Method and system for a color matching process with a compensation of application process biases

A computer-implemented method for color matching, the method implemented by a computing system including at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to a database storing specific optical data of individual color components,

• wherein the specific optical data of the individual color components have been determined on the basis of known reference paint coatings with known reference color formulations and known measured reference colors, and
• wherein the reference paint coatings have been applied on a substrate using a reference paint application process,
• the method comprising:
• A. receiving, via at least one interface of the at least one computer processor, data of a color formulation of a sample paint coating as a first solution for a target color to be matched,
• B. retrieving, from the database, specific optical data of individual color components used in the color formulation of the sample paint coating,
• C. receiving, via the at least one interface, a measured color of the sample paint coating applied on a substrate using a sample paint application process,
• D. calculating, using the at least one computer processor and a numerical method implemented and running on the at least one computer processor, application adaption parameters for the sample paint application process by minimizing a given cost function starting from a given set of initial application adaption parameters, wherein the given cost function is chosen as a color distance between a measured color of a second sample paint coating, wherein the second sample paint coating has been applied on a substrate using the sample paint application process, and a predicted color of the second sample paint coating,
• E. executing, on the at least one computer processor, a color predicting model trained to output a prediction of the color of the sample paint coating for the sample paint application process using the calculated application adaption parameters, the data of the color formulation of the sample paint coating, and the retrieved specific optical data of the individual color components used in the color formulation of the sample paint coating as model input parameters,
• F. setting as an offset a difference between the measured color and the predicted color of the sample paint coating, the offset independent of a paint application process of the sample coating and thereby eliminating an application process bias of the color predicting model, and
• G. applying, by the at least one computer processor, the offset to the target color to achieve, as an output from said applying, an optimized color formulation for a target paint coating having the target color independent of a paint application process of the target paint coating.