Patent ID: 8330994

Claim:
A method for mapping source colors of an image to destination colors reproducible by an printing apparatus, said source colors and destination colors having a lightness component, said method comprising the steps of: defining one of the source colors as a source black point; defining one of the source colors as a source white point; defining a source lightness line comprising the source black point and the source white point; defining one of the destination colors as a destination black point; defining one of the destination colors as a destination white point; defining a destination lightness line comprising the destination black point and the destination white point; defining a transformation from the source colors to the destination colors, the transformation mapping the source white point onto the destination white point and the source black point onto the destination black point; and applying the defined transformation to the source colors, wherein the transformation comprises: a translation and a rotation, the combination of translation and rotation mapping the source black point onto the destination black point and the source white point onto a point on the destination lightness line, a compression that maps the rotated and translated source white point onto the destination white point, the destination black point being a fixed point, and a gamut mapping that leaves the lightness component of each color unchanged and maps each compressed color onto a destination color, wherein said compression is only established in the direction of the destination lightness line.