Seiko Epson today announced global support for its open-source development kit, the ESC/P-R library, which assists product designers wishing to develop printing applications for electronic devices. With the kit, developers only need to create one driver in order to connect and communicate with any Epson inkjet printer that supports ESC/P-R.

ESC/P-R is a common language for selected Epson inkjet printers worldwide that supports every media type, paper size and associated printing mode available on those products. ESC/P-R allows many kinds of devices to connect and communicate with Epson printers, expanding possibilities for use with medical equipment, measuring equipment, electronic whiteboards, and at home with home electronics and game machines. It is especially suited for consumer electronics devices and embedded equipment.

The ESC/P-R development kit has already been utilized to develop printing applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and for phones using the Android operating system. "ePrint" by Microtech and Epson's own "Epson iPrint" can be found in Apple's App Store, while CyCom Technology's "CyPria" application is available for download from the Android Market. All of Epson's Wi-Fi capable all-in-one printers launched this year will support these applications.

The ESC/P-R language is designed to be easy to develop and maintain, as it removes the necessity to create and update separate drivers for each printer. It enables speedy printing of high quality images even from devices with a slow CPU, and does not require dedicated image processing memory.

Development support will be provided by Epson Imaging Technology Center in San Jose and Seattle.

For further information on Epson's universal printing and supported printers, please this site: http://global.epson.com/technology/driver.htm