Patent ID: 7333740

Claim:
An image-formation control apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a medium with a plurality of color materials, the image-formation control apparatus comprising: a receiving unit that receives an image formation command, which is to be executed by the image forming apparatus; a first calibration unit that generates a first formation command to form a first number of color patches for adjusting output characteristics of the color materials in the image forming apparatus and outputs the generated first formation command to the image forming apparatus, wherein the first calibration unit calculates an estimated consumption amount of each color material used in the image forming apparatus on a basis of the received image formation command and determines colors of the color patches formed on a patch sheet on a basis of the estimated consumption amount; and a second calibration unit that outputs a second formation command to form a second number of color patches for adjusting output characteristics of the color materials in the image forming apparatus to the image forming apparatus, wherein the first number is smaller than the second number.