Flash Non-Flash Image Segmentation Alignment Equalization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image acquisition systems face challenges in aligning and equalizing flash and non-flash images for improved image quality, as they often result in false contouring due to differences in pixel resolution and exposure levels, leading to suboptimal denoising, detail transfer, and red-eye correction.
Innovation Solution
A digital image acquisition system that uses a processor-controlled camera to capture and process flash and non-flash image pairs, employing segmentation filters, motion compensation, and alignment techniques to match pixel resolution and equalize exposure, thereby creating a higher quality synthesized image.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flash and non-flash images are directly combined for image processing, then denoising and detail transfer can be performed, but false contouring occurs due to differences in pixel resolution and exposure levels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary alignment and equalization actions before combining flash and non-flash images. The system performs alignment to match pixel resolutions and equalization to balance exposure levels between the two image sets, preventing false contouring artifacts from occurring during subsequent denoising and detail transfer operations
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes key parameters of the images including pixel resolution through alignment transformations and exposure levels through equalization processing. By adjusting these parameters to match between flash and non-flash images, the system enables reliable combination without introducing false contouring artifacts
2Object-affected harmful factors
If pixel resolution matching is performed between flash and non-flash images, then false contouring is reduced, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing task into distinct stages: alignment for resolution matching, equalization for exposure balancing, and final combination for denoising and detail transfer. This segmentation allows each stage to be optimized independently, reducing overall processing complexity while effectively eliminating false contouring
3Reliability
If exposure equalization is applied to flash and non-flash images, then image quality improves, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs exposure equalization as a preliminary step before the computationally intensive denoising and detail transfer operations. By equalizing exposure levels early, the system ensures optimal input quality for subsequent processing stages while minimizing total processing time through efficient algorithm design
Data Source
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AI summary
A digital segmentation method and apparatus determines foreground and/or background within at least one portion of a captured image. The determining includes comparing a captured image to a pre-captured or post captured reference image of nominally the same scene. One of the images is taken with flash and the other without. The system can be implemented as part of a digital camera acquisition chain having effective computation complexity,