Robust Color Measurement Using Reference Grid Mapping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing color-based measuring devices, such as paper-based microfluidic devices, face challenges in accurately estimating color due to variations in illumination, surface reflectance, and capture device characteristics, making robust color constancy difficult to achieve.
Innovation Solution
A method using a learned function and reference color guide to map an image of a colored device to a reference color space, enabling robust estimation of color-dependent measurements by creating a color grid that samples the color space and accounts for variations in illumination and capture devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If color-based measuring devices are used to measure color, then measurement capability is provided, but measurement precision deteriorates due to variations in illumination, surface reflectance, and capture device characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
A reference color chart is introduced as an intermediary element between the colored device and the capture device. The reference color chart provides known color references that can be captured alongside the colored device, enabling the system to calculate color transformations that compensate for illumination and device variations. This intermediary allows accurate color measurement without requiring controlled laboratory conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter space from absolute color values to transformed color values based on reference color charts. By capturing images of both the colored device and the reference color chart, the system computes color transformation parameters that map the captured colors to a standardized color space, thereby eliminating the effects of illumination and capture device variations.
2Measurement precision
If expensive medical devices and professional consultation are used for accurate color measurement, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simplified copy of the complex medical measurement system using a mobile device with a digital camera. Instead of requiring expensive spectrophotometers or laboratory equipment, the system uses a smartphone camera to capture color images of the colored device alongside a reference color chart, achieving comparable measurement precision through computational methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex mechanical and optical measurement instruments with a digital imaging system. Instead of using physical spectrophotometers or specialized medical devices, the patent uses a mobile device camera to capture color information and processes it through computational algorithms, thereby simplifying the system while maintaining measurement accuracy.
3Reliability
If reference color charts are used to map colors to reference color space, then color constancy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The reference color chart is segmented into multiple color patches representing different color values. The mobile device captures images of these segmented color patches alongside the colored device, and the processing system analyzes the color transformations across the segmented regions to compute accurate color mappings, thereby achieving color constancy through systematic comparison of standardized color references.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, devices, and computer program products for robust estimation of color-dependent measurements are described herein. In one aspect, a method for generating a reference color grid that may be placed beside a color-dependent measuring device is disclosed. The reference color grid may contain a number of colors which enable a mapping from the color space of a testing device to a reference color space. This mapping may allow a function that is able to determine an estimate of a color-dependent measurement based on a color in the reference color space to be used. In another aspect, a method for robust estimation of color-dependent measurement using a reference color guide is disclosed.