Instruction Processing Mode

The instruction processing mode is used with color conversion, tone transfer curve, and halftone CMRs. In instruction processing mode, these CMRs indicate how the system must convert a resource so it prints correctly on the target printer. The manufacturer of your printer should provide ICC profiles or a variety of CMRs that you can use. Those ICC profiles and CMRs might be installed in the printer controller, included with the printer on a CD, or available for download from the manufacturer's website.

If you send a color AFP print job to a printer that supports AFP Color Management, color conversion and tone transfer curve CMRs in instruction processing mode can be associated with the job. When the printer processes the print job, it applies the CMRs in this order:

1. Color conversion CMRs in audit processing mode to convert the resources into the ICC profile connection space (PCS).
2. Color conversion and tone transfer curve CMRs in instruction processing mode to convert the resources into the color space of the printer.
3. Halftone CMR in instruction processing mode to convert the job pages from their digital format into the pattern of dots that the printer can produce.

In some cases, CMRs that are usually used as instruction CMRs can be used as audit CMRs. For example, if you send a very large print job to a high-speed printer, the images in the print job are converted into the color space of that printer by using a color conversion CMR with the instruction processing mode. However, if you have to reprint part of the job on a different printer, the system must convert the print job into the color space of the second printer. In that case, the color conversion CMR of the first printer is used in the audit processing mode to move the images back into the PCS. Then, the system uses a color conversion CMR of the second printer in instruction mode to convert the images into its color space.