Color table manipulations for contour reduction

Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Attribute control

Reexamination Certificate

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C358S523000, C382S266000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06522427

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to digital color image reproduction systems and more particularly to color calibration of such systems. Typically such systems include an input device such as a scanner for scanning a color image and for producing scanner color signals representing that image, an output device such as a printer for reproducing the color image, and a digital image processor for transforming the scanner color signals into printer color signals. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for improving reproduction quality when a scanner and printer are combined to form a copy unit. The present invention also relates to a software program for implementing the method for improving copy quality and media on which the program is recorded or carried.
2. Description of the Related Art
The generation of color documents can be thought of as a two step process: first, the generation of the image by scanning an original document with a color image input terminal or scanner or, alternatively, creating a color image on a work station operated with a color image creation program; and secondly, printing of that image with a color printer in accordance with the colors defined by the scanner or computer generated image.
Each color peripheral device such as a color scanner or a color printer uses a device-dependent color-coordinate system to specify colors. These coordinates are often specified in some color space that is most suitable for mapping the color coordinates to the color-generation mechanism of the device. The term color space refers to an N-dimensional space in which each point in the space corresponds to a color. For example, an RGB color space refers to a three-dimensional device color space in which each point in the color space is formed by additive amounts of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) colorants. Scanner output is commonly transformed to a color space of tristimulus values, i.e., RGB (red-green-blue). Commonly, these values are a linear transformation of the standard XYZ coordinates of CIE color space, or a corrected transform of those values.
In the case of computer generated images, color defined by the user at the user interface of a workstation can be defined initially in a standard color space of tristimulus values. These colors are defined independently of any particular device, and accordingly reference is made to the information as being “device independent”.
Printers commonly have an output which can be defined as existing in a color space called CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-key or black) which is uniquely defined for the printer by its capabilities and colorants, i.e. it is a device-dependent color space. Printers operate by the addition of multiple layers of ink or colorant in layers on a page. The response of the printer tends to be relatively non-linear. These colors are defined for a particular device, and accordingly reference is made to the information as being “device dependent”. Thus, while a printer receives information in a device independent color space, it must convert that information to print in a device dependent color space, which reflects the gamut or possible range of colors of the printer. Printers and other image rendering devices may use more or less than the above-mentioned 4 color channels (i.e., c, m, y, and k) to represent color.
There are many methods of conversion between color spaces, all of which begin with the measurement of printer (or scanner) response to certain input values (or colors). Commonly, a printer is driven with a set of input values reflecting color samples throughout the printer gamut, and the color samples are printed in normal operation of the printer. As previously noted, most printers have non-linear response characteristics.
The information derived is typically placed into three-dimensional look up tables (LUTs) stored in a memory, such as a read-only-memory (ROM) or random-access-memory (RAM). The look up table relates input color space to output color space. The look up table is commonly a three dimensional table since color is defined with three variables. The three variables used to index the LUT correspond to tristimulus values that may represent RGB or a standard color space such as CIE XYZ. RGB space, e.g. for a scanner or computer, is typically defined as three dimensional with black at the origin of a three dimensional coordinate system 0, 0, 0, and white at the maximum of a three dimensional coordinate system. For example, for a 24-bit color system (8-bits/color), white would be located at 255, 255, 255. Each of the three axes radiating from the origin point therefore respectively define red, green, and blue. In the 24-bit system suggested, there will be, however, over 16 million possible colors (256
3
). There are clearly too many values for a 1:1 mapping of RGB to CMYK. Therefore, the look up tables consist of a set of values which could be said to be the intersections (lattice points, nodes, etc.) for corners of a set of cubes mounted on top of one another. Colors falling within each cubic volume can be interpolated from the nodes forming the cube, through many methods including tri-linear interpolation, tetrahedral interpolation, polynomial interpolation, linear interpolation, and any other interpolation method depending on the desired accuracy of the result, behavior of the function being sampled, and computational cost.
It would be very easy to index (map) device dependent color values or specifications to device independent color values, but that is not what is required. Rather, device independent specifications (i.e. colors specified in a device independent color space) must be mapped to device dependent specifications (i.e. corresponding colors in the device dependent color space). Several problems arise. Of course, the primary problem is that the printer response is not a linear response, and the inverse mapping function may not be unique especially when the dimensions of the input and output color spaces are different. A second problem is that the color space, and therefore the coordinates defined in the color space must be maintained as a uniform grid for maximum efficiency of some interpolation methods.
Accordingly, a multidimensional look up table (LUT) may be constructed which puts device independent input values into a predictable grid pattern. One method of accomplishing this requirement is by an interpolation process referred to as weighted averaging and another method is inverse tetrahedral interpolation.
The technique or method for producing the LUT is selected according the best result that can be obtained for the particular device. For example in a particular printer it may be found that the weighted averaging technique produced a table which gave good color reproduction in one region of color space (the light colors), but not in another (the dark colors). The tetrahedral inversion technique may produce just the complement of this, i.e., it may give good color reproduction where the weighted average technique did not (the dark colors), and give poorer color reproduction of colors where the weighted average technique gave good color reproduction (the light colors).
Similar to the above problem, it has been noted that often, after a change in process parameters due to time, change of materials, refilling toner, etc., a change in calibration is required only in a portion of the overall color gamut of a printer. Re-calibration of the entire space is costly in terms of processing time. It is desirable to only re-calibrate a portion of the color space, or alternatively, to use the best portions of the color space mapping.
Further, we have found that when an independently calibrated scanner is put together with an independently calibrated printer, certain reproduction artifacts turn up in the copy. These include contouring artifacts that appear in certain types of copied images, such as skin tones and sky tones. Such artifacts are quite common if the input and output devices have been calibrated usin

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