Solving those problems means redefining the document and rethinking how people work, Vandebroek says. For example, a Xerox prototype called Document Categorizer automatically indexes, categorizes and routes electronic documents. Using linguistic analysis and machine-learning algorithms, it applies probabilistic models derived from a collection of already categorized documents to assign new ones to categories -- such as marketing or technical support -- as they come in. Xerox is using the technology to analyze and route customer calls and correspondence, and a European customer hopes to use it to eliminate much of the labor in its mailroom.

But real-time color sensors and a quest for white ink are only what's glimpsed in a narrow look at XIG. At a higher level, it's all about the synthesis of images and information, says Sid Dalal, vice president. He says an era of ubiquitous imaging is dovetailing with an era of ubiquitous computing.

Dalal offers as an example a technique that Xerox developed by which an image that starts out in color can be converted to an encoded black-and-white image for faxing and then printed by the recipient in color. More broadly, "there can be metadata and a model from which you can create images," he says. "The image may not even be there, but the metadata will allow creation of a new image from an old image, and it's transferable to any computing device and network.

"We are really bringing the world of information and documents together."