JP5427282B2 - Information processing apparatus, method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that performs patch color measurement.

  In recent years, in addition to the spread of personal computers, peripheral digital devices such as color printers, digital cameras, digital videos, and image digital devices such as monitors and projectors have become widespread. In particular, in printers, the level of demand for color matching by users is increasing as the performance of the printer body increases. For example, printing applications such as commercial printing for printing company posters and catalogs, and photographic printing for general users to print snapshots at home, etc. have a wide variety of applications. Among them, in the case of commercial printing, more accurate color matching technology is required in the business in which actual printed materials such as posters and catalogs become products.

  In order to realize high-precision color matching, the characteristics of the digital device to be reproduced need to be stable. It is also known to perform printing using data represented by an ICC (International Color Consortium) profile in order to realize ideal color reproduction. However, there is a problem that printing characteristics are not constant due to environmental fluctuations such as temperature and humidity, or process fluctuations such as replacement of toner and paper. In addition, even if a profile provided by a printer manufacturer or the like is used in the printer profile, there is a problem that the desired color reproduction cannot be obtained because the target color reproduction varies depending on individual users. In order to deal with such a problem, in recent years, a profile creation tool that enables a user to create a desired profile has been provided by each manufacturer.

  When using the profile creation tool, first, in order to obtain the target color space and the color space to be reproduced, it is necessary to actually print a color patch from a printer and measure the color patch using a measuring instrument. is there. Currently, many small and high-precision measuring machines are provided by each measuring machine manufacturer. However, the measuring method is to measure color patches in units of one unit, measure in units of one line, and in a scanner type measuring instrument, automatically read in units of one sheet. Variously different.

  In measurement work using such a measuring machine, measurement is performed via a user. Therefore, many artificial measurement errors occur. For example, in a measuring instrument that measures in units of one line, a line that is different from the original measurement line is measured incorrectly, the printed material is separated from the measuring machine during measurement due to an incorrect operation, or the measurement start position is incorrect. May end up. As represented by such a case, in the measurement through the user, the frequency of occurrence of a measurement error that a proper measurement value is not acquired is very high.

  Further, when a profile is created using these measured values, the accuracy of the profile is significantly lowered, and the result printed using the profile is much different from the expected result. In addition to the above, there is a problem that the user cannot recognize that the measurement has failed until a profile is created and printing is actually finished.

  Various techniques have been developed as methods for solving such problems. In Patent Document 1, a plurality of measurements are performed for one patch row to check the number of data, and when an increase or decrease occurs with respect to the assumed number of data, it is determined that a measurement error has occurred. In addition, when a plurality of measurement data are compared and a predetermined threshold value or more is reached, it is determined that a measurement error has occurred in a plurality of measurements. Further, in Patent Document 2, patch target data is held internally and compared with measurement data. The user is warned that a measurement error has occurred for a patch whose result is a threshold value or more.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-61926 (paragraph 0010) JP 2002-94820 A (paragraph 0007)

  However, in Patent Document 1, since the same patch is measured a plurality of times, the user's time cost increases and lacks practicality. In Patent Document 2, it is difficult to uniquely determine a threshold value used for determination, and detection accuracy is low. For example, if the threshold value is small, it will also react sensitively to subtle errors such as in-plane unevenness such as device variations within the paper and differences in color reproduction due to media differences. Will also detect errors. On the other hand, if the threshold value is large, an error may not be detected for a patch for which measurement has failed.

  In the prior art as described above, when a measuring instrument that performs measurement in units of one line is used, device variation factors such as in-plane unevenness in measured values such as in-plane unevenness and types of media on which printing is performed The difference in measured values due to is not taken into consideration. Accordingly, since it is sensitive to an error in units of one patch, the robustness is lowered.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus capable of detecting with high accuracy when a measurement error occurs in a color patch measurement operation required when creating a profile.

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus that determines the presence or absence of a measurement error when measuring color characteristics of a plurality of patches arranged on a chart, and is a measurement that acquires measurement values of a plurality of patches A color difference acquiring unit that compares a measured value of a plurality of patches acquired by the measured value acquiring unit with a reference value of a plurality of predetermined patches to acquire a color difference; and a color difference acquiring unit Statistical value calculation means for calculating a statistical value of the color difference column acquired by the difference calculation means for calculating a difference between the statistical value calculated by the statistical value calculation means and the color difference acquired by the color difference acquisition means Yusuke When using the difference calculated by said difference calculating means, judging means for judging whether the measurement error of the patch, the same color characteristics, which are arranged at different positions on the chart A second measurement value acquisition unit configured to acquire a measurement value of the patch; and a second determination unit configured to determine presence or absence of a measurement error of the patch using the measurement value acquired by the second measurement value acquisition unit. As a result of comparing the accumulated color difference obtained by accumulating the color difference acquired by the color difference obtaining unit with a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the accumulated color difference is equal to or less than the threshold value and there is no measurement error of the patch. Then, as a result of calculating the difference between the color difference statistical value acquired by the color difference acquisition means and the color difference, and comparing the difference with a predetermined threshold, the difference is equal to or less than the threshold, and the difference When it is determined that there is no measurement error in the calculated patch, the second determination unit calculates a difference between the measurement values acquired by the second measurement value acquisition unit, and calculates the calculated difference in advance. Determined When the difference exceeds the threshold, it is determined that there is a measurement error in the patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated, and when the difference is equal to or less than the threshold. The patch having the same color characteristic from which the difference is calculated is determined to have no measurement error .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to detect with high accuracy when a measurement error occurs in a measurement operation of a color patch which is necessary when creating a profile.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure containing the information processing apparatus in this embodiment. It is a flowchart shown about the procedure of the determination process of a color patch measurement mistake. It is a figure which shows an example of the user setting screen of a profile creation application. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface which shows a warning. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the measurement error determination process in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the response | compatibility of the patch data in each patch, a target measured value, a measured value, and a color difference. It is a figure which shows an example of arrangement | positioning of the patch in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the measurement error determination process in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the measurement error determination process in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen in the case of a color patch measurement. It is a figure which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus applied to this invention.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration including an information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes an information processing apparatus 101, an application storage unit 102, a patch data storage unit 103, a patch target measurement value storage unit 104, a threshold storage unit 105, a patch measurement value storage unit 106, and a profile creation unit. 107 is included. The system also includes a profile storage unit 108, a measurement error determination information storage unit 109, a measurement error determination unit 110, a measurement error warning unit 111, a monitor 112 directly connected to a personal computer, and a colorimeter 113. As the information processing apparatus 101, for example, a general personal computer (PC) is used.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus applied to the present invention. The CPU 1101 executes an OS and a general application stored in the ROM 1103 or loaded from the hard disk (HD) 1112 to the RAM 1102 and the program according to the present invention. The RAM 1102 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 1101. A keyboard controller (KBC) 1105 controls key input from a keyboard 11110 or a pointing device (not shown). The monitor controller 1106 controls display on the monitor 1111. A disk controller (DKC) 1107 controls access to a hard disk (HD) 1112 or the like that stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, electronic document files, and the like. A printer controller (PRTC) 1108 controls exchange of signals with a connected printer. A network controller (NC) 1109 is connected to the network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network. Further, the CPU 1101 controls each of the above units via the system bus 1104.

  The color patch measurement error determination method in the above configuration will be described below. First, an application stored in the application storage unit 102 is activated and displayed on the monitor 112 based on an OS program that has been instructed by the user. In this embodiment, an example of an application will be described for the sake of convenience. However, the application format may be arbitrary, and each item such as a preset file or parameter is not included in the program without using the application. May be described.

  The following operations are performed on the launched application. First, the user designates patch data to be measured. The designated patch data is stored in the patch data storage unit 103. Now, patch data used for profile creation will be described as 1000 patches of CMYK data.

  Next, the user designates a target measurement value (also referred to as a reference value) for the patch data. One or more types of target measurement values are stored in the inside in advance. Alternatively, target data desired by the user may be designated from the outside. As the target measurement value of the patch in the present embodiment, a patch measurement value that is appropriately measured after printing on a medium desired by the user may be used. Alternatively, a commonly used printing reference value may be used as the target measurement value. The patch target measurement values acquired by the above method are stored in the patch target measurement value storage unit 104.

  Subsequently, the user sets a threshold value used for determining whether or not a measurement error has occurred. One type of threshold value or a plurality of types of threshold values are held in accordance with the level of determination. Alternatively, a user-desired threshold value may be designated from the outside. The threshold acquired by the above method is stored in the threshold storage unit 105.

  After setting by the user, the color patch is measured. Patch data measured on the application or previously measured patch data is acquired and stored in the patch measurement value storage unit 106. Next, using the data stored in the patch data storage unit, patch target measurement value storage unit, threshold value storage unit, and patch measurement value storage unit, information used to determine whether or not a measurement error has occurred is created and measured. Stored in the error determination information storage unit 109. Whether or not a measurement error has actually occurred is determined by the measurement error determination unit 110. Also, the user can select whether or not to make a determination.

  As a result of the determination, if it is determined that a measurement error has occurred, the measurement error warning unit 111 displays a warning to the user. When the warning is displayed, the user performs remeasurement only at the location where the measurement has failed. Re-measurement is performed with the minimum number of patches, and one patch or the number of patches in one line unit. When the remeasurement is performed, the patch measurement value stored in the patch measurement value storage unit 106 is overwritten, and the measurement error determination unit 110 determines the measurement error again by the same method as described above. On the other hand, if it is determined as a result of the determination that no measurement error has occurred with respect to all measurement data, the profile creation unit 107 creates a printer profile using the above patch measurement values, and the profile storage unit 108. Stored in

  Hereinafter, the color patch measurement error determination will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the color patch measurement error determination process. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user setting screen of the profile creation application. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for color patch measurement. Note that, as described above, the application is merely a convenience for explaining the present embodiment, and is an example of the embodiment.

  First, in step S201 shown in FIG. 2, the profile creation application stored in the application storage unit 102 is activated. When the application is activated, the screen shown in FIG.

  In step S202, the user designates color patch data to be printed when a profile is created in the display 301 shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the designated patch data is CMYK data for 1000 patches, and is stored in the patch data storage unit 103.

  In step S203, the user designates the target measurement value for the patch data designated in step S202 on the display 303. Alternatively, the target measurement value may be designated by selecting the type of media on the display 302. In that case, the media type and the target measurement value are associated in advance. Here, a plurality of target measurement values may be held internally in association with the printer model, ink characteristics, etc., instead of the media type. Alternatively, commonly used printing industry reference values such as JapanColor and JMPA may be uniquely determined and set as target measurement values.

  Hereinafter, it is assumed that “plain paper” is selected on the display 302 as the target measurement value. In that case, a patch composed of the CMYK data specified in step S202 is arranged and printed on plain paper, and a measurement value when the measurement is appropriately performed on the patch is set as a target measurement value. Is done.

The patch measurement value will be described as “L ^* a ^* b ^* ” data corresponding to CMYK of the patch data. The target measurement value is not limited to “L ^* a ^* b ^* ”, but may be any value that can represent the color characteristics of the device, such as Lch, XYZ, and Jch. The target measurement value acquired by the above method is stored in the patch target measurement value storage unit 104.

  In step S204, the user sets a threshold value used for determining whether or not a measurement error has occurred. As shown in the display 304, threshold values are respectively associated with each other depending on the level of the determination level, and can be selected. Alternatively, a file in which an arbitrary threshold is described in the display 305 may be read. Specific description regarding the threshold will be described later. The threshold information acquired by the above method is stored in the threshold storage unit 105.

  In step S205, the information processing apparatus 101 acquires the measurement value of the color patch output from the printer and measured. Here, when the button 306 shown in FIG. 3 is pressed, the window shown in FIG. 10 rises, communication is started between the colorimeter 113 and the information processing apparatus 101, and color patch measurement control is enabled. Alternatively, a color patch measurement value measured in advance may be read from the display 307. The colorimeter 113 used in the present embodiment will be described assuming a handy type measuring machine (or a side color machine) that repeatedly performs measurement in units of one line by a user operation. However, the measuring machine is not limited to the above-described form, and any model such as an automatic measurement type may be used as long as the measuring value can be obtained in units of one line. The patch measurement values acquired by the above method are stored in the patch measurement value storage unit 106.

  In step S206, the measurement error determination unit 110 determines whether or not a measurement error has occurred in the process of acquiring the measurement value of the color patch using the information stored in the measurement error determination information storage unit 109. If a measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S207. On the other hand, if no measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S208. Detailed description regarding the measurement error determination method will be described later. Hereinafter, a measurement error determination method will be described. Further, whether or not to perform the determination can be switched by designation of the display 308 by the user. When the patch measurement error determination function is set to OFF in the display 308, the displays 302 to 305 cannot be selected.

  In step S207, it is determined whether or not re-measurement is performed by the user on the patch determined to have a measurement error in step S206. Determination of a measurement error is performed when measurement is completed in a predetermined unit. For example, patch remeasurement is performed for the minimum number of patches required. In the present embodiment, since measurement is performed in units of one line, it is assumed that re-measurement is performed for each patch in which a measurement error occurs during measurement for one line or for all patches in one line. The window shown in FIG. 4A is displayed on the monitor 112 by the measurement error warning unit 111, and it is determined by the user whether or not to perform remeasurement. When “Yes” is selected on the window of FIG. 4A and it is determined that re-measurement is to be performed, after the measurement method shown in FIG. 4A is selected, the process proceeds to step S205. Re-measure the same patch.

  On the other hand, if “No” is selected in FIG. 4A and it is determined not to perform re-measurement, the window shown in FIG. 4B is displayed on the monitor 112 by the measurement error warning unit 111 to the user. Display and exit the application. In the above description, a window display is used to determine whether or not to re-measure the patch according to the user's will. In the present embodiment, the number of times a measurement error has occurred may be counted in the program, and when the count number is equal to or less than a predetermined number, the remeasurement flow may be automatically advanced. Conversely, if it is determined that a measurement error has occurred more than a predetermined number of times, it is determined not to be caused by an artificial measurement error by the user, but to be caused by a patch printing error due to some device failure, etc. You may make it complete | finish.

  In step S208, it is determined whether or not all patches have been measured. If all the patches have been measured, the process proceeds to step S210. If all the patches have not been measured, the process proceeds to step S209.

  In step S209, the measurement counter is advanced by one. In the present embodiment, the measurement counter is described in units of “rows”. Therefore, when the measurement counter is incremented by 1, the process proceeds to the measurement value acquisition flow of the next row in step S205.

  In step S210, the profile creation unit 107 creates a profile by pressing the button 309 using an appropriate measurement value acquired through the processing up to step S208. The created profile is stored in the profile storage unit 108. Regarding profile creation, the profile format and creation method may be any format and method, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. In the present embodiment, the profile corresponds to, for example, CMYK data stored in the patch data storage unit 103 and patch measurement values stored in the patch measurement value storage unit 106, and is in the form listed in order. Described and saved.

  In step S211, the button 310 is pressed to complete the color patch measurement error determination process and the profile creation flow.

<First Embodiment>
The first embodiment relating to the measurement error determination method in step S206 shown in FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the measurement error determination process in the first embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating correspondence between patch data, target measurement values, measurement values, and color differences in each patch.

  In the present embodiment, the number of patches necessary for profile creation is 1000 for convenience and the format is CMYK data. In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, a total of 500 patches of 25 rows and 20 columns are arranged in one medium, and the color chart performs color measurement with two media. It is said that. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the measurement error determination process is performed in real time when the measurement in units of one line is completed by the user.

  First, in step S501 shown in FIG. 5, the patch data stored in the patch data storage unit 103, the target measurement value stored in the patch target measurement value storage unit 104, and the measurement value stored in the patch measurement value storage unit 106 are displayed. Use. Using these data, the color difference between the target measurement value and the actual measurement value for each patch data is calculated. When the measurement for one line of patches by the user operation is completed, the patch measurement value storage unit 106 stores a total of 20 patch measurement values for one line at that time. Using the measured values, the color difference is calculated for each patch.

The color difference between the target measurement value stored in the patch target measurement value storage unit 104 and the actual measurement value stored in the patch measurement value storage unit 106 is calculated. When the target measurement value of the first patch is “L _t1 ^* a _t1 ^* b _t1 ^* ” and the actual measurement value is “L _m1 ^* a _m1 ^* b _m1 ^* ”, the color difference ΔE1 is calculated by the equation (1) It is obtained (an example of color difference acquisition).

^{_{ΔE1 = ((L t1 * -L}} m1 *) 2 + (a t1 * -a m1 *) 2 + (b t1 * -b m1 *) 2) 1/2 ··· (1)
According to the same procedure, a total of 20 color differences for each patch are calculated. The calculated information is stored in the measurement error determination information storage unit 109 in the format shown in FIG.

In step S502, the cumulative color difference of the patch for one line calculated in step S501 is calculated. In the present embodiment, since there are a total of 20 patches for one row, the accumulated color difference R1 for the first row is obtained by equation (2).
R1 = ΔE1 + ΔE2 +... + ΔE20 (2)
The calculated cumulative color difference R1 is stored in the measurement error determination information storage unit 109.

  In step S503, it is determined whether or not the accumulated color difference calculated in step S502 is greater than a threshold A. The threshold value can be arbitrarily determined according to a determination request level for a user's measurement error. In the present embodiment, the user request level can be specified on the display 304. As shown in FIG. 3, the request level is selected from three types of “high”, “normal”, and “low”. In the set value, a threshold value associated in advance is stored in the threshold value storage unit 105.

  When it is desired to detect a measurement error with high accuracy, “high” is selected on the display 304. Assume that the average color difference allowable value for each patch is set to ΔE = 1 by the setting. Then, the accumulated color difference for one line is “1 × 20 = 20”. Therefore, the threshold A set to “high” is 20.

  Similarly, when “standard” is selected, it is assumed that an average color difference allowable value for each patch is set to ΔE = 3 as a standard color difference in consideration of device variations such as device variations and in-plane unevenness. Then, the accumulated color difference for one line is “3 × 20 = 60”. Therefore, the threshold A set to “standard” is 60.

  Unlike the above two settings, “low” is selected when not much consideration is given to the detection of a measurement error. It is assumed that the average color difference allowable value for each patch is set to be considerably large as ΔE = 5 by the setting. Then, the accumulated color difference for one line is “5 × 20 = 100”. Therefore, the threshold A set to “low” is 100.

  In addition to a predetermined threshold, the user can set an arbitrary threshold. When “others” is selected in the display 304, the display 305 is displayed, and an arbitrary threshold setting file can be designated.

  A measurement error is determined using the threshold value determined in any of the above methods. If the accumulated color difference for one line exceeds the threshold A, it is determined that a measurement error has occurred for some reason, and the process proceeds to step S504. If the accumulated color difference for one line does not exceed the threshold A (that is, not more than the threshold), it is determined that no measurement error has occurred, and the process proceeds to step S505.

  If it is determined in step S504 that a measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S207. After the user determines whether or not to perform remeasurement, if it is determined that remeasurement is to be performed, the patch in which the measurement error has occurred is measured again in units of one or one line. The subsequent processing is as described above.

  If it is determined in step S505 that no measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S208. If measurement of all patches has not been completed, the process proceeds to measurement of the next line after measurement is completed. Until all the patches have been measured, measurement work and measurement error determination are repeated for the number of all patch rows. The cumulative color differences R1 to R50 and a total of 50 rows are calculated at the time when measurement of each row is completed and used for measurement error determination. The subsequent description is as described above.

  This is the end of the description of the first embodiment using the accumulated color difference regarding the measurement error determination process. In the first embodiment, compared with the method of determining by determining a threshold value for each patch, even when there are a portion where the color difference from the target is large and a portion where the color difference is small in one row, the measurement error is canceled after canceling each other. Whether or not there is is determined. Therefore, when the measurement error is determined using the accumulated color difference, the robustness is increased with respect to a variation factor for each patch due to device variation such as in-plane unevenness.

<Second Embodiment>
Below, 2nd Embodiment regarding the measurement error determination method of step S206 is performed using the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S801, the color difference between the target measurement value and the actual measurement value for each patch data is calculated as in the first embodiment. The calculated color difference information for one line is stored in the measurement error determination information storage unit 109 in the format shown in FIG.

  Next, in step S802, the median value (Median) of the color difference for one line calculated in step S801 is calculated. The median is a value located at the center when a predetermined number of data is sorted. Here, the description will be made assuming that the number of patches for one line is 20. The color difference between the 20 target measurement values and the actual measurement values for one row is {3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 10, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 2, 1, 3, 4, 2, 1, 1, 3, 4}. Sorting the above data in ascending order {1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 10} Become. Here, since the number of data is an even number, the average of two numerical values located at the center is the median value. That is, the median for the data string is “(3 + 3) / 2 = 3” (an example of median calculation).

  In step S803, the difference between the median value for each data column calculated in step S802 and each patch color difference is calculated. Currently, the color difference between each target in the row and the measured value is from the first patch to the 20th patch in order {3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 10, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 2, 1 , 3, 4, 2, 1, 1, 3, 4}. In that case, the median value calculated in step S802 (ie, 3) and the absolute value of the difference between the patch color differences are {0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 7, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1 respectively. , 1, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 0, 1} (an example of difference calculation).

  In step S804, it is determined whether or not a measurement error has occurred from the difference result between each patch color difference calculated in step S803 and the median value. Here, it is assumed that the threshold B is set to 5. As in the first embodiment, the threshold determination method is a value associated with the user's error detection request level or can be arbitrarily set. The absolute value {0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 7, 1, 0, 0, 0, difference between the patch color difference and the median value in order from the first patch to the 20th patch calculated in step S803 1, 1, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 0, 1}. In this case, the portion exceeding the threshold B (that is, 5) is the sixth patch having a difference of 7. Therefore, unlike the other patches, the sixth patch is determined to have a measurement error due to some user operation failure, and the process advances to step S805. On the other hand, if there is no portion exceeding the threshold B, it is determined that no measurement error has occurred, and the process proceeds to step S806.

  In step S805, since a measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S207 shown in FIG. Here, when the user determines whether or not to perform remeasurement and determines to perform remeasurement, the patch in which the measurement error has occurred is measured again in units of one or one line. The subsequent processing is as described above.

  In step S806, since no measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S208 shown in FIG. If all the patches have not been measured, the process proceeds from the line where the measurement is completed to the next line. Until all the patches have been measured, measurement work and measurement error determination are repeated for the number of all patch rows. Since the subsequent description is as described above, it will be omitted.

  In this embodiment, the median value (Median) is used as the value used for the determination, but any other values such as an average value, variance, standard deviation, and mode value (Mode) represented by statistical values can be used. Statistical values may be used. In addition, since the calculation method of the said statistical value is a well-known method, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Above, description of 2nd Embodiment using the statistical value represented by the median (Median) regarding a measurement error determination process is complete | finished. The major advantages of determining measurement errors using the above method are as follows. In the first embodiment, the measurement error is determined in units of one line. However, the patch and the measuring device are separated at some point during the patch measurement of one line that is not detected by the method. It is possible to detect measurement errors in units of one patch in the case.

<Third Embodiment>
A third embodiment for detecting a measurement error with high accuracy in combination with the first embodiment and the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step S901, a patch measurement value is acquired as in step S205.

  In step S902, whether or not a measurement error has occurred is determined by the method of the first embodiment. If it is determined that a measurement error has occurred, the process returns to step S901 to remeasure the same patch. On the other hand, if it is determined that no measurement error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S903. The detailed measurement error determination method in the first embodiment is as described above.

  In step S903, if no measurement error has occurred in step S902, a second measurement error determination process is performed. Whether or not a measurement error has occurred is determined by the method of the second embodiment. If it is determined that a measurement error has occurred, the process returns to step S901 to remeasure the same patch. On the other hand, if it is determined that no measurement error has occurred, the process advances to step S904. The detailed measurement error determination method in the second embodiment is as described above.

  In step S904, it is determined whether or not all patches have been measured. If all the patches have been measured, the process proceeds to step S905, and the process proceeds to the third measurement error determination flow. On the other hand, if all the patches have not been measured, the measurement counter is incremented by 1 in step S209, and the process proceeds to the next line in step S901.

  In step S905, when measurement of all patches is completed, final measurement error determination processing is performed for measurement errors that could not be detected in steps S902 and S903.

  The measurement in the present embodiment is performed on charts that include the same CMYK data and include patches arranged at different locations in the medium to be printed. The reason why patches having the same color characteristic data are arranged at different locations in the media to be printed is that a single measurement of one type of patch data is appropriate due to problems such as in-plane unevenness of the device. This is to take into consideration the case where a correct patch measurement value is not acquired. A total of two measurement results are finally averaged and then used for profiling data.

  The measurement data of all patches are acquired from the patch measurement value storage unit 106 (an example of second measurement value acquisition), and the results of the first measurement for the CMYK data using two patches of the same CMYK data Compare the results of the second measurement. When no measurement error has occurred, it is expected that the measurement is performed at almost the same value except for the device variation. However, if either one of them fails in measurement, it is expected that the color difference between the two types of data will increase.

  Therefore, the difference between the first measurement result and the second measurement result is calculated, and it is determined for all patches whether or not the difference is greater than a predetermined threshold C. If it is greater than the threshold C, it is determined that one of the two measurements has failed in the measurement, and the process proceeds to step S901. On the other hand, if it is smaller than the threshold value C, it is determined that both of the two measurements are appropriate, and the measurement error determination process is terminated (an example of a second determination).

  However, when measuring twice, it cannot be determined which measurement error occurred during the measurement of the patch. Therefore, two patches in total including the patch data, or only two lines in total, In step S901, remeasurement is performed.

  This is the end of the description of the third embodiment. In the first embodiment, a measurement error is detected in units of one row, and in the second embodiment, a measurement error is detected in units of one patch. In addition, in the third embodiment, in addition to the above two embodiments, when all the patch data is finally collected, the final check is performed by comparing the same CMYK data with each other to check whether a measurement error has occurred. Do. As a result, it is possible to detect a patch measurement error with higher accuracy.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the description has been given in the case where the same patch is repeatedly arranged twice. However, in the case where it is desired to obtain the patch measurement value with higher accuracy, the number of times of arranging three times and four times. It is assumed that the same processing is possible even if the number is increased. Alternatively, when the number of times the patch is arranged is 1, the other data used for the comparison may be compared with the target measurement value stored in advance in the process of step S905. The target measurement value may be a method of designating patch data ideally measured under a certain condition. Alternatively, by using the result measured at the time of creating the previous profile, it can be used as a material for determining whether or not the color variation over time has occurred with respect to the device used. In such a case, it is desirable to re-create the profile by reprinting and measuring the patch after recalibrating to a device state suitable for profile creation by performing printer calibration etc. .

  A recording medium on which a software program (information processing program) code for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded may be supplied to the system or apparatus. In such a configuration, a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus may read and execute the program code stored in the recording medium. The object of the present invention is also achieved by such a configuration. In that case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, a DVD, or the like is used. it can.

  In addition, the functions of the above-described embodiments are not only realized by executing the program code read by the computer. Based on the instruction of the program code, an operating system (OS) running on the computer may perform part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments may be realized by the processing. .

  Furthermore, the program code read from the storage medium may be written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. In this case, after the writing, the CPU of the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code, and the function of the above-described embodiment is performed by the processing. Is also included.

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Claims (4)

An information processing apparatus for determining the presence or absence of a measurement error when measuring the color characteristics of a plurality of patches arranged on a chart,
Measurement value acquisition means for acquiring measurement values of a plurality of patches;
A color difference acquisition unit that compares a measurement value of a plurality of patches acquired by the measurement value acquisition unit with a reference value of a plurality of predetermined patches, and acquires a color difference;
A statistical value calculating means for calculating a statistical value of the color difference column acquired by the color difference acquiring means;
A difference calculation unit that calculates a difference between the statistical value calculated by the statistical value calculation unit and the color difference acquired by the color difference acquisition unit;
Determination means for determining the presence or absence of a measurement error of the patch using the difference calculated by the difference calculation means;
Second measurement value acquisition means for acquiring measurement values of patches having the same color characteristic arranged at different positions on the chart;
Second determination means for determining the presence or absence of a measurement error of the patch using the measurement value acquired by the second measurement value acquisition means,
After the determination unit compares the accumulated color difference obtained by accumulating the color difference acquired by the color difference acquisition unit with a predetermined threshold, and determines that the accumulated color difference is equal to or less than the threshold and there is no patch measurement error. ,
As a result of calculating the difference between the color difference statistical value acquired by the color difference acquisition means and the color difference, and comparing the difference with a predetermined threshold, the difference is equal to or less than the threshold, and the difference is calculated. If it is determined that there is no measurement error in the patch,
The second determination unit calculates a difference between the measurement values acquired by the second measurement value acquisition unit, compares the calculated difference with a predetermined threshold value, and the difference exceeds the threshold value. The patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated is determined to have a measurement error, and the patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated when the difference is equal to or smaller than a threshold value. It is determined that there is no measurement error in
An information processing apparatus characterized by that. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the statistical value is a median value. An information processing method executed in an information processing apparatus for determining the presence or absence of a measurement error when measuring the color characteristics of a plurality of patches arranged on a chart,
A measurement value acquisition unit of the information processing apparatus acquires a measurement value of a plurality of patches, and
The color difference acquisition unit of the information processing apparatus compares the measurement values of the plurality of patches acquired in the measurement value acquisition step with reference values of a plurality of predetermined patches, respectively, and acquires a color difference. ,
A statistical value calculating unit of the information processing apparatus calculates a statistical value of a column of color differences acquired in the color difference acquiring step;
A difference calculating step of calculating a difference between the statistical value calculated in the statistical value calculating step and the color difference acquired in the color difference acquiring step;
A determination step in which the determination unit of the information processing apparatus determines the presence or absence of a measurement error of the patch using the difference calculated in the difference calculation step;
A second measurement value acquisition step in which the second measurement value acquisition means of the information processing apparatus acquires the measurement values of patches having the same color characteristics arranged at different positions on the chart;
A second determination unit of the information processing apparatus has a second determination step of determining the presence or absence of a measurement error of the patch using the measurement value acquired in the second measurement value acquisition step;
The determination step is a result of comparing the accumulated color difference obtained by accumulating the color difference acquired in the color difference acquisition step with a predetermined threshold, and determining that the accumulated color difference is equal to or less than the threshold and there is no patch measurement error. ,
As a result of calculating a difference between the color difference statistical value acquired in the color difference acquisition step and the color difference, and comparing the difference with a predetermined threshold, the difference is equal to or less than the threshold, and the difference is calculated. If it is determined that there is no measurement error in the patch,
The second determination step calculates a difference between the measurement values acquired in the second measurement value acquisition step, compares the calculated difference with a predetermined threshold value, and the difference exceeds the threshold value. The patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated is determined to have a measurement error, and the patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated when the difference is equal to or smaller than a threshold value. It is determined that there is no measurement error in
An information processing method characterized by the above. An information processing program for determining the presence or absence of a measurement error when measuring the color characteristics of a plurality of patches arranged on a chart,
Measurement value acquisition means for acquiring measurement values of a plurality of patches;
A color difference acquisition unit that compares a measurement value of a plurality of patches acquired by the measurement value acquisition unit with a reference value of a plurality of predetermined patches, and acquires a color difference;
A statistical value calculating means for calculating a statistical value of the color difference column acquired by the color difference acquiring means;
A difference calculation unit that calculates a difference between the statistical value calculated by the statistical value calculation unit and the color difference acquired by the color difference acquisition unit;
Determination means for determining the presence or absence of a measurement error of the patch using the difference calculated by the difference calculation means;
Second measurement value acquisition means for acquiring measurement values of patches having the same color characteristic arranged at different positions on the chart;
An information processing program for causing a computer to function as second determination means for determining the presence or absence of a patch measurement error using the measurement value acquired by the second measurement value acquisition means,
After the determination unit compares the accumulated color difference obtained by accumulating the color difference acquired by the color difference acquisition unit with a predetermined threshold, and determines that the accumulated color difference is equal to or less than the threshold and there is no patch measurement error. ,
As a result of calculating the difference between the color difference statistical value acquired by the color difference acquisition means and the color difference, and comparing the difference with a predetermined threshold, the difference is equal to or less than the threshold, and the difference is calculated. If it is determined that there is no measurement error in the patch,
The second determination unit calculates a difference between the measurement values acquired by the second measurement value acquisition unit, compares the calculated difference with a predetermined threshold value, and the difference exceeds the threshold value. The patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated is determined to have a measurement error, and the patch having the same color characteristic for which the difference is calculated when the difference is equal to or smaller than a threshold value. It is determined that there is no measurement error in
An information processing program characterized by that.

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