A system calculates appropriate billing within an imaging pipeline. An
input component receives an image that is described as a plurality of
pixels. A PDL component receives the image and determines a location, a
color and a designation for each of the one or more pixels. A marking
engine modifies the one or more pixels based at least in part on the
location and the color provided by the PDL component and places each of
the one or more pixels as a monochrome or a composite pixel on a
substrate. An analysis component counts the number of monochrome and
composite pixels placed on the substrate by the marking engine, the
number of composite pixels that include a designation are counted as
monochrome. A billing component calculates the cost for placing each of
the monochrome and the composite pixels counted by the analysis
component.