Patent ID: 7006251

Claim:
A print control apparatus that controls a printing unit, which applies multiple color inks on a printing medium to print a color image, said print control apparatus comprising: an image data input module that receives an input of color image data; a hue storage module that stores in advance a predetermined range of hues for which saturation is to be enhanced; a saturation enhancement module that converts the input color image data into image data expressed in a color system that can independently handle the saturation and, with regard to the predetermined range of hues of the image data, enhances the saturation of the image data in such a way that the gradation of saturation of the original image data is maintained; a conversion module that converts the image data with the enhanced saturation into image data for printing; an ink application density specification module that specifies an application density of ink to be applied on the printing medium with regard to each of the multiple color inks, based on the color image data that has the enhanced saturation in the predetermined range of hues and has been converted into image data for printing; and a control signal output module that outputs the specified application density of each color ink as a control signal to said printing unit.