US Patent 8734034 System and method for pre-print ink use estimation

An image representation of an image and printing specifications describing how the image is to be printed may be accepted at a device. A predicted ink drop count may be calculated by a processor in the device using the image representation and a printer imaging step, the printer imaging step to convert image data into printer data. A predicted ink use value may be calculated by processor based on the predicted ink drop count, predicted ink drop weights, the image representation (e.g., a histogram) and the printing specifications. Actual ink use during a printing operation may be measured.