Color Chart Arrangement for Intuitive Color Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current color matching technologies are inefficient when trying to adjust designated colors that fall outside the gamut or near the boundary of the gamut, requiring significant time and skill to select the appropriate color patch, especially for inexperienced operators.
Innovation Solution
An image processing apparatus generates a color chart with color patches arranged in a two-dimensional pattern around a reference color, with equal color differences, allowing operators to intuitively select the closest color to the designated color, and adjusts the print based on this selection, including identification marks for colors outside or near the gamut boundary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a traditional color chart with 27 colors is used for color matching, then the color chart structure is simple, but it requires significant time and skill to select the appropriate color patch when the designated color falls outside the gamut or near the boundary
Solution Approach 1:
The color chart is segmented into multiple regions including a gamut region with color patches arranged in equal color difference intervals, and an outside-gamut region for colors outside the printable range. This segmentation allows operators to quickly identify whether a designated color is within or outside the gamut and select the appropriate region for matching.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a traditional one-dimensional or simple grid color chart to a two-dimensional color space representation (L*a*b* color space) where color patches are arranged according to equal color difference intervals. This dimensional transformation enables intuitive visual selection of colors at equal intervals and facilitates quick identification of the closest color match.
2Ease of operation
If color patches are arranged without equal color difference intervals, then the color chart is easier to generate, but operators cannot intuitively recognize color changes and select the closest color
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter arrangement of color patches from arbitrary or simple grid positioning to positioning based on equal color difference intervals in the L*a*b* color space. This parameter transformation ensures that adjacent color patches have consistent perceptual differences, enabling operators to intuitively understand color relationships and select the closest match to the designated color.
3Measurement precision
If no identification marks are provided for colors outside or near the gamut boundary, then the color chart is simpler, but inexperienced operators cannot accurately determine the retrieval range within the gamut
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses visual identification marks (such as different background colors or border styles) to distinguish color patches inside the gamut from those outside or near the gamut boundary. This visual differentiation helps operators quickly understand which color patches are available for selection and which are outside the printable range, improving color matching accuracy without significantly increasing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processing apparatus has a color chart condition setter for setting colorimetric values of a designated color as a reference color, and an image data generator for generating image data of pixel values calculated such that a plurality of color patches are arranged in a two-dimensional pattern on a print medium around the reference color set by the color chart condition setter, and color differences in an equal color space between adjacent ones of the color patches are represented by a substantially equal interval along a row or column of color patches.