Patent ID: 6859551

Claim:
An image processing method of performing a color matching process, said method comprising: a setting step of setting a mode for color gamut mapping from a plurality of modes, wherein the plurality of modes include a relative mode for performing relative color matching and an absolute mode for performing an absolute color matching; a first conversion step of converting input data, which is dependent on a color space of an input device, to first data, which is color space data that is independent of any device; a second conversion step of converting the first data to second data in a color perception space, which corresponds to the set mode and is independent of a viewing condition, wherein said second conversion step performs a forward conversion of a color appearance model, based on the set mode and an input viewing condition, on the first data; a first calculation step of calculating third data by performing the color gamut mapping, which corresponds to a color reproduction range of an output device, on the second data converted in accordance with the set mode; a second calculation step of calculating fourth data in a device independent color space by performing an inverse conversion of the color appearance model, based on the set mode and an output viewing condition; and a third conversion step of converting the fourth data into output color space data which is dependent on the output device, wherein the color perception space is a relative color perception space when the relative mode is set, and an absolute color perception space when the absolute mode is set.