Method for conditional application of color measurement error compensation in spectral sensors

A thermochromaticity compensation system comprising:

• a spectral sensor which measures colors of printed color samples at a first temperature;
• memory which stores a thermochromatic model which represents relationships between measured colors of printed color samples at the first temperature and measured colors of printed color samples at a second temperature as a function of a computed area coverage;
• and
• a processor which receives a measured color of a printed color sample from the spectral sensor at the first temperature, computes area coverage of the printed color sample, and accesses the model to estimate a color of the printed color sample at the second temperature based on the measured color and computed area coverage.

An algorithmic method to compensate for thermochromaticity errors of in situ spectral color measurements of a color printing device comprising:

• obtaining spectral measurements at a plurality of computed area coverage values of printed colors generated by the color printing device measured at a first temperature by an in-line spectrophotometer and at a second temperature;
• generating a model, based on the spectral measurements, which maps spectral measurements at the first temperature to spectral measurements at the second temperature, as a function of area coverage;
• measuring a selected color corresponding to a color input signal representing a desired color at the second temperature, wherein the selected color is measured at the first temperature by the in-line spectrophotometer;
• computing an area coverage of the selected color;
• and
• applying the model to convert the measured color to a corresponding color when the measured color changes to the second temperature, based on the area coverage.