Image processing apparatus, image processing method and image processing program

• US 20070297667A1
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Umezawa, Hiroki
• Granted Patent: US 7,495,802 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/162
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6027 Correction or control of colour gradation or colour contrast H04N1/6058 takes precedence

Abstract

It is an object of the invention to provide a technique for preventing image quality deterioration of a print image involved in adjustment of color conversion parameters in image formation processing.

An image processing apparatus includes: a change information acquiring unit that acquires, when first brightness setting information is changed, information on the change, the first brightness setting information defining, in printing a color that can be represented by color materials of plural colors, brightness that should be represented using the color materials; a calculating unit that calculates, on the basis of the change information acquired by the change information acquiring unit, information on second brightness setting information defining, in printing a color represented only by a black color material, brightness that should be represented using the color material, the second brightness setting information making it possible to print an image of substantially the same brightness as an image printed using the first brightness setting information after the change; and a setting information changing unit that changes, on the basis of the information calculated by the calculating unit, setting content of the second brightness setting information.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a change information acquiring unit configured to acquire, when first brightness setting information is changed, information on the changed, the first brightness setting information defining, in printing colors that can be represented by color materials of plural colors, brightness that should be represented using the color materials;

a calculating unit configured to calculate, on the basis of the change information acquired by the change information acquiring unit, information on second brightness setting information defining, in printing colors represented only by a black color material, brightness that should be represented using the color material, the second brightness setting information making it possible to print an image having substantially the same brightness as an image printed using the first brightness setting information changed; and

a setting information changing unit configured to change setting content of the second brightness setting information on the basis of the information calculated by the calculating unit.

2. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second brightness setting information is information on a gradation representation curve.

3. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit configured to set, on the basis of an operation input of a user, necessity of processing for changing the setting content of the brightness setting information by the setting information changing unit, wherein

the setting information changing unit does not change the setting content of the brightness setting information when the processing for changing the setting content of the brightness setting information is set as unnecessary by the setting unit.

4. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color materials of plural colors are color materials of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

5. An image processing method comprising the steps of:

acquiring, when first brightness setting information is changed, information on the change, the first brightness setting information defining, in printing colors that can be represented by color materials of plural colors, brightness that should be represented using the color materials;

calculating, on the basis of the change information acquired in the change information acquiring step, information on second brightness setting information defining, in printing colors represented only by a black color material, brightness that should be represented using the color material, the second brightness setting information making it possible to print an image having substantially the same brightness as an image printed using the first brightness setting information changed; and

changing setting content of the second brightness setting information on the basis of the information calculated in the calculating step.

6. An image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the second brightness setting information is information on a gradation representation curve.

7. An image processing method according to claim 5, further comprising setting, on the basis of an operation input of a user, necessity of processing for changing the setting content of the brightness setting information in the setting information changing step, wherein

in the setting information changing step, the setting content of the brightness setting information is not changed when the processing for changing the setting content of the brightness setting information is set as unnecessary in the setting step.

8. An image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the color materials of plural colors are color materials of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

9. An image processing program causing a computer to execute:

a change information acquiring step of acquiring, when first brightness setting information is changed, information on the change, the first brightness setting information defining, in printing colors that can be represented by color materials of plural colors, brightness that should be represented using the color materials;

a calculating step of calculating, on the basis of the change information acquired in the change information acquiring step, information on second brightness setting information defining, in printing colors represented only by a black color material, brightness that should be represented using the color material, the second brightness setting information making it possible to print an image having substantially the same brightness as an image printed using the first brightness setting information changed; and

a setting information changing step of changing setting content of the second brightness setting information on the basis of the information calculated in the calculating step.

10. An image processing program according to claim 9, wherein the second brightness setting information is information on a gradation representation curve.

11. An image processing program according to claim 9, further comprising a setting step of setting, on the basis of an operation input of a user, necessity of processing for changing the setting content of the brightness setting information in the setting information changing step, wherein

in the setting information changing step, the setting content of the brightness setting information is not changed when the processing for changing the setting content of the brightness setting information is set as unnecessary in the setting step.

12. An image processing program according to claim 9, wherein the color materials of plural colors are color materials of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.