Information processing device

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a storage medium. It is ensured that a designated color that is an object of spot color matching is correctly converted to its target color when output. In the case of generating drawing data for causing an image output device to perform drawing of an image, when outputting the image, it is determined whether the designated color in a first color space included in an input image is converted to a target color in a second color space that can be processed by the image output device. Then, in the case of determining to perform conversion, control is performed so that color adjustment is not performed at least for the designated color among the colors included in the input image.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] An aspect of the embodiments relates to a color adjustment technique when outputting an image based on input image data. Background Art

[0002] In order to obtain printed materials including corporate logos or product logos, high color reproducibility is required for designated colors (such as so-called corporate colors), and with the recent performance improvement of home or office image forming devices, POP printing, etc. is performed in each store, etc. Here, "POP" is an abbreviation for point of purchase advertising. Then, there is a technology for outputting a destination color by attaching a color name (e.g., Dark_RED, etc.) to a designated color for a corporate logo, etc. and specifying the color name when printing, so that even users without professional knowledge can reproduce the designated color when printing. This technology is generally called "spot color matching". In addition, a technology for performing spot color matching more easily is also proposed. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-252728 discloses the following technology: in the case where the color value of the designated color is included in the print target image data, the color value is converted into the color value of the target color according to the color conversion list by pre-storing a color conversion list, and the color value (RGB value) of the designated color of the object is adjusted in the color conversion list and the color value (CMYK value) of its target color is associated.

[0003] Typically, print target image data is generated in a host PC or the like by using a printer driver, and is input to an image forming apparatus. Then, the printer driver can adjust tint, brightness, etc. (generally referred to as "color adjustment") when printing. Here, in the case where the color value of a designated color in the image data is changed by color adjustment before performing conversion using the above-mentioned color conversion list, spot color matching can no longer be performed to convert the color value into the color value of the target color using the color conversion list.

[0004] The technology of the present disclosure has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to ensure that a spot color matching object designated color can be correctly converted into a target color at the time of output. Summary of the invention

[0005] An information processing device according to the present disclosure is an information processing device, which includes: a first execution unit, configured to execute a first setting and a second setting, the first setting being used to change the color of an input image to a color based on the color, and the second setting being used to change a specified color of the input image to another specified color not based on the specified color; and a second execution unit, configured to execute control so that changes based on the first setting are not executed based on the second setting having been enabled.

[0006] Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a printing system;

[0008] Figure 2 is a functional block diagram showing the internal configuration of the printer driver;

[0009] Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI for a user to perform settings related to color adjustment;

[0010] Figure 4 is a functional block diagram showing the internal configuration of an image processing unit;

[0011] Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of a control operation performed by a setting control unit of a printer driver;

[0012] Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI for a user to perform settings related to color matching; and

[0013] Figure 7 : is a diagram showing an example of a GUI for a user to perform settings related to density adjustment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Hereinafter, the present disclosure is described in detail according to embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The configurations shown in the following embodiments are merely exemplary, and the present disclosure is not limited to the schematically shown configurations.

[0015] In addition, in each embodiment, the description is given by taking a so-called MFP (multifunction printer) as an example of an image forming device that forms an image on a printing medium by an electronic photographic method according to the image data inputted by the printing object. However, the application scope of the technology disclosed in the present invention is not limited to MFP, and the technology can be widely applied to a general image output device that outputs an image according to the input image data. That is, in addition to other types of image forming devices such as copiers, laser printers, and inkjet printers, the technology can also be applied to image display devices such as monitors and projectors.

[0016] [First embodiment]

[0017] <Printing System Configuration>

[0018] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a printing system according to the present embodiment. The printing system includes an MFP 100 as an image forming apparatus and a host PC 120 as an information processing apparatus, and the MFP 100 and the host PC 120 are connected via a network 130 such as a LAN.

[0019] 《MFP Hardware Configuration》

[0020] The MFP 100 includes a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, a mass storage device 104, a UI unit 105, an image processing unit 106, an engine interface (I / F) 107, a network I / F 108, and a scanner I / F 109. Each of these units is connected to each other via a system bus 110. In addition, the MFP 100 includes a printer engine 111 and a scanner unit 112. The printer engine 111 and the scanner unit 112 are connected to the system bus 110 via the engine I / F 107 and the scanner I / F 109, respectively. The image processing unit 106 may also be configured as an image processing device (image processing controller) independent of the MFP 100.

[0021] The CPU 101 controls the operation of the entire MFP 100. The CPU 101 performs various processes to be described later by reading the program stored in the ROM 102 onto the RAM 103 and executing the program. The ROM 102 is a read-only memory and stores one or more system activation programs and character data or character code information, etc., for controlling the printer engine. The RAM 103 is a volatile random access memory and is used as a work area of ​​the CPU 101 and a temporary storage area for various data. For example, the RAM 103 is used as a storage area for storing font data additionally registered by downloading or an image file received from an external device, etc. The large-capacity storage device 104 is, for example, an HDD and an SSD, and various data are spooled therein, and is used to store programs, various tables, information files, image data, etc. and used as a work area.

[0022] The UI (User Interface) unit 105 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) including a touch panel function, and displays a screen for notifying the user of the setting status of the MFP 100, the situation of the processing being executed, an error status, etc. The UI unit 105 receives various user instructions such as input of various setting values ​​of the MFP 100 and selection of various buttons via a predetermined user interface screen (UI screen). The UI unit 105 may also separately include an input device such as a hard key.

[0023] The image processing unit 106 analyzes drawing data (hereinafter referred to as "PDL data") input from the host PC 120 via the network 130 and described in PDL. Then, the image processing unit 106 performs color conversion processing by a method specified in PDL, and generates image data that can be processed by the printer engine 111. PDL is an abbreviation for page description language.

[0024] The engine I / F 107 is used as an interface for controlling the printer engine 111 according to the instruction from the CPU 101 when performing printing. The engine control command and the like are sent and received between the CPU 101 and the printer engine 111 via the engine I / F 107. The network I / F 108 is used as an interface for connecting the MFP 100 to the network 130. The network 108 may be, for example, a LAN or a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The printer engine 111 forms a multi-color image on a printing medium such as paper by using a color material (here, toner) of a plurality of colors (here, four colors of CMYK) based on the image data received from the system bus 110 side. The scanner I / F 109 is used as an interface for controlling the scanner unit 112 according to the instruction from the CPU 101 when the scanner unit 112 reads a document. The scanner unit control command and the like are sent and received between the CPU 101 and the scanner unit 112 via the scanner I / F 109. The scanner unit 112 generates read image data by optically reading a document under the control of the CPU 101 , and sends the read image data (scanned image data) to the RAM 103 or the mass storage device 104 via the scanner I / F 109 .

[0025] 《Hardware Configuration of Host PC》

[0026] The host PC 120 includes a CPU 121, a ROM 122, a RAM 123, a mass storage device 124, a UI unit 125, and a network I / F 126. Each of these units is connected to each other via a system bus 127. The CPU 121 is a processor that controls the operation of the entire host PC 120 and reads a control program and an application program stored in the ROM 122 and executes various processes. The RAM 123 is used as a main memory of the CPU 121 and a temporary storage area such as a work area. The mass storage device 124 is, for example, an HDD and an SSD, and stores image data and the like in addition to various programs such as a printer driver. The UI (User Interface) unit 125 includes, for example, a liquid crystal monitor, a keyboard, etc., and is used to display various UI screens and receive user instructions. The network I / F 126 is an interface that connects the host PC 120 to the network 130. The host PC 120 sends PDL data generated by using the installed printer driver to the MFP 100 via the network I / F 126, and causes the MFP 100 to execute a print process.

[0027] <Functional Configuration of Printer Driver>

[0028] Next, the printer driver used when generating PDL data is described. Figure 21 is a functional block diagram showing the internal configuration of the printer driver according to the present embodiment. The printer driver 200 includes a PDL generation unit 201, a color adjustment value setting unit 202, a density adjustment value setting unit 206, a setting control unit 203, a color adjustment unit 204, and a PDL output unit 205. Each of these functional units operates on the operating system (OS) of the host PC 120.

[0029] The PDL generation unit 201 receives drawing information from a document creation application or the like installed in the host PC 120 via a GDI (Graphics Device Interface) prepared by the OS, and generates a PDL.

[0030] The color adjustment value setting unit 202 receives a value related to color adjustment input on a graphical user interface (GUI) and sets the value as a color adjustment value. Figure 3 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the "color adjustment" tab 300 is selected on the UI screen for color setting for the user to perform color-related settings. Subsequently, the "matching" tab 310 and the "density adjustment" tab 311 will be described. Figure 3 On the GUI in a state where the tab for color adjustment shown in FIG. 1 is selected, as items of color adjustment, there are three items: a color adjustment matrix 301 for adjusting the hue of the entire image, a brightness adjustment 302 for adjusting the brightness of the entire image, and a contrast adjustment 303 for adjusting the contrast of the entire image. The GUI shown here is an example, and the items of color adjustment are not limited to these.

[0031] The density adjustment value setting unit 206 receives a value related to density adjustment input on the graphical user interface and sets the value as a density adjustment value. Figure 7 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the “density adjustment” tab 311 is selected on the density setting UI screen for the user to perform settings related to density. Figure 7 On the GUI in a state where the tab for density adjustment shown in FIG. 7 is selected, as items for density adjustment, there are the following five items. First, a toner saving mode 701 for suppressing toner consumption of the entire image, and toner adjustments 702, 703, 704, and 705 for adjusting the density of each toner color (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). The GUI shown here is an example, and the items for density adjustment are not limited to these.

[0032] The setting control unit 203 controls the above-mentioned Figure 3 The color adjustment GUI shown in FIG. 1 and the color adjustment value set in the color adjustment value setting unit 202. Similarly, the setting control unit 203 controls the above Figure 7, and the density adjustment value set in the density adjustment value setting unit 206. In this case, whether to apply spot color matching is determined based on a color conversion list prepared in advance. Table 1 below shows an example of a color conversion list.

[0033] [Table 1]

[0034]

[0035] The color conversion list in Table 1 above is a list that associates input color values ​​and output color values ​​with each other, in which each color of RGB of a designated color (hereinafter, described as "adjustment target color") as a target of spot color matching is represented by eight bits, and in which each color of CMYK of a target color is represented by eight bits. The case of the color conversion list in Table 1 means that spot color matching is applied to three colors designated by RGB values ​​at the time of print processing in the MFP 100. In the present embodiment, the color conversion list as described above is pre-stored on, for example, the MFP 100 side and is acquired (downloaded) at a predetermined timing and used for determination, but the color conversion list may be pre-stored on the host PC 120 side. In addition, the color conversion list may also be created by using the MFP 100. As a method of creating a color conversion list, for example, there is a method described in Japanese Patent No. 6501621. In this method, for the input color value of RGB of the adjustment target color, a chart including the output color value of CMYK of the target color and the output color value of its neighboring colors is printed in the printer engine 11. Then, in the printed chart, a color patch desired by the user is selected, and the output color value of CMYK corresponding thereto is registered as the output color value of the color conversion list. In the case where the setting related to the density adjustment function is performed in advance and the setting content is stored inside the MFP 100, it is assumed that printing is performed by using the density setting value of the density adjustment function as a default value when printing the chart. Subsequently, the details of the setting control unit 203 will be described.

[0036] The color adjustment unit 204 performs adjustment of the color value (here, RGB value) based on the adjustment content (adjustment value of each item) set in the color adjustment value setting unit 202. For example, in the previously described Figure 3 When the slide bar in the brightness adjustment 302 on the GUI shown in FIG. 1 advances two steps in the direction toward “bright”, the color adjustment unit 204 performs calculation processing for each 8-bit value of RGB using the following equation (1).

[0037] N'=(N÷255)^0.8×255···Formula (1)

[0038] In the above formula (1), N'b is the adjusted component value, and N is the component value before adjustment, and both are integers in the range between 0 and 255. For example, in the case where the color of a certain pixel is (R, G, B) = (240, 120, 0), it is adjusted to (R', G', B') = (243, 140, 0) through the above formula (1).

[0039] The PDL output unit 205 outputs the PDL data on which the color adjustment has been performed as necessary. The output PDL data is sent to the MFP 100 via the network I / F 126 .

[0040] <Functional Configuration of Image Processing Unit>

[0041] Next, the image processing unit 106 of the MFP 100 is described, which generates image data that can be processed by the printer engine 111 based on the PDL data received from the host PC 120 . Figure 4 1 is a functional block diagram showing the internal configuration of the image processing unit 106 according to the present embodiment. The image processing unit 106 includes a PDL input unit 401, a PDL analysis unit 402, a spot color matching unit 403, a color conversion unit 404, a RIP unit 405, a halftone processing unit 406, an image output unit 407, and a density adjustment unit 408. Each of these units is realized by the CPU 101 reading a program stored in the ROM 102 onto the RAM 103 and executing the program. Alternatively, part or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware such as an ASIC and an electronic circuit.

[0042] The PDL input unit 401 receives input of PDL data transmitted from the host PC 100. The PDL data received as input is stored in the RAM 103 or the mass storage device 104.

[0043] The PDL analysis unit 402 reads the PDL data from the RAM 103 etc. and analyzes the PDL data. Then, the PDL analysis unit 402 acquires information on the attributes (text, graphics, images etc.) of the drawing target object, the color value (here, RGB value) etc., controls the spot color matching unit 403 and the color conversion unit 404 which will be described later, and generates a control command for the RIP unit 405.

[0044] In the case where the color value (RGB value) obtained by analyzing the PDL matches the input color value of the adjustment target color in the color conversion list, the spot color matching unit 403 converts the color value into an output color value (here, CMYK value) as its target color. In the case where the color value obtained by the PDL analysis and the input color value registered in the color conversion list do not match each other, it means that the target color of the spot color matching is not included in the printing target input image, and therefore, the color conversion in the spot color matching unit 403 is not performed.

[0045] The color conversion unit 404 performs predetermined color processing on the color values ​​obtained by analyzing the PDL. In the case of the present embodiment, the color values ​​obtained by analyzing the PDL are RGB values, and the color values ​​that can be processed by the printer engine 111 of the MFP 100 are CMYK values, and therefore, a process (color matching process) of converting the RGB values ​​into CMYK values ​​using the ICC profile prepared in advance is performed. Here, it is also possible to read the ICC profile stored in the mass storage device 104 or the like or to obtain the ICC profile by downloading the ICC profile from an external device such as the host PC 120 via the network 130.

[0046] A RIP (Raster Image Processor) unit 405 generates image data of a raster format expressed in a CMYK color space (hereinafter, described as “CMYK raster image data”) by using the RIP unit control command generated by the PDL analysis unit 402 .

[0047] The density adjustment unit 408 performs adjustment of color values ​​(CMYK values) based on the adjustment contents (adjustment values ​​for each item) set in the density adjustment value setting unit 206 for the CMYK raster image data generated by the RIP unit 405. Figure 7 When the slide bar in the toner adjustment 702 for cyan on the GUI shown in FIG. 4 advances two steps in the direction toward “light”, the density adjustment unit 408 performs calculation processing for the 8-bit color value of cyan using the following equation (2).

[0048] N'=(N÷255)^1.2×255···Formula (2)

[0049] In the above formula (2), N' is the component value after adjustment, and N is the component value before adjustment, and both are integers in the range between 0 and 255. In the case where the base raised to the power of b is a decimal and the exponent exceeds 1, N' becomes smaller than N, and therefore, the density becomes lighter when printing. For example, in the case where the color of a certain pixel is (C, M, Y, K) = (200, 150, 0, 0), by the above formula (2), the color is adjusted to (C', M', Y', K') = (191, 150, 0, 0).

[0050] The halftone processing unit 406 generates print image data (halftone image data) represented by halftone dots that can be processed by the printer engine 111 by performing halftone processing on the density-adjusted image data received from the density adjustment unit 408. In many cases, the printer engine 111 can generally output image data having a smaller number of tones (such as 2 tones, 4 tones, and 16 tones) than the number of tones of the input image data. Therefore, the halftone processing is performed so that even in the case of printing and outputting the image data with a small number of tones as described above, a stable halftone can be represented. Methods of halftone processing include a density pattern method, a system dithering method, an error diffusion method, etc., and these well-known methods can be applied.

[0051] In the case of receiving the print image data from the halftone processing unit 406, the image output unit 407 transmits the print image data to the printer engine 111 via the engine I / F 107. The CPU 100 gives an instruction to form an image based on the print image data to the printer engine 111. The printer engine 111 forms and outputs a color image onto a print medium according to the input print image data by performing each process such as exposure, development, transfer, and fixing.

[0052] <Details of Setting Control Unit>

[0053] Next, follow Figure 5 The flowchart in details describes the control operation executed by the setting control unit 203 of the printer driver 200. Figure 5 The series of processing shown in the flowchart is realized by the CPU 121 of the host PC 120 reading the program corresponding to the printer driver 200 onto the RAM 123 and executing the program. Figure 6 As shown in FIG, in a state where the “Matching” tab 310 on the color setting GUI is selected, in response to the user selecting “Use” in the setting in the “Matching Mode” 601 and pressing the “OK” button 304, the series of processes starts to be executed. The symbol “S” in the description of each process means a step.

[0054] At S501, in a state where the "Matching" tab 310 is selected, the next step is determined according to the setting content of the "Matching Method" 602 on the GUI. The color conversion list for spot color matching is associated with a predetermined matching method. Here, in the case of "POP Printing", as described above, it is necessary to accurately reproduce corporate colors, etc., and therefore, it is assumed that the color conversion list is associated. On the other hand, it is assumed that the color conversion list is not associated with each matching method of "General", "Monitor Color Reproduction", "Minimum Color Difference", and "Vivid Photo". Therefore, in a state where one of "General", "Monitor Color Reproduction", "Minimum Color Difference", and "Vivid Photo" is selected, in order to display the GUI for color adjustment in a state where it can be used (that is, in a state where an input of an adjustment value can be received), the processing proceeds to S506. On the other hand, in a state where "POP Printing" is selected, in order to acquire the color conversion list, the processing proceeds to S502.

[0055] At S502, the previously described color conversion list is acquired from MFP 100 via network 130. In the present embodiment, the color conversion list is acquired by receiving the color conversion list from MFP 100, but the color conversion list may be acquired by reading a color conversion list pre-stored in a mass storage device in host PC 120.

[0056] At S503, it is determined whether one or more adjustment target colors are registered in the color conversion list acquired at S502. In the example of the color conversion list shown in Table 1, it is determined that three adjustment target colors (R, G, B) = (204, 0, 0), (R, G, B) = (255, 240, 0), and (R, G, B) = (0, 240, 240) are registered. In the case where the adjustment target color is registered, the process proceeds to S504, and in the case where the adjustment target color is not registered, the process proceeds to S508.

[0057] At S504, under the condition that there is a registered adjustment target color, in the case where the “color adjustment” tab 300 is selected on the color setting GUI described above, display control setting is performed so that the previously described Figure 3 The UI screen shown in is displayed as grayed out. That is, the user who has selected the "color adjustment" tab 300 views the UI screen displayed as grayed out and realizes that the setting of color adjustment cannot be performed (the use of the color adjustment function is prohibited). Then, at the next S505, various setting values ​​for color adjustment are reset. Specifically, for each item such as hue, brightness, and contrast, a predetermined default value is set respectively.

[0058] At S506, after the resetting of the color adjustment setting value is completed, in the case where the "density adjustment" tab 311 is selected on the color setting GUI described previously, the display control setting is performed so that the previously described Figure 7 The UI screen shown in is displayed as grayed out. That is, as in the case of color adjustment, the user who has selected the "density adjustment" tab 311 views the UI screen displayed as grayed out and realizes that the setting of density adjustment cannot be performed (density adjustment function is prohibited). Then, at the next S507, various setting values ​​for density adjustment are reset. Specifically, for each item such as the toner saving mode and each color (CMYK) of the toner density, a predetermined default value is set respectively. After completing the resetting of the density adjustment setting value, the process is exited.

[0059] On the other hand, at S508, under the condition that there is no registered adjustment target color, in the case where the "color adjustment" tab 300 is selected on the color setting GUI described above, display control setting is performed so that the previously described color setting screen is displayed in a state where the UI screen can be used (that is, in a state where the user can input a value related to color adjustment). Figure 3 Then, when the "Color Adjustment" tab 300 is actually selected, Figure 3 At the subsequent S509, in the case where the "density adjustment" tab 311 is selected on the density setting GUI described previously, display control setting is performed so that the previously described GUI is displayed in a state where the UI screen can be used (that is, in a state where the user can input a value related to density adjustment). Figure 7 Then, when the "Concentration Adjustment" tab 311 is actually selected, Figure 7 The GUI shown in is displayed without being grayed out. The subsequent S510 is a process for checking whether a value of one of the items regarding color adjustment and density adjustment is input by the user. In the case where the user inputs a value regarding one of the items and presses the "OK" button 304 or the "OK" button 706 in a state where the "Color Adjustment" tab 300 or the "Density Adjustment" tab 311 is selected, the process proceeds to S511. On the other hand, in the case where the "Cancel" button 305 or the "Cancel" button 707 is pressed without inputting a value, the process is exited without performing any operation.

[0060] At S511, the value input by the user is set as the adjustment value of the item corresponding thereto. After the setting is completed, the process is terminated.

[0061] The above is the flow of the control operation executed by the setting control unit 203 of the printer driver 200 . Figure 5 The flowchart in is a flow under the premise that the setting of color adjustment is performed after the setting of color matching. In the case where the setting of color adjustment or density adjustment has been performed before, it is sufficient to disable the color adjustment function and the density adjustment function when "POP printing" is selected in the subsequent setting of color matching. At this time, a message indicating that the color adjustment and density adjustment are invalid may also be displayed. Alternatively, at the moment when the user selects "POP printing", a warning message such as "Color adjustment and density adjustment are invalid. Is this OK?" may also be displayed. Due to this, the same result is obtained.

[0062] In addition, in the present embodiment, a case where the setting of the density adjustment function is realized by using the printer driver 200 is described. However, the contents of the present embodiment can also be applied to so-called direct printing, in which an image file is directly sent from the host PC 120 to the MFP 100 without the intervention of the printer driver 200, and printing is performed. For example, by using the UI unit 105 of the MFE 100 to display a UI screen (similar to the one shown in FIG. 1 ) for performing the settings necessary for the above-mentioned color matching and density adjustment functions. Figure 6 and Figure 7 ), and performs the settings necessary for each function by storing the setting adjustment values ​​in the mass storage device 104, and then, in the case where "POP printing" is set in the setting of color matching, by canceling the processing of the density adjustment unit 408 and performing printing, the same result as that in the case of performing printing of "POP printing" by using the printer driver is obtained in direct printing. As the image file format of the printing object in the present embodiment, TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and PDF (Portable Document Format) are assumed, but the image file format may be an image file format other than TIFF and PDF.

[0063] <Modification Example 1>

[0064] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the use of the color adjustment function and the density adjustment function is prevented by displaying the GUI for color adjustment and the GUI for density adjustment as grayed out. However, the following case is also considered: although "POP printing" is selected in the matching method 602, it is desired to pre-execute the settings of the color adjustment and the density adjustment for printing by another matching method that does not utilize the color conversion list (printing that does not perform spot color matching). Therefore, even in the case where the adjustment object color is registered in the color conversion list, the settings themselves for the color adjustment and the density adjustment can be kept available (the settings are not displayed as grayed out). At this time, only in the case where a matching method associated with a color conversion list such as POP printing is selected, it is sufficient to ignore the values ​​input for the color adjustment and the density adjustment and instead set a default value and display a message indicating that "the color adjustment function and the density adjustment function are not applied to POP printing" so that the user can recognize this fact. Due to this, the settings of the color adjustment and the density adjustment can also be pre-executed for the printing type that does not utilize spot color matching, while obtaining the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment.

[0065] <Modification Example 2>

[0066] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, when "POP printing" is selected as the matching method, the functions of color adjustment and density adjustment are invalid by themselves. However, it is also possible to apply color adjustment to colors other than the adjustment object color while converting the adjustment object color registered in the color conversion list to the target color so that an appropriate output color can be obtained. The specific process is as follows.

[0067] 《Printer driver side》

[0068] 1) Receive color adjustment values.

[0069] 2) Get the color conversion list.

[0070] 3) Generate PDL based on the drawing information.

[0071] 4) All colors (RGB values) included in the PDL are compared with the adjustment target colors (RGB values) registered in the color conversion list.

[0072] 5) According to the color conversion list, the colors included in the PDL that match the adjustment object colors registered in the color conversion list are converted into target colors (CMYK values). On the other hand, the color values ​​(RGB values) of the remaining colors in the PDL are changed according to the received color adjustment values.

[0073] 6) Output the converted / changed PDL.

[0074] 《MFP side》

[0075] 1) Receive PDL from the printer driver.

[0076] 2) Extract the color by analyzing the received PDL.

[0077] 3) When the extracted color is an RGB value, color conversion to CMYK value is performed according to the ICC profile, and density adjustment is invalid. On the other hand, when the extracted color is not an RGB value but a CMYK value, it is kept as it is (color conversion is not performed) and density adjustment is valid.

[0078] 4) When the density adjustment of the extracted color is invalid, for the CMYK raster image data, the CMYK value is kept as it is (no density adjustment is performed). On the other hand, when the density adjustment of the extracted color is valid, each color value (CMYK value) is changed according to the received density adjustment value.

[0079] 5) Halftone image data is generated by performing halftone processing on the CMYK image data on which density adjustment has been performed.

[0080] By the processing as above, it is possible to apply color adjustment and density adjustment to colors other than the color while reproducing the color to which spot color matching is desired to be applied by the target color.

[0081] As described above, according to the present embodiment, when generating PDL data in the printer driver, in the case where spot color matching is applied at the time of print processing, the color adjustment function and the density adjustment function are prevented from being operated. Due to this, in the case where print processing (such as POP printing) is performed by applying spot color matching, a designated color such as a corporate color can be appropriately reproduced by its target color.

[0082] (Other embodiments)

[0083] The (one or more) embodiments of the present invention may also be implemented by reading out and executing computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be more completely referred to as a "non-transitory computer-readable storage medium") to perform one or more functions of the above (one or more) embodiments and / or a system or device including one or more circuits (e.g., application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) for performing one or more functions of the above (one or more) embodiments, and by a computer of the system or device, for example, by reading and executing computer executable instructions from a storage medium to perform one or more functions of the above (one or more) embodiments and / or controlling one or more circuits to perform one or more functions of the above (one or more) embodiments. The computer may include one or more processors (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessing unit (MPU)), and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or a storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a storage device of a distributed computing system, an optical disk (such as a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), or a Blu-ray Disc (BD)TM), a flash memory device, a memory card, etc.

[0084] Other embodiments

[0085] The embodiments of the present invention may also be implemented by providing software (program) for performing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or various storage media, and a computer or a central processing unit (CPU) or a microprocessing unit (MPU) of the system or device reads and executes the program.

[0086] According to the technology of the present invention, a designated color that is a target of spot color matching can be correctly converted to a target color at the time of output.

[0087] While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments.The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

Claims

1. An information processing device, characterized in that: The information processing device comprises: a first execution unit configured to execute a first setting for changing the color of the input image to a color based on the color by adjusting at least one of hue, brightness, and contrast of the color of the input image, and a second setting for changing a designated color of the input image to another designated color not based on the designated color according to a color conversion list for spot color matching; and A second execution unit configured to execute control so that, in a case where a predetermined matching method associated with the color conversion list for spot color matching is selected, a change based on the first setting is not executed based on the second setting being enabled.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein The control is control such that the first setting is not executed based on the second setting having been enabled.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein The control is a control for graying out an object corresponding to the first setting so that the first setting is not selected by a user based on the second setting having been enabled.

Images