Patent Document ID: 9374502
Application ID: 14204134
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for converting a full color image into a monochrome image, the full color image comprising pixels that have a color value and the monochrome image comprising pixels that have a grayscale value within a full range from dark to light, corresponding to a maximum amount of marking material to a minimum amount of marking material respectively, the method comprising the steps of: a) selecting a pixel of the full color image; b) decomposing the color value of the pixel into a luminance component and a chrominance component; c) converting the luminance component having a luminance value into a first grayscale value within a first range that is smaller than the full range from dark to light and on the light side of the full range; d) converting the chrominance component into a second grayscale value within a second range that extends beyond the first range in the direction of the dark side of the full range, wherein when the chrominance component includes multiple components, each of the multiple components having a chrominance value, the component having a higher chrominance value is converted to a grayscale value corresponding to a greater amount of marking material than the component having a lower chrominance value; e) selecting a value with the greatest amount of marking material from the first and second grayscale values as the grayscale value of a corresponding pixel within the monochrome image, and f) repeating steps a) to e) until all pixels have been selected, wherein grayscale values associated with the highest chrominance values correspond to greater amount of marking material than grayscale values associated with the lowest luminance values.