Ambient-Adaptive Tone Mapping for High-Visibility Image Processing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Human eyes perceive details in images displayed on a display panel poorly in environments with high ambient light intensity due to reduced visibility of dark pixels.

Innovation Solution

An image processing device that performs tone mapping using a brightness enhancement tone curve and a variable contrast limit to enhance brightness and contrast based on ambient illuminance values, utilizing a human vision system response to improve visibility in high ambient light conditions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Illumination intensity

If display panel uses standard brightness mapping, then bright pixels are clearly visible, but dark pixels become invisible in high ambient light environments

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebrightness of bright pixelsVSAvoidvisibility of dark pixels

Core Design Contradiction:

Illumination intensityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies dynamic tone mapping by adjusting the tone curve based on real-time ambient light detection. The processor dynamically modifies brightness enhancement parameters according to the measured ambient illuminance, allowing the display to adapt its contrast and brightness characteristics in response to changing environmental conditions. This resolves the contradiction by making the display behavior flexible rather than fixed, enabling optimal performance across different lighting scenarios.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the tone mapping parameters (brightness enhancement, contrast adjustment) based on ambient light conditions. By varying these parameters dynamically, the system can enhance dark pixel visibility in bright environments without sacrificing bright pixel clarity. The parameter adjustment is driven by ambient light measurements and applies different processing characteristics to the image data accordingly.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Object-affected harmful factors

If display panel enhances brightness of dark pixels, then visibility in dark areas improves, but overall image contrast is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevisibility of dark pixelsVSAvoidimage contrast

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality enhancement by processing different brightness ranges of pixels with different characteristics. The tone mapping curve is designed to apply stronger brightness enhancement to dark pixels while maintaining appropriate contrast for bright pixels. This localized processing strategy allows dark areas to become visible without excessively compressing the contrast range of the entire image.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The dynamic adaptation of tone curves based on ambient light conditions allows the system to optimize the balance between brightness enhancement and contrast preservation. In high ambient light, the system can apply more aggressive dark pixel enhancement, while in lower light conditions, it can maintain stronger overall contrast, thus adapting to environmental requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Productivity

If display panel uses fixed tone mapping curve, then processing is simple and fast, but cannot adapt to different ambient light conditions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimage processing speedVSAvoidadaptability to ambient light

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary ambient light measurement using the light sensor before applying tone mapping. This preliminary detection allows the processor to select or generate the appropriate tone curve in advance, avoiding the need for complex real-time calculations during the actual image processing. The preliminary action of measuring ambient light enables efficient adaptive processing without significant performance penalty.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system transitions from a static, fixed tone mapping curve to a dynamic, adaptive curve that changes based on ambient conditions. This dynamic approach maintains processing efficiency by using straightforward tone curve adjustments rather than complex pixel-by-pixel calculations, while achieving adaptability through the dynamic selection and modification of tone mapping parameters.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS12524858B2Image processing device and image processing method thereof

Publication Date: 2026.01.13 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD

AI summary

An image processing device is provided. The device includes: a processor configured to: perform first tone mapping on an input image frame using a brightness enhancement tone curve corresponding to a current ambient illuminance value to obtain a first result; obtain histogram tone curves by applying a variable contrast limit to a plurality of histograms respectively corresponding to a plurality of sub-images, constituting a previous image frame; perform second tone mapping on the input image frame by interpolating the histogram tone curves to obtain a second result; and provide output image data by performing third tone mapping on the input image frame based on the first result and the second result. The brightness enhancement tone curve corresponds to a first human vision system (HVS) response to a reference ambient illuminance value and a second HVS response to a target ambient illuminance value.