Patent ID: 6980221

Claim:
A method for converting an input digital color image having a set of possible input colors to an output digital color image having a set of palette colors, the number of palette colors being less than the number of possible input colors, wherein the set of palette colors is determined based on the distribution of colors in the input digital image supplemented by a distribution of pre-defined important colors, comprising: a) determining a distribution of input colors from pixels in the input digital color image; b) providing the distribution of pre-defined important colors; c) combining the distribution of input colors with the distribution of pre-defined important colors to produce a supplemented distribution of colors that includes a greater emphasis on the important colors than does the distribution of input colors; d) determining a set of palette colors to be used in the formation of an output digital color image from the supplemented distribution of colors; and e) forming the output digital color image by assigning each color in the input digital color image to one of the colors in the set of palette colors.