Image processing apparatus and method

An image processing method comprising:

• an output step of allowing an output device to output patch-data items of plural multi-order colors;
• an acquiring step of acquiring color values, in an absolute color space, of the patch-data items output from the output device;
• a reference-value calculating step of calculating reference values by converting the plural multi-order colors based on a first color conversion table containing correspondence between a color space based on the output device and the absolute color space;
• a difference calculating step of calculating differences between the color values acquired in the acquiring step and the reference values, which correspond thereto and weighting the calculated differences with the distance between the lattice point data, in the absolute color space, extracted from the first color conversion table and the calculated reference values;
• and
• a correcting step of correcting, based on the differences calculated in the difference calculating step, a second color conversion table containing correspondence between the absolute color space and an output color space based on the output device.

A color management system comprising:

• an output unit configured to allow an output device to output patch-data items of plural multi-order colors;
• an acquiring unit configured to acquire color values, in an absolute color space, of the patch-data items output from the output device;
• a reference-value calculating unit configured to calculate reference values by converting the plural multi-order colors based on a first color conversion table containing correspondence between a color space based on the output device and the absolute color space;
• a difference calculating unit configured to calculate differences between the color values acquired by the acquiring unit and the reference values which correspond thereto and weighting the calculated differences with the distance between lattice point data, in the absolute color space, extracted from the first color conversion table and the calculated reference values;
• and
• a correcting unit configured to correct, based on the differences calculated by the difference calculating unit, a second color conversion table containing correspondence between the absolute color space and the output color space based on the output device.