Patent ID: 8593692

Claim:
A method for creating a color lookup table for a printer, the method comprising: defining a plurality of nodes in a lookup table, the nodes mapping device independent color space to device specific colorant combinations based on a printer model; determining a set of device specific colorant combination values for each node in the lookup table that are within a predetermined color difference from the node; determining a colorant combination for each node in the lookup table based on an image quality metric, wherein the image quality metric is a weighted sum of functions of a perceptual color difference value under different illuminants and a gray component replacement strategy subject to ink or toner amount constraints; and smoothing the nodes in the lookup table, where determining the set of device specific colorant combination values for each node in the lookup table comprises: providing an initial device dependent colorant combination for a node in the lookup table; determining a target color value for the provided initial device dependent colorant combination for that node in the lookup table using an inverse printer model; determining, for that node in the lookup table, potential colorant combinations for each possible value of black that substantially correspond to the target color value table using a forward printer model; and selecting, for that node in the lookup table, the set of potential colorant combinations that are within a predetermined tolerance of the target color value.