Flicker Correction Using Image Sensor Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image sensing apparatuses face challenges in accurately correcting flicker components in images captured under light sources with periodically changing brightness, particularly due to limitations in flicker detection accuracy when objects or cameras move, and the need for additional photometric elements or specialized sensors.
Innovation Solution
A flicker correction apparatus and method that allocates multiple flicker detection regions within an image frame, extracts regions with specific luminance and color values, detects flicker components using luminance information, generates correction values, and applies these values to the image signal to correct flicker, all without requiring a separate flicker detection sensor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a photometric element is added to detect flicker waveform, then flicker detection capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The image sensor performs multiple functions: capturing image data and detecting flicker components. By utilizing the image sensor's existing capabilities for both imaging and flicker detection, the patent eliminates the need for separate photometric elements while maintaining flicker detection functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines flicker detection functionality with the image sensor by allocating specific regions within the image sensor's output for flicker detection purposes. This merging of functions allows the same hardware to serve dual purposes without requiring additional dedicated components.
2Reliability
If luminance data difference method is used to extract flicker components, then flicker correction capability is improved, but accuracy decreases when object or camera moves
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different processing strategies to different regions of the image. By allocating specific regions for flicker detection and using color information from these regions, the system can distinguish between motion-induced luminance changes and actual flicker components, maintaining accuracy even when objects or cameras move.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes color information in addition to luminance data for flicker detection. By analyzing color changes in specific regions, the system can differentiate between luminance variations caused by object motion and those caused by flicker, thereby maintaining detection accuracy in dynamic scenarios.
3Reliability
If color information is used in flicker detection, then detection robustness is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the image into specific regions allocated for flicker detection. By segmenting the image and focusing color analysis only on these designated regions rather than the entire image, the system improves detection robustness while keeping processing complexity manageable through localized analysis.
Data Source
AI summary
A flicker detection region in which an image signal has values relating to luminance and colors within predetermined ranges is extracted from a plurality of flicker detection regions allocated in the vertical and horizontal directions of an image. A flicker component is detected using the luminance information of the image signal in the extracted flicker detection region. A correction value to correct the flicker component is generated from the detected flicker component. This makes it possible to accurately correct, using a simple arrangement, a flicker component contained in an image sensed under a light source whose brightness periodically changes even when the object or the image sensing apparatus moves.