In recent years, digital cameras and personal computers have been widespread, and data generated by the digital cameras or the personal computers can be printed by inkjet printers or laser printers. These printers perform printing by adhering ink or toner on a recording medium, such as paper. The ink or the toner is stored in a cartridge or the like and supplied to the printers. The cartridge is replaced when the ink or the toner is consumed. In the case of large ink or toner consumption, as the frequency of replacement of the cartridge is increased, the cost for purchasing the cartridge becomes higher.
There have been proposed methods for calibrating data to be printed so as to reduce ink or toner consumption without deteriorating the quality of the data.
For example, according to a method disclosed in US 2005/0063749, data is calibrated according to an ink reduction amount set by a user and then transmitted to a printer driver, thereby reducing ink consumption in a printer.
However, even with the same ink reduction amount, the degree with which quality of printed image is deteriorated as a result of calibration varies depending on the type of image to be printed based on data (photographs taken by digital cameras or documents, for example) or the type of recording paper (glossy paper or plain paper, for example).
For example, when a large ink reduction amount is set for data for photographs or the like, a resultant image quality may be deteriorated more than expected. This may necessitate a user to reprint the same data with less ink reduction amount, ending up with larger ink consumption. On the contrary, when a small ink reduction amount is set for data for a document or the like, ink consumption may not be reduced effectively. In this manner, it is difficult for a user to set an appropriate ink reduction amount.
Also, US 2005/0063749 fails to disclose a method for setting lightness and saturation of an image to be printed when calibrating data for reducing ink consumption, and it is unclear how data is processed for reducing ink consumption.