COLOR MANAGEMENT FOR WEB SERVER BASED APPLICATIONS

• US 20140071149A1
• Filed: 09/07/2012
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lai, Sing Yeung, Sung, On Loy, CHU, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 9,076,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/022 Centralised management of display operation, e.g. in a server instead of locally
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/027 Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607

Abstract

Method and apparatus for color management of documents retrieved and manipulated by a server based application and displayed on a client device through a browser application. Page elements of documents are manipulated to provide consistent and/or accurate color reproduction on the client device. Pages include untagged images, images tagged with color profiles, and tagged or untagged page elements specified by hex color values. Color values for images and untagged page elements specified by hex color values are adjusted by the server application before transmission to the client device to account for properties of browser applications and operating systems of different client devices.

Claims

1. A method to manage colors at a server for displaying a page on a client device, the method comprising:

at the server,

receiving a command from the client device to retrieve the page;

converting page elements in the page to a common color profile, the page elements including at least an image tagged with a color profile and a page element specified by a numerical color value without a color profile; and

transmitting a modified page that includes the converted page elements to the client device for displaying on the client device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the common color profile is a standardized ICC sRGB color profile.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the numerical color value of the page element is a W3C CSS RGB triple of hexadecimal values.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

appending the common color profile to an untagged image page element in the page before transmitting the modified page to the client device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

creating a set of images for each image in the page, each set of images including at least an original image retrieved by the server and a modified image, wherein the modified image includes an added common color profile when the original image is untagged and the modified image includes a modified color profile when the original image is tagged with a color profile different from the common color profile.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the client device a browser identifier;

determining color management settings of the browser on the client device according to the browser identifier;

preserving the original color profile of tagged images in the page before transmission to the client device when determined color management settings indicate that the browser supports color management of images; and

converting the color profile of tagged images in the page to the common color profile before transmission to the client device only when the color management settings indicate that the browser does not support color management of images.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a display color profile from the client device; and

converting the page elements in the page to the received display color profile before transmitting the modified page to the client device.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the server transmits both the original page elements and the modified page elements to the client device.

9. An apparatus in a server for color management of page elements displayed on a client device, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving module configured to receive a command from the client device to retrieve a page;

a processing module configured to convert page elements in the page to a common color profile, the page elements including at least an image tagged with a color profile and a page element specified by a numerical color value without a color profile; and

a transmitting module configured to transmit a modified page to the client device, the modified page including the converted page elements.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the common color profile is a standardized ICC sRGB color profile.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the numerical color value of the page element is a W3C CSS RGB triple of hexadecimal values.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the processing module is further configured to append the common color profile to an untagged image page element in the page before transmitting the modified page to the client device.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the processing module is further configured to create a set of images for each image in the page, each set of images including at least an original image retrieved by the server and a modified image, the modified image including an added common color profile when the original image is untagged and the modified image including a modified color profile when the original image is tagged with a color profile different from the common color profile.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

receive from the client device a browser identifier;

determine color management settings of the browser on the client device according to the browser identifier;

preserve the original color profile of tagged images in the page before transmission to the client device when determined color management settings indicate that the browser supports color management of images; and

convert the color profile of tagged images in the page to the common color profile before transmission to the client device only when the color management settings indicate that the browser does not support color management of images.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, where in the processing module is further configured to:

receive a display color profile from the client device; and

convert the page elements in the page to the received display color profile before the modified page is transmitted to the client device.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein both the original page elements and the modified page elements are transmitted to the client device.

17. A computer program product encoded in a non-transitory computer readable medium for managing colors at a server for displaying a page on a client device, the computer program product comprising:

computer program code for receiving a command from the client device to retrieve the page;

computer program code for converting page elements in the page to a common color profile, the page elements including at least an image tagged with a color profile and a page element specified by a numerical color value without a color profile; and

computer program code for transmitting a modified page that includes the converted page elements to the client device for displaying on the client device.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the common color profile is a standardized ICC sRGB color profile.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 18, wherein the numerical color value of the page element is a W3C CSS RGB triple of hexadecimal values.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

computer program code for appending the common color profile to an untagged image page element in the page before transmitting the modified page to the client device.

21. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

creating a set of images for each image in the page, each set of images including at least an original image retrieved by the server and a modified image, wherein the modified image includes an added common color profile when the original image is untagged and the modified image includes a modified color profile when the original image is tagged with a color profile different from the common color profile.

22. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

computer program code for receiving from the client device a browser identifier;

computer program code for determining color management settings of the browser on the client device according to the browser identifier;

computer program code for preserving the original color profile of tagged images in the page before transmission to the client device when determined color management settings indicate that the browser supports color management of images; and

computer program code for converting the color profile of tagged images in the page to the common color profile before transmission to the client device only when the color management settings indicate that the browser does not support color management of images.

23. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

computer program code for receiving a display color profile from the client device; and

computer program code for converting the page elements in the page to the received display color profile before transmitting the modified page to the client device.

24. The computer program product as recited in claim 23, further comprising:

computer program code for transmitting both the original page elements and the modified page elements to the client device.