Diffusion Filter for Camera White Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current white balance systems in electronic cameras are inadequate for capturing subjects with non-average light levels, dominant colors, or in mixed lighting conditions, as they rely on assumptions about average subject brightness and require cumbersome neutral cards for accurate exposure settings.
Innovation Solution
A diffusion device with a flat translucent lenticular prismatic disc that captures all available illumination, allowing for neutral gray/white density and enabling quick attachment/detachment from the camera lens, which documents averaged red-green-blue values for precise white balance, eliminating the need for post-processing corrections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a neutral card is used to determine white balance, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system performs white balance measurement automatically using the built-in image sensor and processor, eliminating the need for manual intervention with neutral cards. The system serves itself by capturing the scene, analyzing color information, and adjusting white balance settings automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/manual system of using physical neutral cards with an electronic/digital system that uses the camera's image sensor and processor to automatically measure and adjust white balance, substituting physical manipulation with electronic processing.
2Measurement precision
If a neutral card is used to determine white balance, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system performs white balance measurement automatically using the built-in image sensor and processor, eliminating the need for manual intervention with neutral cards. The system serves itself by capturing the scene, analyzing color information, and adjusting white balance settings automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/manual system of using physical neutral cards with an electronic/digital system that uses the camera's image sensor and processor to automatically measure and adjust white balance, substituting physical manipulation with electronic processing.
3Ease of operation
If through-the-lens metering is used, then ease of operation is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary filtering and processing to the light captured by the lens, using a diffusion filter to create a uniform light distribution before it reaches the sensor. This preliminary action ensures that the measurement is not biased by directional lighting or dominant colors in the scene, improving precision while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The diffusion filter acts as an intermediary between the lens and the image sensor, modifying the light path to create a more representative sample of the overall scene illumination. This intermediary element helps achieve accurate white balance measurements without requiring manual intervention.
4Ease of operation
If the camera assumes average subject brightness, then ease of operation is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary filtering and processing to the light captured by the lens, using a diffusion filter to create a uniform light distribution before it reaches the sensor. This preliminary action ensures that the measurement is not biased by directional lighting or dominant colors in the scene, improving precision while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The diffusion filter acts as an intermediary between the lens and the image sensor, modifying the light path to create a more representative sample of the overall scene illumination. This intermediary element helps achieve accurate white balance measurements without requiring manual intervention.
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 solution provides accurate and convenient white balance control, allowing for near-perfect exposure and color capture, reducing the need for manual adjustments and enabling consistent color reproduction across varying lighting conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a flat transparent lenticular prismatic disc on the outer surface (to capture all available illumination from 180 degrees)
Implementation Method 2
a flat translucent diffusion disc that incorporates a flat transparent lenticular prismatic disc
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for effectively performing a white balance procedure for electronic cameras includes a neutral density diffusion light filter assembly adapted to be attached over the lens of a camera-type device equipped with an electronic device that captures image data using an image sensor device. Alternatively, the diffusion filter could be inserted internally in association with the lens assembly or built into the camera body as an external window associated with an independent image sensor device. The diffusion filter acts as an illuminance integrator of broad light acceptance angle to document light conditions (incident or reflective) that exist at the time an image is captured, thereby enabling a white balance operation at point of capture and production of a computer-generated image with little or no colorcast and requiring minimal (if any) subsequent manual color adjustment.