Color correction in printing systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10183497-B2
Application number	US-201515542832-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Jan 22, 2019
Grant date	Jan 22, 2019

Abstract

A method is described in which a first color is detected at a user-selected arbitrary position of a first print; a second color is detected at a user-selected arbitrary position of a second print printed by a printer; a color difference between the first color and the second color is determined; and settings of the printer are changed to reduce the color difference in further prints printed by the printer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting a first color at a user-selected arbitrary position of a first print;
receiving, in a user interface that displays an image of a second print printed by a printer, a user-selected arbitrary position of the second print;
detecting a second color at the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print printed by the printer;
determining, by a controller, a color difference between the first color and the second color; and
changing, by the controller, a setting of the printer to reduce the color difference in a further print printed by the printer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-selected arbitrary position of the first print and the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print are regions intended to have the same color.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising adjusting a relative position between a sensor arrangement and the second print based on a user input in the user interface specifying the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the user interface comprises a graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein adjusting the relative position between the sensor arrangement and the second print comprises moving the sensor arrangement along an axis.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the moving of the sensor arrangement along the axis is responsive to a control of an actuator by the controller.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising printing the first print by the printer prior to an event, and printing the second print after the event, wherein the event comprises a change or a modification of a component of the printer.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising printing the first print by a second printer and providing the first print to the printer such that a color difference between the first color printed by the second printer and the second color printed by the printer is reduced in the further print.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a third color at a second user-selected arbitrary position of the first print;
detecting a fourth color at a second user-selected arbitrary position of the second print;
determining a further color difference between the third color and the fourth color; and
changing the setting of the printer to reduce the further color difference in the further print printed by the printer.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein changing the setting of the printer comprises adapting a color to be printed based on the determined color difference or adapting a conversion information defining a conversion of the color to be printed into a color space of the printer.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining a first Lab value of the first color;
obtaining a second Lab value of the second color;
wherein the color difference between the first color and the second color is determined as a color difference between the first Lab value and the second Lab value.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing an information related to the first color in a memory of the printer;
detecting a further color at a user-selected arbitrary position of the further print printed by the printer; and
changing the setting of the printer related to the first color to reduce a color difference between the further color and the first color in an additional print printed by the printer.

13. The method of claim 1 , where the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print is based on a user-selected selection made on the image of the second print in the user interface.

14. A printer comprising:
a sensor arrangement to detect a color of a print, wherein a position of the sensor arrangement relative to the print is adjustable;
a user interface enabling a user to adjust a relative position between the sensor arrangement and the print and to select this relative position as a user-selected arbitrary position; and
a controller to:
determine a color difference between a first color detected at a user-selected arbitrary position of a first print and a second color detected at a user-selected arbitrary position of a second print; and
change settings of the printer to reduce the color difference in further prints printed by the printer.

15. The printer of claim 14 , further comprising:
an actuator to selectively move the sensor arrangement with respect to the second print along a first direction based on a user input in the user interface.

16. The printer of claim 14 , wherein the user interface further is to present information about the position of the sensor arrangement relative to the second print.

17. The printer of claim 16 , wherein the information is a presentation of a portion of the second print at which the sensor arrangement is located or a presentation of at least a portion of the second print and the sensor arrangement.

18. The printer of claim 14 , wherein the user interface is to display an image of the second print, and the controller is to receive a user selection made in the user interface of the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print.

19. The printer of claim 18 , wherein the user selection of the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print is made based on a user selection on the image of the second print displayed by the user interface.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a controller of a printer to:
receive a first color at a user-selected arbitrary position of a first print;
receive, in a user interface that displays an image of a second print printed by a printer, a user-selected arbitrary position of the second print;
receive a second color at the user-selected arbitrary position of the second print printed by the printer;
determine a color difference between the first color and the second color; and
change a setting of the printer to reduce the color difference in a further print printed by the printer.

Assignees

• Gracia Verdugo Antonio
• Uroz Soria Juan
• Borrell Avila Oriol
• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Gracia Verdugo Antonio
• Uroz Soria Juan
• Borrell Avila Oriol

Classifications

• H04N1/62

  Retouching, i.e. modification of isolated colours only or in isolated picture areas only · CPC title

• B41J2/2132 Primary

  Print quality control characterised by dot disposition, e.g. for reducing white stripes or banding (methods for local corrections by dot omission, image edge enhancement, or multi-pass mask selection G06K15/102; colour conversion H04N1/40) · CPC title

• G03G15/0121

  for developing · CPC title

• B41J2/362

  Correcting density variation · CPC title

• H04N1/00411

  the display also being used for user input, e.g. touch screen · CPC title