CHICAGO, July 2- R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company's strategic technology center has signed an agreement with Barco Graphics for a worldwide license of R.R. Donnelley's variable data imaging method patents. Barco uses the licensed patents in products such as VIPDesigner and VIPLine. "Digital print technology is one of the fastest-growing trends in our industry. Our technology allows our customers and production staff to take advantage of more effective digital press capabilities,'' said Jim Warmus, director of strategic technology, R.R. Donnelley, and lead inventor of the licensed patents. The patented techniques encourage the separation of variable data from static data until the last possible moment before physical printing. This allows the data streams to be created, modified and proofed independently. The physical devices are used to merge the data at print time. "R.R. Donnelley is a pioneer in managing digitized images and text, holding more than 25 issued and pending patents for these emerging technologies. The licensed patents are part of our family of patented and patent-pending digital print technologies,'' said Mark Dreyer, project engineer and co-inventor of a number of R.R. Donnelley digital patents. "Because we see a promising future in variable data digital printing, we are committed to helping our customers reap the benefits of 100-percent variable direct promotions,'' said Dreyer. The digital print technology in R.R. Donnelley's portfolio has won numerous awards including citations for product innovation from CAP Ventures and Print on Demand. VIPDesigner is a script on top of Quark XPress that assigns and links variable elements with databases. The interactive editor enables users to define the different placeholders for the variable fields. VIPDesigner allows for an interactive visualization of the different records of the database, allowing the operator to visually check extreme records before they get printed. VIPDesigner supports the unique capability of adding variable fields to a picked master that has been pre-ripped. The selection of the picked master, also database driven, ensures an efficient way to produce pages that are up to 100-percent variable. R.R. Donnelley, a leader in printing technology, has been first with every significant advancement in the printing industry for more than 20 years. The strategic technology center of R.R. Donnelley maintains 115 active patents and numerous licensing agreements. It also monitors patent infringement issues and evaluates licensing opportunities.