Dynamic Highlight Motion Blending for HDR Ghosting Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
High dynamic range image processing often results in ghosting artifacts due to motion across saturated regions, which existing techniques fail to effectively minimize, leading to poor user experience and system inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
The method involves capturing downscaled frames with varying exposure lengths, identifying highlight and motion regions, and dynamically blending them to determine overlap, thereby incorporating the blending into full resolution frames, using a software library to refine highlight and motion maps for improved hardware efficiency and reduced noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple frames with different exposure lengths are captured and blended to reduce noise, then noise is minimized, but ghosting artifacts occur due to motion across saturated regions
Solution Approach 1:
The image is segmented into different regions: saturated regions (highlights) and non-saturated regions. Motion regions are identified separately within these segments. This allows different processing strategies to be applied to different parts of the image, reducing ghosting in saturated regions while maintaining noise reduction benefits in non-saturated regions.
Solution Approach 2:
Different quality settings are applied to different regions of the image. Saturated regions use one blending strategy (prioritizing ghosting reduction), while non-saturated regions use another strategy (prioritizing noise reduction). This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by optimizing each region for its specific characteristics.
2Ease of operation
If existing techniques are used to process high dynamic range images, then processing is straightforward, but ghosting artifacts are not effectively minimized, leading to poor user experience
Solution Approach 1:
Motion regions and highlight regions are identified and mapped before the blending process. This preliminary segmentation allows the subsequent blending operation to be more effective at reducing ghosting while maintaining simplicity in the overall workflow. The heavy lifting of region identification is done upfront, making the actual blending straightforward.
3Device complexity
If motion regions are blended without considering highlight region overlap, then processing is simpler, but ghosting artifacts persist in saturated areas
Solution Approach 1:
The blending process is made dynamic by considering the overlap between motion regions and highlight regions. The blending strategy adapts based on whether a motion region overlaps with a saturated region, using different blending weights or methods accordingly. This dynamic adjustment reduces ghosting in critical saturated areas without significantly increasing overall processing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for minimizing ghosting in high dynamic range image processing are described. The method may include capturing from a sensor of the device a downscaled first frame of a first exposure length and a downscaled second frame of a second exposure length that is longer than the first exposure length, identifying a highlight region associated with the downscaled first frame and a motion region associated with the downscaled first frame and with the downscaled second frame, blending the motion region in accordance with determining whether at least a portion of the motion region overlaps the highlight region, and incorporating the blending of the motion region in a set of full resolution frames.