Patent ID: 7983479

Claim:
A method of generating a lookup table for color processing, the lookup table having plural output color data, the plural output color data corresponding to plural input color data to be input to the lookup table, and the plural input color data including both input color data inside a visible region of a human and input color data outside the visible region, the method comprising: using a processor to perform the steps of: storing first information which indicates the visible region in a Lab color space, wherein the first information is defined as a set of a plurality of sub-regions each corresponding to a polyhedron in the RGB color space, and vertices of each polyhedron correspond to grid points used to represent the visible region in the RGB color space; storing second information which indicates a color gamut of an output device in an XYZ color space; obtaining a set of grid points in the Lab color space stored in a memory in advance, wherein the set of grid points corresponds to input color data of the lookup table; determining that a grid point is in the visible region if it is included in any one of the plurality of sub-regions; mapping the grid points which are not included in any of the plurality of sub-regions into the visible region according to a mapping method to generate a set of mapped grid points; performing a conversion process using a color appearance model to produce a set of color appearance data from the grid points included in the visible region, the set of mapped grid points and the XYZ data of the second information, wherein the conversion process utilizes an exponentiation calculation (a) whose base is positive for input color data inside the visible region, and (b) whose base may be negative for input color data outside the visible region; mapping the set of color appearance data into the color gamut indicated by the second information according to the mapping method and converting the mapped set of color appearance data into a set of RGB data in the DevRGB color space; generating the lookup table data in which the input comprises the set of grid points in the LAB space and the output comprises the set of RGB data in the DevRGB color space; and wherein the mapping method maps color data outside a certain region to an intersection of a boundary of the certain region and a line connecting between a point corresponding to the color data and a specific point in a color space defining the certain region, and wherein in the mapping the grid points step the certain region is the visible region indicated by the first information, and in the mapping the set of color appearance data step the certain region is the region generated by color appearance model-converting the color gamut indicated by the second information.