公开(公告)号：EP1859241B9

公开(公告)日：2018-01-10

申请号：EP06738849

申请日：2006-03-17

申请人： VALSPAR SOURCING INC

发明人： SARA PAUL S ,  SPRINGATE ROBERT W ,  HERTZ S LEE ,  UBEL ANDREW

IPC分类号： G01J3/46

CPC分类号： G01J3/46 ,  G01J3/462 ,  G01J3/463

摘要： The present invention relates to color matching and, more specifically, an apparatus and method for preparing a stain to match a target color of a selected substrate (e.g., wood species). In one embodiment a system is provided that comprises (i) a computer (e.g., a stand-alone PC or a networked computer), (ii) hardware and/or software to store a database of stain records, (iii) hardware and/or software to create or load spectral data (e.g., a digital image) of a target sample, and (iv) hardware and/or software to display images and/or process spectral data. The system preferably facilities the selection of a desired stain, and in preferred embodiments may also include hardware and/or software to dispense colorant agents and/or vehicles to create the desired stain. The system of the present invention may be used in a "manual" mode (whereby a human compares database and target images and makes a selection); an "automatic" mode (whereby the computer system uses spectral data to suggest a closest match based on the selected substrate); or a "combination" mode (whereby the computer system uses spectral data to suggest a closest match and the user can then compare the suggested match with various images to achieve a final selection).