Dark Mode Color Conversion for Highlight Contrast Preservation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for providing a dark viewing mode struggle to preserve the color formatting of text and highlight colors while ensuring sufficient luminance and chromatic contrast, leading to visibility issues, particularly for users with visual impairments or disabilities.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that evaluates the luminance and chroma of background and highlight colors before conversion, clamping high luminance and chroma values to predetermined thresholds to enhance visual contrast by selecting appropriate luminance values for dark viewing mode, ensuring sufficient luminance and chromatic contrast.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Illumination intensity

If text color is converted by selecting opposite luminance relative to original text, then visibility of text is improved, but highlight color formatting is lost or becomes indistinguishable

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetext visibilityVSAvoidhighlight color formatting

Core Design Contradiction:

Illumination intensityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies different color conversion strategies to different elements (text vs. highlight) based on their specific luminance and chroma characteristics. Text colors undergo opposite luminance conversion while highlight colors are selectively adjusted only when they exceed thresholds, preserving their distinctive formatting while ensuring both are visible against the dark background.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent converts colors from RGB color space to LAB color space to independently manipulate luminance (L channel) and chroma (a and b channels). By adjusting luminance parameters separately from chroma parameters, the system can improve text visibility through luminance inversion while preserving highlight colors' chromatic properties that distinguish them from regular text.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Illumination intensity

If highlight color luminance is inverted for dark mode, then text visibility is improved, but chromatic contrast and distinguishability are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvehighlight visibilityVSAvoidchromatic contrast loss

Core Design Contradiction:

Illumination intensityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent selectively modifies only the luminance parameter of highlight colors while preserving their chroma parameters. By converting to LAB color space, the system can adjust the L (luminance) component independently from the a and b (chroma) components, maintaining chromatic contrast while improving visibility against dark backgrounds.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The LAB color space serves as an intermediary representation between the original RGB input and the final output colors. This intermediate color space allows independent manipulation of luminance and chroma, enabling the system to adjust highlight luminance for dark mode visibility while preserving the chromatic properties that provide contrast and distinguishability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Productivity

If simple opposite luminance conversion is applied, then processing speed is maintained, but color formatting preservation and contrast enhancement are insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconversion speedVSAvoidcolor formatting accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary analysis of each color's luminance and chroma values against predetermined thresholds before applying conversion. This preliminary evaluation allows the system to selectively apply different conversion strategies (opposite luminance for text, threshold-based selective conversion for highlights) to optimize both processing efficiency and color formatting accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

By working in LAB color space, the patent can efficiently adjust only the necessary parameters (luminance for text, selective luminance for highlights) while leaving other parameters unchanged. This selective parameter modification approach maintains processing speed by avoiding complete color recalculations while improving color formatting accuracy through targeted adjustments.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS12505817B1System and method for enhancing visual contrast while preserving formatting when providing a dark viewing mode

Publication Date: 2025.12.23 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A method of providing a dark viewing mode with enhanced visual contrast includes evaluating the luminance and chroma of background colors, including highlight colors, of digital content prior to converting the digital content for the dark viewing mode to identify highlight colors having a luminance value that exceeds a luminance value threshold and a chroma value that exceeds a chroma value threshold. When a highlight color has luminance and chroma values that exceed the respective threshold values, the luminance value of the highlight color is clamped to a predetermined lower luminance value before converting the value for the dark viewing mode. The luminance value is converted for dark viewing mode by taking the opposite luminance value. As a result, the luminance value of the converted highlight color has a higher luminance value and greater luminance contrast with respect to the dark background in dark viewing mode.