Color Management System TRC Verification and Update
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Solution Overview
Problem
In color printing, managing color management resources such as calibration tone reproduction curves (TRCs) and ICC profiles becomes complex due to the drift in printing device color reproduction over time, leading to invalid profiles and increased administrative burdens, especially when multiple papers and ink limits are involved.
Innovation Solution
A method for managing color printing resources that includes determining verification operations for TRCs, identifying and editing TRC settings based on status, and adjusting TRCs accordingly to ensure consistent color reproduction across printing devices, using calibration measurement data to generate and share TRC settings, and converting them into absolute density values for secondary devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If ICC profiles are created for multiple papers with different ink limits to ensure accurate color reproduction, then color accuracy is improved, but the number of profiles to manage increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments color management into two independent parts: device calibration (creating reference TRCs) and profile creation (generating ICC profiles). By separating these functions, the system can maintain a small number of calibrated TRCs while generating multiple ICC profiles on-demand for different papers and ink limits, reducing the complexity of managing numerous profiles while maintaining color accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The calibrated TRCs serve as universal reference data that can be used to generate ICC profiles for multiple different papers and ink limit combinations. This multi-functionality allows a single calibration to support numerous profiling scenarios, eliminating the need to create and manage separate calibration data for each paper type.
2Reliability
If calibration is performed frequently to account for device drift, then color reproduction reliability is improved, but the time and resources required for calibration increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calibration to create reference TRCs that capture device characteristics. These pre-calibrated TRCs serve as a stable foundation that doesn't need frequent re-calibration. When device drift occurs, the system can perform lighter verification operations or update only specific TRC components rather than performing complete recalibration, reducing time and resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements verification operations that provide feedback on TRC validity. This feedback mechanism allows the system to monitor device drift and determine when recalibration is actually needed, rather than performing frequent calendar-based recalibrations. The feedback loop enables calibration only when necessary, optimizing the balance between reliability and time investment.
3Manufacturing precision
If all ICC profiles are validated when device drift occurs, then color accuracy is maintained, but the administrative burden and processing time increase exponentially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the validation process by associating each ICC profile with specific calibration data and verification results. When device drift occurs, only the affected TRCs and their associated profiles need validation, not all profiles in the system. This segmentation dramatically reduces the number of profiles requiring validation while maintaining color accuracy for affected profiles.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of validating all ICC profiles when drift is detected, the system performs partial validation only on profiles associated with the affected TRCs. This partial action approach maintains color accuracy for the impacted profiles while avoiding the exponential overhead of validating the entire profile set, improving validation efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A color printing system includes a color management server and one or more printing devices. The color management server manages color printing resources among the printing devices. A test chart is printed at a printing device and used to capture calibration measurement data. Calibration settings are defined for the calibration measurement data. A tone reproduction curve (TRC) is generated based on the calibration measurement data and the calibration settings. The TRC is stored with the TRC settings and calibration measurement data to be used at a printing device. Various operations are performed between different TRCs. The TRC settings are edited and the TRC associated with the measurement data is updated or regenerated to reflect the edited settings. More than one TRC is updated with the new settings if it uses the measurement data.