INCREASED TEMPORAL FLEXIBILITY WHEN PERFORMING/APPLYING/REVERTING CALIBRATION FOR A PRINTER OUTPUT DEVICE

A system for compensating for a calibration drift in an image output device includes a user input means for specifying an output medium. An image output device controller converts original image data to final image data used by the image output device. The image output device produces a calibration image, as a function of an output medium, for a plurality of halftone screens capable of being produced by the image output device. A processor communicates with the controller. The processor calculates a plurality of candidate tone reproduction curve sets for the specified output medium. Each of the sets corresponds to one of the plurality of halftone screens. The candidate tone reproduction curve sets are accepted for compensating for a calibration drift in the image output device.