Patent ID: 7164498

Claim:
A method for representing a digital image in an extended CMYK color space that has an extended color gamut, the image for output to an output device that uses a set of more than four colorants and is capable of reproducing the extended color gamut, the method comprising: providing a transformation from the extended CMYK color space to amounts of each of the set of colorants of the output device, wherein the extended CMYK color space is a CMYK color space that has an extended color gamut that is wider and/or has more dynamic range than CMYK using real CMYK inks, wherein the C, M, Y, and K values of the extended CMYK color space do not necessarily represent amounts of real inks of a real output device; providing a device profile for a virtual output device that uses the extended CMYK color space, the device profile associated with the transformation such that a set of color coordinate values in a first color space having the color coordinate values is converted by the device profile to the extended CMYK color space such that the virtual output device behaves as if it was a CMYK device with extended CMYK values, and such that a color in the first color space can be converted by the device profile to extended CMYK values that can be transformed by the associated provided transformation to the colorant values of the output device that would produces a substantial color match; and representing the digital image in the extended CMYK color space, such that the digital image can be manipulated as if it was a CMYK image using real CMYK values, such that the color of a print produced by printing the colorant values obtained by transforming a first set of extended CMYK values obtained by the device profile converting a set of color coordinate values in the first color space substantially matches the color represented by the set of color coordinate values in the first color space.