Geometrical Distortion Engine Tile Processing

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing image acquisition systems fail to dynamically adjust for multiple sources of distortion, such as wide field of view lens systems, camera shake, and user-induced distortions, leading to suboptimal image correction and display.

Innovation Solution

A Geometrical Distortion Engine (GDE) that processes images tile-by-tile, using a Grid Formatter Unit (GFU) and Geometrical Distortion Core (GDC) to apply affine and global transformations, along with Low Level Distortion Descriptors (LLDD), to correct distortions and generate a rectilinear grid for display or storage, while accommodating user-defined distortions and lens-sensor misalignment.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If a fixed mapping between sensor surface and display grid is used, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability to different distortion sources deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveadaptability to multiple distortion sourcesVSAvoidcomplexity of distortion correction system
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The image processing is divided into independent tile units that can be processed separately. Each tile contains distortion correction information for a specific region, allowing the system to handle multiple distortion sources through modular processing rather than requiring a complex unified correction mechanism.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Distortion correction parameters and mapping information are pre-calculated and stored in the tile data before runtime processing. This preliminary preparation allows the system to adapt to different distortion sources without requiring complex real-time calculations, reducing operational complexity while maintaining high adaptability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Manufacturing precision

If distortion correction is applied to the entire image, then correction completeness is improved, but processing time increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimage correction qualityVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The image is divided into multiple tiles that can be processed in parallel. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high correction quality across the entire image while reducing total processing time through concurrent execution of tile processing operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Each tile is processed with locally optimized correction parameters tailored to its specific region and distortion characteristics. This local quality approach ensures high correction accuracy for each tile while avoiding the overhead of applying uniform complex corrections to the entire image.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

3Measurement precision

If high-resolution pixel mapping is used, then image quality is improved, but memory requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepixel mapping precisionVSAvoidmemory usage
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

Pixel mapping data is segmented into tile-specific structures that only store information for local regions. This segmentation reduces overall memory requirements while maintaining high mapping precision within each tile, as each tile contains only the necessary high-resolution mapping data for its specific area.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3101622B1An image acquisition system
Publication Date: 2019.06.12 FOTONATION LIMITED
  • EP3101622B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3101622B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3101622B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

An image acquisition system comprising a first memory for storing at least a portion of a distorted input image acquired from an image sensor and a lens system, a second memory for writing corrected output image information, and an interpolator module connected to both memories comprising a bi-cubic interpolator and a pair of bi-linear interpolators and being switchable between a first high quality mode and a second high speed mode.