JP2007043415A - Method and apparatus for preparing profile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for preparing a profile, in which the number of times of generating profiles can be settled to once even in the case of preparing a highly accurate profile. <P>SOLUTION: In the method for preparing a profile for color matching of a printing apparatus, a parameter for reproducing color adjustment for the adjustment of an optional profile is stored, and in the case of newly preparing a profile, the stored parameter is utilized to prepare a profile-adjusted profile. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for creating a profile for a device such as a printer / printer.

  Conventionally, color management is performed by performing color matching using a device profile (hereinafter referred to as a profile) describing characteristics for each input / output device (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  An outline of conventional color matching using a profile is as follows.

  Input data in a color space depending on a source device such as RGB or CMYK is converted into XYZ data or Lab data in a color space independent of the device by an input profile. Colors outside the color reproduction range of the output device cannot be expressed by the output device, so color space compression is applied to the converted input data so that all the colors fall within the color reproduction range of the output device. The After color space compression, the input data is converted from a device-independent color space to a color space such as RGB or CMYK that depends on the output device (conversion to a color space that depends on such an output device). Uses the output device profile). If sufficient accuracy cannot be obtained, or if the profile does not match the device characteristics, color adjustment of the profile is necessary, and thus profile adjustment is further performed.

  In order to improve the accuracy of color matching as described above, it is necessary to create a highly accurate profile for a device such as a printer / printer. For this purpose, two steps of profile creation and subsequent profile adjustment for performing fine adjustment are performed. This profile creation and profile adjustment existed independently as separate means.

JP 2003-125223 A JP 2003-87589 A

  In the conventional method, when it is necessary to create a high-accuracy profile for the same printer / printer, the profile is generated once when creating the profile, and the profile is adjusted again by adjusting the conversion table when adjusting the profile. Thus, the profile generation process must be performed twice. Also, when creating a similar profile over and over with the same printer / printer, such work has to be repeated over and over, which takes a lot of work. For this reason, it is possible to take a method of keeping a history at the time of profile adjustment as in Patent Document 2 and calling and using the history when performing profile adjustment next time. This is considered in the process at the time of profile adjustment, and the profile must be generated twice.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and even when a highly accurate profile is created, a profile creation method and apparatus capable of generating the profile only once, and a program thereof, A computer-readable recording medium is provided.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a method for creating a color matching profile for a printing apparatus, and stores parameters for reproducing color adjustment at the time of arbitrary profile adjustment. The profile-adjusted profile can be created using the saved parameters when creating a new profile.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for creating a profile for color matching for a printing device, a means for storing parameters for reproducing color adjustment at the time of arbitrary profile adjustment, and a novel Means for making it possible to create a profile-adjusted profile using the stored parameters when creating the profile.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-executable program for creating a color matching profile for a printing device, and storing parameters for reproducing color adjustment at the time of arbitrary profile adjustment And a step of making it possible to create a profile-adjusted profile using the saved parameters when a new profile is created.

  The invention described in claim 4 is a computer-readable medium in which the program according to claim 3 is recorded.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to generate a high-accuracy profile using the previously adjusted profile information. Therefore, in the next and subsequent profile creation, profile adjustment is omitted and a high-accuracy profile is created. However, the profile can be generated only once.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
First, an outline of general profile creation and adjustment of the created profile will be described.

FIG. 1 shows a general flow when a highly accurate profile is created.
As shown in FIG. 1, the profile creation unit 101 creates a profile 102 and inputs the created profile 102 to the profile adjustment unit 103. The profile adjustment unit 103 performs profile adjustment on the input profile, and finally creates a highly accurate profile 104.

  The profile describes the characteristics of the device, and describes the relationship between device-dependent data and device-independent data. In the present embodiment, an ICC profile conforming to a format determined by ICC (International Color Consortium) can be used as a profile. In this ICC profile, A2B which is data for converting device-dependent data into PCS (profile connection space) data which is device-independent data, and B2A which is data for converting PCS data into device-dependent data , And device color reproduction range information (gamuttag) and the like.

  FIG. 2 shows details of the profile creation unit 101 in FIG. 1 when the output device is a printer / printer. The flow for creating a profile for a device such as a scanner, a digital camera, or a monitor does not apply to FIG. 2, but the profile creation unit 101 in FIG. It can be carried out.

Details of FIG. 2 will now be described.
The chart data designated by the chart transfer unit 201 is transferred to the chart output unit 202. The chart output unit 202 outputs a color chart based on the transferred chart data. The color chart output from the chart output unit 202 is measured by the chart colorimetric unit 203. The profile generation unit 204 generates the profile based on the color measurement data measured by the chart color measurement unit 203.

  In general, the chart transfer unit 201 is profile creation software, the chart output unit 202 is a printer / printer for creating a profile, and the chart colorimetry unit 203 is output from the chart output unit 202. This is a device for measuring the spectral distribution of a color chart, and the profile generation unit 204 is often profile creation software.

FIG. 3 shows details of the profile adjustment unit of FIG.
The profile to be adjusted is input from the profile input unit 301, the profile conversion table is adjusted by the color adjustment unit 302, and a highly accurate profile adjusted by the profile generation unit 303 is generated.
The general profile creation and profile adjustment has been described above.

Next, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described.
4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating an embodiment according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 4, a color adjustment parameter storage unit 403 is added to the general profile adjustment flow of FIG. The color adjustment parameter storage unit 403 is a process after the color adjustment unit 302 in FIG. 3 and a process before the profile generation unit 303. The color adjustment parameter storage unit 403 stores the color adjustment operation (conversion table adjustment) performed by the color adjustment unit 402 as a color adjustment parameter (this parameter is used later to reproduce the previously performed color adjustment). ) A user interface at this time is shown in FIG. The color adjustment parameter at this time is not limited to the adjustment of the profile conversion table, but is arbitrary as long as it is for adjusting the profile.

  In FIG. 5, a color adjustment parameter input unit 505 is added to the general profile creation flow of FIG. The color adjustment parameter input unit 505 inputs the color adjustment parameter stored in the color adjustment parameter storage unit 403 in FIG. 4 to the profile generation unit 504 in FIG. The profile generation unit 504 generates a profile from the color measurement data measured by the chart color measurement unit 503 and the color adjustment parameters input from the color adjustment parameter input unit 505. The user interface at this time is shown in FIG. 7, and the profile is generated by importing the color adjustment parameter with the button 701 “Import color adjustment parameter to create profile” in FIG.

  As described above, once profile adjustment is performed and the color adjustment operation is stored as a parameter by the color adjustment parameter storage unit, this parameter can be imported by the color adjustment parameter input unit when the next profile is created. Thus, a highly accurate profile whose color has been adjusted by the profile generation unit is created. Therefore, unlike the prior art, in order to generate a highly accurate profile, it is not necessary to create a profile twice, and only one time is required.

(Other embodiments)
Software program code for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment in a computer in an apparatus or system connected to the various devices so as to operate the various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments. Is implemented by operating the various devices according to a program stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus.

  In this case, the program code of the software itself realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, a memory storing the program code The medium constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code supplied by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) in which the program code is running on the computer, or other application software, etc. It goes without saying that the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention even when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with the embodiment.

  Further, after the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of a computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, a CPU provided in the function expansion board or function storage unit based on an instruction of the program code However, it is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

It is a figure which shows the general flow when producing a highly accurate profile. It is a figure which shows the detail of the profile creation part 101 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the detail of the profile adjustment part 103 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the detail of the profile adjustment part 103 of FIG. 1 by this invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of the profile adjustment part 101 of FIG. 1 by this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a user interface of a color adjustment parameter storage unit 403 in FIG. 4 according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the user interface of the color adjustment parameter input part 505 of FIG. 5 in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Profile creation part 102, 104 ... Profile 103 ... Profile adjustment part 201, 501 ... Chart data transfer part 202, 502 ... Chart output part 203, 503 ... Chart colorimetry part 204, 303, 404, 504 ... Profile generation part 301 , 401 ... Profile input unit 302, 402 ... Color adjustment unit 403 ... Color adjustment parameter storage unit 505 ... Color adjustment parameter input unit

Claims (4)

A method for creating a color matching profile for a printing device,
Parameters for reproducing color adjustment at the time of arbitrary profile adjustment are saved, and when a new profile is created, a profile-adjusted profile can be created using the saved parameters Profile creation method. A device for creating a color matching profile for a printing device,
Means for storing parameters for reproducing color adjustment at the time of arbitrary profile adjustment;
And a means for enabling a profile-adjusted profile to be created using the stored parameters when a profile is newly created. A computer-executable program for creating a color matching profile for a printing device,
Storing parameters for reproducing the color adjustment at the time of arbitrary profile adjustment;
A profile creation program comprising: a step of creating a profile-adjusted profile using the stored parameters when creating a new profile. A computer-readable medium in which the program according to claim 3 is recorded.

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