Patent ID: 8456720

Claim:
A method for identifying a set of target spot colors over a color range to create a target L*a*b color value, the method comprising: obtaining for a color marking device at least one color recipe for a target spot color, and defining a range of color values of the color marking device for a target L*a*b color value; identifying a minimal value and a maximum value of each color value in the range of color values for the target L*a*b color value; and performing each of the following steps a) generating, as one of a set of new color recipes, at least one additional color recipe from within the range of color values; b) selecting at least one of the set of new color recipes, wherein the selecting is performed either by a user or by a search algorithm; c) providing the selected new color recipe to the color marking device; and d) rendering, using the color marking device, a color test patch using the selected new color recipe; repeating each of the steps a thru d until the rendered color test patch produces a visually acceptable smoothness while matching color accuracy of the target spot color, wherein the selecting is performed either by the user or by the search algorithm.