Patent ID: 7031022

Claim:
A color management method for a printing press, comprising: printing a color chart formed from a plurality of patches by multi-color printing using the printing press and a plurality of ink colors, each of the patches having a predetermined combination of dot area percent of the ink colors; automatically scanning the printed color chart using a calorimeter to sequentially obtain color data of all the patches; generating a first profile representing a color reproduction characteristic of the printing press on the basis of the obtained color data of the patches and the dot area percent of the ink colors set in the patches; outputting, from the color proofing apparatus, a color chart formed from a plurality of patches using a plurality of ink colors, each of the patches having a predetermined combination of dot area percent of the ink colors; automatically scanning the printed color chart using the colorimeter to sequentially obtain color data of all the patches; and generating a second profile representing a color reproduction characteristic of a color proofing apparatus on the basis of the obtained color data of the patches and the dot area percent of the ink colors set in the patches, and calculating the dot area percent of each ink color used to output the color proofing print on the basis of the first and second profiles, by obtaining, from the first profile, color values of a dot area percent most approximate to the dot area percent of each ink color of a printed portion, and by obtaining, from the second profile, the dot area percent of each ink color having color values most approximate to the obtained color values, wherein said generating includes calculating color values using the sampled color data of the patches, and generating the first and second profiles in which the obtained color values correspond to the dot area percent of each ink color set in the patches.