User-adjustable mechanism for extracting full color information from two-color ink definitions
View Patent ↗The present invention is a method for taking a named, two-color definition and converting that two-color definition from the form used in highlight-color page composition and print systems into a full-color representation in order to enable the use of the two-color definitions on full-color printers. The method further contemplates the use of an extensible markup language schema to represent and store the equivalent, converted color definitions.
1. A method for converting input data representing a color formed from only two colors to output data representing a color formed from at least three colors, comprising the steps of:
receiving the two-color input data in the form of two colors, a primary color and a secondary color;
determining, for each color of the two-color input data, an equivalent color defined in a full color space by applying a first function to each color of the two-color input data;
determining, from the two-color input data, a screen characteristic for the primary color and the secondary color;
determining which screen characteristic is of a lesser value, and then determining if the lesser value is equal to zero;
if the lesser value screen characteristic is zero, generating an intermediate output that is a function of only one of the primary and secondary colors, otherwise, generating an intermediate output that is a function of both the primary and secondary colors, wherein the intermediate outputs include a highlight color, a highlight color percentage and a black percentage; and
processing the intermediate output using a second function to generate the output data representing a single color defined in at least three color space.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating an intermediate output that is a function of only one of the primary and secondary colors, comprises:
determining if the primary color is black; and
if the primary color is black, setting the highlight color to white, setting the highlight color percentage to 100% and setting the black percentage equal to the greater of the two screen characteristics, otherwise
setting the highlight color to the primary color and setting the highlight color percentage equal to the greater of the two screen characteristics, and setting the black percentage to 0%.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the screen characteristics are percentage values associated with the screens for the respective colors.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating an intermediate output that is a function of both the primary and secondary colors, comprises:
determining if the primary color is black; and
if the primary color is black, setting the highlight color to the secondary color and setting the highlight color percentage equal to the lesser of the two screen characteristics and setting the black percentage equal to the greater of the two screen characteristics, otherwise
setting the highlight color to the primary color and the highlight color percentage equal to the greater of the two screen characteristics, and setting the black percentage equal to the lesser of the two screen characteristics.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the screen characteristics are percentage values associated with the screens for the respective colors.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the screen characteristic is a percentage value.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving the two-color input data comprises locating the color data in an ink catalog and retrieving the data therefrom.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first function is user-defined.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the output data representing a single color defined in at least three color space is represented in the nature of an extensible markup language schema.
10. A method of instructing a printing system which prints using at least three colorants to print a predetermined color defined using only a first and second color, comprising:
creating a schema to represent said first and second colors, said palette including, palette names and colorant names, for generating different colors;
using a processor, determining, for each color of the two-color input data, an equivalent color defined in a full color space by applying a first function to each color of the two-color input data;
determining, from the two-color input data, a screen characteristic for the primary color and the secondary color;
determining which screen characteristic is of a lesser value, and then determining if the lesser value is equal to zero;
if the lesser screen characteristic is zero, generating an intermediate output that is a function of only one of the primary and secondary colors, otherwise, generating an intermediate output that is a function of both the primary and secondary colors, wherein the intermediate outputs include a highlight color, a highlight color percentage and a black percentage; and
processing the intermediate output using a second function to generate the output data representing a single color defined in at least three color space and storing said output data in a schema.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said schema is represented in an extensible markup language.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the schema includes a color catalog which itself includes a plurality of palettes.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the palettes include colors defined in terms of a standard color model.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the standard color model is sRGB.