A new method for RGB to CIELAB color space transformation based on Markov chain Monte Carlo

During printing quality inspection, the inspection of color error is an important content. However, the RGB color space is device-dependent, usually RGB color captured from CCD camera must be transformed into CIELAB color space, which is perceptually uniform and device-independent. To cope with the problem, a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) based algorithms for the RGB to the CIELAB color space transformation is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the modeling color targets and testing color targets is established, respectively used in modeling and performance testing process. Secondly, we derive a Bayesian model for estimation the coefficients of a polynomial, which can be used to describe the relation between RGB and CIELAB color space. Thirdly, a Markov chain is set up base on Gibbs sampling algorithm (one of the MCMC algorithm) to estimate the coefficients of polynomial. Finally, the color difference of testing color targets is computed for evaluating the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results showed that the nonlinear polynomial regression based on MCMC algorithm is effective, whose performance is similar to the least square approach and can accurately model the RGB to the CIELAB color space conversion and guarantee the color error evaluation for printing quality inspection system.