color control, consistency and management
- automating press calibration and control
- analyzing and optimizing press usage
A major advantage of the LEP process is its support for variable-data printing. Typically this involves simply placing a personalized message, name or address in a 'copy-hole' on a page.
HP Labs researchers are developing true variable-data printing, where anything on a page can be altered for each recipient. Achieving this means solving complex problems around automating the proofing of the customized pages and managing the highly complex workflow of data assembly, template creation, and printing. |
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Technical contributions |
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Researchers have contributed improvements to HP Indigo press technology in paper handling, color management, waste reduction and much more. |
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Printing & imaging |
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Printable version
