Patent ID: 7590283

Claim:
In a computer graphics system wherein a plurality of images are to be generated from image data and the plurality of images are multi-colored, an improved method of representing the plurality of images comprising: obtaining a representation of a raw image usable to generate one or more of the plurality of images; storing a representation of the raw image using an N-color space comprising N component images wherein N is greater than one; storing a coloring card representing a component-to-color mapping for each of the N components, wherein the coloring card comprises N entries to correspond with each of the N components where each of the N entries maps one of the N components to a color; for each of the N components, determining an output of an operation using, as input to the operation, the N component of the raw image and the color mapped to the N component, wherein the operation includes multiplying the N component of the raw image with the color mapped to the N component, further comprising using a processor to perform the steps of: inverting the output of the operation for each of the N component; summing the inverted output of the operation for each of the N components; and generating the at least one image of the plurality of images based upon the summation; and generating at least one image of the plurality of images using the output of each of the N components and the coloring card from components of the representation of the raw image, wherein the component-to-color mappings from the components to the colors are independent of the components used to represent the raw image.