System and method for color calibration of a color printing system with recording media brightness compensation

A color reproduction system with drift correction, comprising:

• an output device, using a set of tone reproduction compensation curves, rendering a test target having a plurality of color test patches on a recording media, said output device having reference device independent color space values associated therewith;
• a scanner for scanning said rendered test target having said plurality of color test patches to generate scanned RGB image data representative of said plurality of color test patches, the scanned RGB image data providing a color representation of said plurality of color test patches, the scanned RGB image data having a red color component, a green color component, and a blue color component;
• and
• an image processing system receiving said scanned RGB image data;
• said image processing system including a scanner profile associated with a reference recording media, the reference recording media being the recording media used in generating said scanner profile;
• said scanner profile including a reference red scanner device dependent color space value, RwhiteRef, corresponding to a predetermined white point on a test target associated with the reference recording media;
• said scanner profile including a reference green scanner device dependent color space value, GwhiteRef, corresponding to a predetermined white point on a test target associated with the reference recording media;
• said scanner profile including a reference blue scanner device dependent color space value, BwhiteRef, corresponding to a predetermined white point on a test target associated with the reference recording media;
• said image processing system correcting each color component of said received scanned RGB image data;
• said received red color component of the received scanned RGB image data being corrected using R′=R*(RwhiteRef/Rwhite), wherein R is the red color component value generated by said scanner;
• R′ is the corrected red color component of the received scanned RGB image data, and Rwhite is the generated scanner white scanner device dependent color space value for red color component corresponding to the predetermined white point on the test target;
• said received green color component of the received scanned RGB image data being corrected using G′=G*(GwhiteRef/Gwhite), wherein G is the green color component value generated by said scanner;
• G′ is the corrected green color component of the received scanned RGB image data, and Gwhite is the generated scanner white scanner device dependent color space value for green color component corresponding to the predetermined white point on the test target;
• said received blue color component of the received scanned RGB image data being corrected using B′=B*(BwhiteRef/Bwhite), wherein B is the blue color component value generated by said scanner;
• B′ is the corrected blue color component of the received scanned RGB image data, and Bwhite is the generated scanner white scanner device dependent color space value for blue color component corresponding to the predetermined white point on the test target;
• said image processing system converting the corrected scanned RGB image data to device independent color space values based upon a said scanner profile associated with the reference recording media;
• said image processing system comparing the generated device independent color space values with said reference device independent color space values associated with said output device;
• said image processing system modifying the set of tone reproduction compensation curves based upon the comparison of the generated device independent color space values with said reference device independent color space values associated with said output device.