Abstract:
Methods and systems for measuring with a Color Measurement System of predetermined specification and evaluating the color of skin, teeth, hair and material substances with a Color Index. The principles of this invention also relate to techniques for using such a Color Measurement System with the Color Index in medical applications such as the detection of chromogenic disease including bilirubin infant jaundice, cosmetics applications and in the evaluation of the color of hair or teeth, and other applications. The Color Index is measured and calculated from the reflectance spectrum of any skin (or teeth, hair or material substance) by a two step process. The first step is the weighting of the visible spectra with a unique set of weighting factors which calculate a sample's reflectance spectrum's contribution to the appearance of four color components independent of the illuminating condition. The second step places the sample's reflectance spectrum's contribution to the appearance of the four color components in opponency to each other and calculates the Color Index providing attributes representative of correlates of lightness-darkness (L, also referred to as lightness), redness-greenness (M) and yellowness-blueness (N).
Abstract:
A process of identifying skin color categories based on skin color undertones of an individual person. The process involving using a color measuring device to determine the value of a yellow-blue factor of the skin color of an individual person, said yellow-blue factor being inversely weighted by a function of the lightness of the color. Once this is done, the skin color of the individual person is classified into one of plural categories of skin color based solely upon the location of the determined value in one of pre-established plural numerical value ranges defining said categories.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for determining the condition of a test subject based on color uses a color measuring instrument to detect change in a color factor indicative of a condition such as a disease, spoilage, ageing, etc. A medical condition such as hyperbilirubinemia that affects skin color can be detected. One measures color factors such as Hunter b and L in the subjects' skin color. For predetermined ranges of one color factor, in particular L, changes in the other color factor, e.g. Hunter b, above predetermined levels are indicative of the medical condition. In many cases, a single measurement of the color factors can be utilized as a warning of the likelyhood of the medical or contaminated condition, if the ordinary range of the color factor is known for healthy individuals with skin coloration like that of the test subject. Even if there has been no baseline measurement and the test subject's color is such that a single reading of one or two color factors will not warn of the possible presence of the medical condition or contamination, sequential readings can indicate the presence or absence of the condition based upon changes in the measured color factor, or lack of changes. The color measuring techniques apply to a wide range of biological test subjects (e.g. hair, teeth, tissue, excretions, foods, soil, animals, plants).
Abstract:
A process of determining color compatibility in matter with one or more pre-established categories of colors. Each color category is determined by establishing ranges of values of at least one color characteristic defining each color category. This is done by: (a) identifying the color family of the matter; (b) selecting at least one color characteristic in the matter predetermined to determine compatibility of the color within the identified color family of the matter with colors in the one or more categories of colors; (c) measuring color values of the matter; (d) calculating the value of the at least one color characteristic from the measured color values of the matter, and (e) comparing the calculated value of the at least one color characteristic of the matter with predetermined ranges of values of that color characteristic in colors compatible with the colors in the one or more of the categories of colors and thereby classifying the color of the matter into said one or more categories of colors in dependence upon the value range within which the calculated value resides.
Abstract:
A process of identifying skin color categories based on skin color undertones of an individual person. The process involving using a color measuring device to determine the value of a yellow-blue factor of the skin color of an individual person, said yellow-blue factor being inversely weighted by a function of the lightness of the color. Once this is done, the skin color of the individual person is classified into one of plural categories of skin color based solely upon the location of the determined value in one of pre-established plural numerical value ranges defining said categories.
Abstract:
A process of determining color compatibility in matter with one or more pre-established categories of colors. Each color category is determined by establishing ranges of values of at least one color characteristic defining each color category. This is done by:
(a) identifying the color family of the matter; (b) selecting at least one color characteristic in the matter predetermined to determine compatibility of the color within the identified color family of the matter with colors in the one or more categories of colors; (c) measuring color values of the matter; (d) calculating the value of the at least one color characteristic from the measured color values of the matter, and (e) comparing the calculated value of the at least one color characteristic of the matter with predetermined ranges of values of that color characteristic in colors compatible with the colors in the one or more of the categories of colors and thereby classifying the color of the matter into said one or more categories of colors in dependence upon the value range within which the calculated value resides.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus for calibrating a color measuring instrument with a color standard and verifying the color standard and calibration are provided. One method includes providing a color standard having a surface with at least two different colors (preferably arranged for a simultaneous color measurement), calibrating the instrument, and verifying that said color standard is an authorized color standard of a predetermined specification and that the calibration of the color measuring instrument has achieved predetermined specified results. Some of the provided methods and apparatus use a photosensitive portion of the color standard that changes color in a known way when exposed to a predetermined dose of light. Various color standards for use with this invention are provided.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus for determining accurate hair color classifications and appropriate coloring agents to bring about a selected change of color include a table of hair color classifications, a color measuring instrument to arrive at Hunter L, a and b for use in identifying a particular classification from the table and a database that identifies appropriate coloring agents based on a selection of coloring actions from a menu and the classifications of hair color.