NATURAL LANGUAGE COLOR COMMUNICATION AND SYSTEM INTERFACE

• US 20090073465A1
• Filed: 09/19/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Rolleston, Robert J., Woolfe, Geoffrey J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,416,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.900
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/60 Colour correction or control H04N1/54 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and system for controlling color output includes receiving a document containing a color image, producing a first output copy of the document using a first color processing path, receiving at least one natural language request to adjust the color output of the device, adjusting the color output of the device, and producing a second output copy of the document. The method and system further includes presenting natural language descriptions of the effects of color processing paths with or without sample palettes to the user either to solicit a suggestion from the user or present the user with choices based upon the natural language request received.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a document containing a color image;

producing a first output copy of the document using a first color processing path;

receiving at least one natural language request to adjust the color output of the device;

adjusting the color output of the device; and

producing a second output copy of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the color output of the device includes selecting a second color processing path based upon the natural language request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting a second color processing path includes:

parsing the natural language request into one or more color ranges that should differ from its values in the first color processing path and one or more differences between values of that color range and desired values of that color range; and

choosing a color processing path that best corresponds to the natural language request and using that as the second color processing path.

4. The method of claim 3, further including parsing the differences for each color range into (1) a description of the color property to be modified, (2) a magnitude of color modification, and (3) a direction of modification.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more differences between the values of the one or more color ranges and the desired values of the one or more color ranges include differences to one or more of the following properties:

lightness, darkness, colorfulness, chroma, saturation, contrast, hue, redness, greenness, yellowness, blueness, orange-ness, pink-ness, brown-ness, purple-ness, and grayness.

6. The method of claim 2, where at least one of the first output copy and the second output copy is a hardcopy.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first output copy and the second output copy is visible on a display.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting to the user natural language descriptions of one or more other color processing paths that correspond to the received natural language request in response to the received natural language request; and

receiving a color processing path selection to be used to produce the second output copy.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein presenting to the user natural language descriptions includes for each of the one or more other color processing paths presenting a graphical image of a palette relevant to the correspondence between each of the one or more other color processing paths and the natural language request.

10. A method, comprising

receiving document data;

presenting natural language descriptions of a set of color processing paths available on a document output device;

receiving a selection regarding which path to use based upon the natural language descriptions of the set of color processing paths presented; and

producing a final output copy of the document based upon the data received.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting natural language descriptions of the color processing paths available on a document output device includes presenting a graphical image of a sample palette of each of the color processing paths available on a document output device.

12. The method of claim 10, where the final output copy is a hardcopy.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the final output copy is on a display.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising producing an initial output copy of the document using a first color processing path prior to presenting natural language descriptions and wherein presenting natural language descriptions includes presenting descriptions of the differences between one or more other color processing paths from which a user may choose and the first color processing path.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one of the initial output copy and the final output copy is a hardcopy.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one of the initial output copy and the final output copy is visible on a display.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein presenting natural language descriptions of the differences between one or more other color processing paths from which a user may choose and the first color processing path includes for each of the one or more color processing path presenting a graphical image of a palette relevant to the differences between each of the one or more other color processing paths from which a user may choose and the first color processing path.

18. A system, comprising:

a user interface;

a document input for receiving data representing an input document;

a document output for generating a document based upon the data received; and

a processor executing a color control program that

produces a first output copy using a first color processing path between the document input and the document output;

receives at least one user entered natural language request to modify a color in the output document based upon the second output copy; and

produces a second output copy of the document using a second color processing path in response to the user entered natural language request.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor automatically selects a second color processing path based upon the natural language instruction.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor

presents to the user natural language descriptions of one or more other color processing paths that correspond to the received natural language request in response to the received natural language request;

and

receives a color processing path selection to be used to produce the second output copy.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the user interface displays a graphical image of a palette relevant to the correspondence between each of the one or more other color processing paths and the natural language request for each natural language descriptions.

22. A system, comprising:

a user interface;

a document input for receiving data representing an input document;

a document output for generating a document based upon the data received; and

a processor executing a color control program that

produces an output copy using a first color processing path between the document input and the document output;

presents natural language descriptions of the differences between one or more other color processing paths from which a user may choose and the first color processing path;

receives a selection of one of the one or more color processing paths; and

produces a second output copy of the document using the second color processing path.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the user interface displays a graphical image of a palette relevant to the differences between each of the one or more other color processing paths from which a user may choose and the first color processing path.

24. A system, comprising:

a user interface;

a document input for receiving data representing an input document;

a document output for generating a document based upon the data received; and

a processor executing a color control program that

presents to the user natural language descriptions of a set of color processing paths available on a document output device;

receives a selection regarding which path to use based upon the natural language descriptions of the set of color processing paths presented;

receives document data from the user; and

produces an output copy of the document based upon the data received.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the user interface displays a graphical image of a sample palette of each of the color processing paths available on a document output device corresponding to the presented natural language descriptions of the color processing paths available on a document output device.