Color Specification Conversion of a Printer by a Neural Network Method

Abstract

A method is proposed for solving the mapping problem from three-dimensional color space to the four-dimensional CMYK space of printer ink signals by means of a neural network. The CIE-L^*a^*b_* color system is used as the color space. The color reproduction problem is considered to be the problem of controlling an unknown static system with four inputs and three outputs. A controller finds the CMYK signals to produce the desired L^*a^*b_* values from a printer. Our solution for this control is based on a two-phase procedure. The first phase determines a neural network modeling the printer. The second phase determines the whole network system combining the printer model and the controller so as to learn an identity mapping in the L^*a^*b_* color space. The network of the controller part is then used for color conversion. Practical algorithms are presented with multilayer feedforward networks. The validity of this method is shown in an experiment using a dye sublimation printer.