1210results about How to "Reduce contrast" patented technology

A method of navigating through television programs is disclosed. A television receiver displays a mosaic image with sub-images representing the available programs. The receiver further receives an electronic program guide with program descriptions. Upon activating a "theme" button (42), the viewer can enter a desired program type, e.g. "movie". In response thereto, the brightness of the sub-images representing programs that are not desired is reduced. The user is thus assisted in navigating through programs he is interested in, while maintaining the mosaic structure he is familiar with, and without losing the association between channels and their positions on the mosaic screen.

In a display device 100, a reflective polarizer 110, a polarizer 120, a retarder 130, a liquid crystal panel 140, a polarizer 150, and a backlight 160 are disposed sequentially from the viewing side. When the liquid crystal panel 140 is set in a light blocking state or the backlight 160 is set in an unlit state, the reflection of an outside light “O” turns the display screen into a mirror state. When the backlight 160 is set in a lit state to drive the liquid crystal panel 140, a transmitted light “T” allows a particular display screen to be visually recognized.

To improve viewing angle characteristics by varying voltage which is applied between liquid crystal elements. A liquid crystal display device in which one pixel is provided with three or more liquid crystal elements and the level of voltage which is applied is varied between the liquid crystal elements is varied. In order to vary the level of the voltage which is applied between the liquid crystal elements, an element which divides the applied voltage is provided. In order to vary the level of the applied voltage, a capacitor, a resistor, a transistor, or the like is used. Viewing angle characteristics can be improved by varying the level of the voltage which is applied between the liquid crystal elements.

The invention relates to the field of X-ray differential phase contrast imaging. For scanning large objects and for an improved contrast to noise ratio, an X-ray device (10) for imaging an object (18) is provided. The X-ray device (10) comprises an X-ray emitter arrangement (12) and an X-ray detector arrangement (14), wherein the X-ray emitter arrangement (14) is adapted to emit an X-ray beam (16) through the object (18) onto the X-ray detector arrangement (14). The X-ray beam (16) is at least partial spatial coherent and fan-shaped. The X-ray detector arrangement (14) comprises a phase grating (50) and an absorber grating (52). The X-ray detector arrangement (14) comprises an area detector (54) for detecting X-rays, wherein the X-ray device is adapted to generate image data from the detected X-rays and to extract phase information from the X-ray image data, the phase information relating to a phase shift of X-rays caused by the object (18). The object (18) has a region of interest (32) which is larger than a detection area of the X-ray detector (18) and the X-ray device (10) is adapted to generate image data of the region of interest (32) by moving the object (18) and the X-ray detector arrangement (14) relative to each other.

An anti-reflection material and a polarization film which exhibit superior anti-reflection properties by preventing external light such as sunlight, fluorescent light, etc., from being reflected on a display, which yield a clear image without sparkling and reduces image contrast, and which exhibit superior wear resistance, chemical resistance, and contamination resistance, as well as exhibit optical stability. A hard coat layer is provided on one surface or two surfaces of a transparent substrate directly or via another layer, and an anti-reflection film having a lower refraction index than the hard coat layer is further provide on the hard coat layer. The hard coat layer consists of at least {circle around (1 a polymer polymerizing (metha)acrylate compound having a fluorene structure; {circle around (2 a polymer polymerizing urethane (metha)acrylate compound and ultrafine particles having a high refraction index; and {circle around (3 radiation and / or thermosetting resin and surface-treated titanium oxide ultrafine particles.

A method of performing bilateral filtering and using the method for displaying high-dynamic-range images is presented. The method reduces the contrast of the image while preserving detail of the image. The presently disclosed method incorporates a two-scale decomposition of the image into a base layer encoding large-scale variations, and a detail layer. The base layer has its contrast reduced, thereby preserving detail. The base layer is obtained using an edge-preserving bilateral filter. The bilateral filter is a non-linear filter, where the weight of each pixel is computed using a Gaussian in the spatial domain multiplied by an influence function in the intensity domain that decreases the weight of pixels with large intensity differences. The bilateral filtering is accelerated by using a piecewise-linear approximation in the intensity domain and appropriate subsampling.

Projection lenses for use with pixelized panels (PP) are provided. The projection lenses have a negative first unit (U1) separated from a positive second unit (U2) by a reflective surface (RS) which folds the lens' optical axis. The lenses are telecentric on the short conjugate side, have a large field of view in the direction of the long conjugate, and have low aberration levels, including, in particular, low levels of lateral color.

Glare is reduced by acquiring an input image with a camera having a lens and a sensor, in which a pin-hole mask is placed in close proximity to the sensor. The mask localizes the glare at readily identifiable pixels, which can then be filtered to produce a glare reduce output image.

The teachings as provided herein relate to a watermark embedded in an image that has the property of being relatively indecipherable under normal light, and yet decipherable under UV light. This fluorescent mark comprises a substrate containing optical brightening agents, and a first colorant mixture pattern printed as an image upon the substrate. The colorant mixture pattern layer has as characteristics a property of strongly suppressing substrate fluorescence, as well as a property of low contrast under normal illumination against the substrate or a second colorant mixture pattern printed in close spatial proximity to the first colorant mixture pattern. The second colorant mixture pattern having a property of providing a differing level of substrate fluorescence suppression from the first such that the resultant image rendered substrate suitably exposed to an ultra-violet light source, will yield a discernable image evident as a fluorescent mark.

An apparatus and method for acquiring an image of a patterned object such as a fingerprint including a light refracting device, a focusing lens, a light source, and a biometric circuit for detecting the presence of a patterned object such as a fingerprint at the light refracting device. Incident light from the light source is projected through a light receiving surface of the light refracting device and is directly reflected off an imaging surface. The resulting image is projected through the focusing lens. The focusing lens has a diameter which is larger than the projection of the patterned object through the light refracting device.

A method and apparatus are provided for aligning optical elements or microbeads 8, wherein each microbead has an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof to be read by a code reading device. The microbeads 8 are aligned with a positioning device (or cell) 500 having a plate or platform 200, 1252 with grooves 205, 1258 so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is positioned in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading device. The microbeads 8 are typically cylindrically shaped glass beads having a diffraction grating-based code embedded in the bead 8 disposed along an axis, which requires a predetermined alignment between the incident code readout laser beam and the code readout detector in two of three rotational axes. The geometry of the grooves 205 are designed to allow for easy loading and unloading of beads from a cell, and the grooves 205 may be straight or curved. Also, the cell may be segmented into regions each associated with a different reaction or used for a different identification process / application, and may have many different geometries depending on the application.

An method and device suitable for navigation on a wide variety of surfaces is introduced. Specular reflection is used to determine relative motion over typical surfaces. A specific application is a computer mouse.

An x-ray system acquires an initial low-contrast, wide latitude (G=2.5, or G=2 or less) x-ray image of a breast. A processing system automatically finds suspected abnormalities in the breast by processing the low contrast initial image, and then automatically converts the initial x-ray image to a high-contrast, narrow latitude image at the locations of the found abnormalities to thereby facilitate diagnosis and patient care. The technology includes effective ways to produce, process and display the various images, and can be extended to other types of images.

The method operates by estimating the differential movement of the scene picked up by a vertically-oriented camera. Estimation includes periodically and continuously updating a multiresolution representation of the pyramid of images type modeling a given picked-up image of the scene at different, successively-decreasing resolutions. For each new picked-up image, an iterative algorithm of the optical flow type is applied to said representation. The method also provides responding to the data produced by the optical-flow algorithm to obtain at least one texturing parameter representative of the level of microcontrasts in the picked-up scene and obtaining an approximation of the speed, to which parameters a battery of predetermined criteria are subsequently applied. If the battery of criteria is satisfied, then the system switches from the optical-flow algorithm to an algorithm of the corner detector type.

Apparatus for inspection of a sample includes a radiation source, which is adapted to direct optical radiation onto an area of a surface of the sample, and a plurality of image sensors. Each of the image sensors is configured to receive the radiation scattered from the area into a different, respective angular range, so as to form respective images of the area. An image processor is adapted to process at least one of the respective images so as to detect a defect on the surface.

An active (laser-illuminated) imaging system is described that is suitable for use in backscatter absorption gas imaging (BAGI). A BAGI imager operates by imaging a scene as it is illuminated with radiation that is absorbed by the gas to be detected. Gases become "visible" in the image when they attenuate the illumination creating a shadow in the image. This disclosure describes a BAGI imager that operates in a linescanned manner using a high repetition rate pulsed laser as its illumination source. The format of this system allows differential imaging, in which the scene is illuminated with light at least 2 wavelengths-one or more absorbed by the gas and one or more not absorbed. The system is designed to accomplish imaging in a manner that is insensitive to motion of the camera, so that it can be held in the hand of an operator or operated from a moving vehicle.

An image processing circuit enables the accurate detection of the focal length for focusing by using color data. The image processing circuit generates image data representing brightness and each of the colors of red, green and blue, image data to be used for focusing is selected either automatically or manually from the image data representing the brightness and the respective colors, and the amount of the weight for each respective image data is set. Images are photographed while the optical system is driven to change its focal length. A focal length is calculated for each selected image data. Weight is applied to each one of the calculated focal lengths so as to calculate a final focal length. This not only ensures accurate measurement of the distance for focusing but also increases the possibility of focusing on a subject which is characterized by specific color data.

An optically anisotropic cellulose ester film is disclosed. The film contains a discotic compound in an amount of 0.01 to 20 weight parts based on 100 weight parts of cellulose ester. The film has a Rth<550 >retardation value in the range of 60 to 1,000 nm. The cellulose ester film can be used in an optical compensatory sheet, an ellipsoidal polarizing plate and a liquid crystal display.

A touch type liquid-crystal display device has a liquid-crystal display panel having flexibility, a touch panel provided to adhere closely to a back side, opposite to a visual side, of the liquid-crystal display panel, and electrodes disposed to be opposite to each other through a gap. The electrodes are capable of coming into partial contact with each other by a pressing force to thereby detect an input position.

A lower substrate including a first electrode and an upper substrate including a second electrode are opposed to each other. Partitioned spaces between the two substrates correspond to pixels, each including negatively charged black particles and positively charged white particles. In the lower substrate, a piezoelectric material is sandwiched between a third electrode and the first electrode, thereby forming a vibration-generating portion. In a display operation, a signal voltage corresponding to an image signal is applied between the first and second electrodes, and thus, the black particles and the white particles travel between the electrodes and adhere to the respective electrode surfaces to perform the display operation. Before rewriting the display, a sine wave voltage is applied between the first electrode and the third electrode to cause the vibration-generating portion to generate vibration. Aggregated particles are dissociated, and particles adhering to the electrode are detached, by the vibration.

A machine vision inspection system is programmed and operated to identify one or more lines appearing in a highly-textured and / or low-contrast surface of a workpiece. In a learning mode, a line-enhancing image is generated from a captured image of the workpiece. In various embodiments, the enhanced image is based on a previously determined technique governed by a selected value for an associated parameter. A line transform is used to transform the enhanced image. The transformed data is analyzed to identify local extrema corresponding to the lines to be identified. Part program instructions are created to automatically generate the line-enhancing image, to transform it, and to analyze the transformed data set to identify the lines to be detected. Line constraint(s) that characterize a consistent line arrangement are used to improve the speed and reliability of the line detection.

The present invention relates to a system for scanning, mapping and measuring conduits. The system includes a data collection subsystem having a carriage assembly sized to fit within a conduit for travel therethrough and equipment module supported on the carriage assembly. The equipment module includes a housing, a video capture system and a lighting assembly accommodated within the housing, and a laser beam emitting and diffusion assembly attached to the housing forwardly of the video capture system. The laser beam emitting and diffusion assembly is operable to emit a laser beam and diffuse the laser beam along a plane P substantially perpendicular to the laser beam so as to trace a visible light contour where the plane P intersects the inner surface of the conduit. The laser beam is a light of a first colour. The video capture system is operable to record images of the conduit and the visible light contour generated by the laser beam emitting and diffusion assembly. The lighting assembly includes at least one LED light capable of emitting light of a second colour. The light of the second colour is different than the light of the first colour. The light of the second colour is selected so as provide sufficient illumination within the conduit to reveal features of the conduit when the at least one LED light is activated, while not substantially lessening the contrast of the visible light contour against the dark background formed by the conduit thereby allowing the images of the visible light contour of a sufficient quality to be captured for further processing. The system is further provided with a data processing subsystem that is in data communication with the data collection subsystem. The data processing subsystem being operable to process the images of the conduit and the visible light contour and to generate therefrom digital views of the conduit.

A photoluminescent liquid crystal display (PL-LCD) includes: a front plate and a rear plate; liquid crystals disposed between the front and rear plates; an electrode that is disposed on an inner surface of each of the front and rear plates and forms an electric field in the liquid crystals; an emitting layer that is formed on the front plate and emits visible light by being excited by light having a wavelength of about 390 nm to about 410 nm; a light source unit that is formed on a rear side of the rear plate and includes a lamp emitting near blue-UV light having a wavelength of about 390 nm to about 410 nm toward the emitting layer; and a UV filter blocking UV rays in ambient light from entering a front side of the front plate.

A directional privacy display may include a waveguide; and an array of light sources and spatial light modulator that operate in a time sequential manner. The waveguide may include light extraction features arranged to direct light from an array of light sources by total internal reflection to an array of viewing windows and a reflector arranged to direct light from the waveguide by transmission through extraction features of the waveguide to the same array of viewing windows. First and second phases may be temporally multiplexed with respective primary and secondary images and primary and secondary angular illumination distributions. An efficient and bright privacy display may be provided with obscured primary image visibility for off-axis observers.

A method of modeling propagation of a pharmaceutical fluid in a patient, includes: collecting data corresponding to a time response curve resulting from injection of the fluid; and determining at least one mathematical model describing the data. The mathematical model can, for example, be a model which is not determined by a continuous or a discrete-time Fourier transform of the data. A method of controlling injection of a pharmaceutical fluid into a patient using an injector in a medical procedure, includes: collecting data corresponding to a patient response curve resulting from injection of the fluid; determining at least one mathematical model describing the data; and controlling the injector during the medical procedure to control injection of the fluid into the patient to create patient response at least in part on the basis of the mathematical model. A method of controlling injection of a contrast medium into a patient using an injector in a medical imaging procedure using an imaging scanner, includes: determining at least one mathematical model to predict a time enhancement response resulting from injection of the contrast medium; determining an injection protocol to approximate a predetermined time enhancement response in the patient by determining a constrained input solution to the mathematical model; and using the injection protocol to control the injector during the medical imaging procedure to control injection of the contrast medium into the patient to create an image of a region of interest.

The present invention relates to a device for compressing a source image by means of a base layer, coding a base image, and of an enhancement layer, coding a residual existing between the source image and the base image, the source image and the base image being structured as blocks of pixels. According to the invention, such a device is characterized in that it comprises means for generating the enhancement layer of a block as a function of the quality of restitution of this block, determined by comparing the coding of this block in the source image with the coding of this block in the base image, and / or as a function of information coded by this block of pixels.

Prism elements having TIR surfaces placed in close proximity to the active area of a SLM device 302 to separate unwanted off-state 324 and / or flat-state 326 light from the projection ON-light bundle 322. The TIR critical angle of these prisms is selected to affect either the off-state light or additionally, any portion of flat-state light reflected from the SLM. These TIR surfaces are placed to immediately reflect the unwanted light as it comes off the SLM, thereby preventing the contamination of light along the projection path, which tends to degrade the system contrast. To further improve the optical performance of the system, these TIR prisms can be attached directly to the SLM package 300, completely eliminating the package window. Also, these TIR prism can be coupled to DMDs having asymmetric mirrors, which tilt through a larger angle for the ON-light to provide high etendue and lumen output, but through near-zero degrees for the OFF-light, thereby improving the separation of any unwanted light from the off / flat states.

A vision metric, called the sharpness metric, indicates the subjective sharpness of a patient's vision by taking into account both the wavefront aberration and the retinal response to the image. A retinal image quality function such as the point spread function is convolved by a neural quality function, and the maximum of the convolution over the retinal plane provides the sharpness metric. The sharpness metric can be used to control eye surgery or the fabrication of a lens.