Patent ID: 7859554

Claim:
A method for using an apparatus having a processor and at least four light sources to generate at least four primary colors to generate a target color, wherein each of the at least four primary colors form a vertex of a gamut area in a CIE color space and the target color is definable using chromaticity coordinates in the CIE color space, wherein the gamut area includes sub gamut areas having vertices formed by the primary colors, and wherein each of the sub gamut areas overlap with at least one other of the sub gamut areas such that at least two overlapping sub gamut areas contain the chromaticity coordinates of the target color, the method comprising: determining which of the sub gamut areas contain the chromaticity coordinates of the target color to identify the at least two overlapping sub gamut areas that contain the chromaticity coordinates of the target color; using square matrices to perform a color mixing algorithm to calculate a solution for each of the at least two overlapping sub gamut areas that contain the chromaticity coordinates of the target color; calculating proportional values of each of the primary colors for the target color, wherein calculating proportional values of each of the primary colors includes using the calculated solutions for the at least two overlapping sub gamut areas that contain the chromaticity coordinates of the target color to calculate the proportional values of each of the primary colors for the target color; and providing an output control signal to control an intensity of each of the at least four light sources using the calculated proportional values to generate the target color or to instruct a display device to control pixel data for the target color.