Dynamic Lighting for Digital Maps Using Real-World Sun Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current graphical user interfaces on portable devices fail to provide realistic lighting to graphical objects, as they typically simulate lighting with a fixed virtual light source, lacking alignment with the real-world environment and dynamic conditions such as sun orientation and environmental factors.
Innovation Solution
A software lighting module that determines the portable device's orientation relative to the real-world sun and adjusts lighting effects in real-time, aligning a virtual light source with the real-world light source, and considers environmental conditions like humidity and cloudiness to generate shadows and reflections as if the graphical objects were in the user's physical environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a fixed virtual light source is used to simulate lighting effects, then the lighting simulation is simple to implement, but the realism and alignment with real-world environment is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the fixed virtual light source into a dynamic system that moves and rotates according to the real-world sun's position. The lighting module continuously updates the virtual light source's orientation based on device orientation sensors, making the lighting system adaptive and realistic without requiring complex manual configuration
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses sensor feedback from the portable device (orientation, location, time) to continuously adjust the virtual light source position and shadow generation. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures the lighting always aligns with real-world environmental conditions, resolving the contradiction between simplicity and realism
2Illumination intensity
If the virtual light source is aligned with the real-world sun in real-time, then the lighting realism is improved, but the computational load and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates the sun's position and lighting parameters based on device orientation and location data before rendering the graphical objects. By preparing the virtual light source configuration in advance, the actual rendering process becomes faster and more efficient
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies lighting calculations selectively to graphical objects that are visible and relevant to the user's current view, rather than calculating lighting for all objects in the scene. This partial action approach maintains lighting accuracy for visible objects while reducing overall computational load
3Illumination intensity
If environmental conditions such as humidity, temperature, and cloudiness are considered, then the lighting simulation becomes more realistic, but the system complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting module serves multiple functions: it processes sensor data for device orientation, calculates sun position based on location and time, and generates lighting effects. By consolidating these functions into a single universal module, the system handles environmental conditions efficiently without requiring separate complex subsystems for each function
Data Source
AI summary
To provide digital maps on a portable device, a graphical representation of an object is displayed for display on a digital map, current orientation of the portable device relative to the sun is determined, and orientation of the graphical representation of the object relative to a virtual sun is determined based on the determined current orientation of the portable device relative to the sun. Using the virtual sun as a light source, a shadow cast by the graphical representation is generated for display on the digital map.