Color Calibration Reference Card for Display Accuracy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The discrepancy in color display of products on different screens during online retail leads to high return rates due to the technical complexity and high cost of calibrating screens, especially for consumer-grade devices like smartphones and tablets, where existing methods are inaccurate and unsuitable.
Innovation Solution
A system using a reference card with translucent reference areas and a color correction program that adjusts image files based on complementary hues to optimize color display across various devices, by determining and storing identifiers for color correction values to compensate for screen variations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional color calibration methods using color measuring devices and software are used, then color accuracy is improved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive, complex color measuring devices with a simple, inexpensive reference card that can be easily manufactured and distributed. The reference card uses basic color filters (red, green, blue transparent areas and cyan, magenta, yellow opaque areas) that are cheap to produce, making color calibration accessible to consumer devices rather than just professional equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The reference card acts as an intermediary object between the display unit and the user's visual assessment. By placing the reference card over the display, it mediates the color perception process, allowing users to compare displayed colors against known reference colors (cyan, magenta, yellow should appear neutral gray when viewed through complementary color filters).
2Measurement precision
If professional color calibration systems are used, then color accuracy is improved, but cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The reference card is designed to be inexpensive and easily replaceable, eliminating the need for costly professional calibration equipment. The card can be printed on standard materials with basic color filters, making it affordable for individual consumers to purchase and use for their own device calibration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables users to perform their own color calibration without needing professional services or expensive equipment. The reference card combined with the visual assessment method allows end-users to independently calibrate their displays, eliminating the need for costly professional calibration services.
3Ease of operation
If visual comparison with saturated colors is used, then simplicity is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent exploits the color mixing principle where complementary colors (red+cyan, green+magenta, blue+yellow) combine to produce neutral gray. By displaying cyan, magenta, and yellow hues and viewing them through red, green, and blue transparent filters respectively, the system creates neutral gray appearances that are easier for the human eye to assess accurately than saturated color comparisons.
Solution Approach 2:
The method changes the color parameters being assessed by using complementary color relationships. Instead of comparing saturated colors directly, the system transforms the assessment into evaluating whether color-filtered views produce neutral gray, which is a more perceptually accurate task for human vision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system provides a precise and cost-effective method for calibrating display units, ensuring accurate color representation, thereby reducing return rates by compensating for color deviations caused by different screens and settings.
Implementation Method 1
The reference card (K) has the advantage that the colors cyan, magenta and yellow are not backed with screen white, but with the respective complementary color: the red color foil is backed with a cyan generated by the screen (or computer), so that the mixed color generated neutralizes to gray
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
In order, in a system – having a distal server that displays a virtual colour image in the form of an image file comprising individual colour values on a website and – having a proximal computer that is connected to the server and has a display unit (D), which computer displays the virtual colour image from the server on its display unit (D) using an application program, to present products on the display unit (D) in the most optimum colours possible, it is proposed [a] that the computer holds a reference card (K) on which there are multiple differently coloured translucent reference areas (T1, T2, T3) besides a transparent or translucent area or an opening (G), [b.1] that the application program then starts a routine on the server and/or on the computer that first of all outputs a first shade, for example cyan, with the first of the colour values, wherein this first shade is complementary to the colour, for example red, of one (T1) of the translucent reference areas (T1, T2, T3) of the reference card (K), [b.2] that the reference card (K) having that translucent reference area (T1) whose colour is complementary to the first shade displayed on the display unit (D) is then held in front of this first shade, and an identifier for that (T1) of the translucent reference areas (T1, T2, T3) for which the shade of grey resulting from mixing the colours of the first shade and the translucent reference area (T1) comes closest to a shade of grey that is displayed on the display unit (D) and falls through the area or the opening (G) is determined and stored, [c] that step [b.1] and step [b.2] are repeated at least once to output a 2nd shade, for example magenta, of a 2nd of the colour values, this 2nd shade being complementary to the colour, for example green, of another (T2) of the translucent reference areas (T1, T2, T3) of the reference card (K), and to determine and store the identifier of this other (T2) of the translucent reference areas (T1, T2, T3), [d] that the identifiers determined for the reference areas (T1, T2, T3) in the preceding steps [b.1], [b.2], [c] and stored on the server and/or on the computer are input in this order into a colour correction program that is started on the server and/or on the computer, and [e] That for every image file sent by the server the colour correction program is used to adjust the virtual colour image for each colour value that the image file includes by applying the identifiers that are used as correction values, and this displays said virtual colour image in colours that are optimised in respect of its recording conditions.