Image Processing System for Legacy Display Compatibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current video communication and display technologies face challenges with the increased precision of color components beyond 8 bits per pixel, leading to visual banding artifacts and compatibility issues with legacy 24-bit displays, as well as increased data requirements and complexity for data-compression algorithms.
Innovation Solution
An image processing system that encodes extended-color-precision images into legacy-color-precision format using dithering techniques to generate encoded images suitable for display on legacy systems, while allowing decoding back to extended-color-precision for newer systems, minimizing visual banding and preserving spatial detail.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If extended-color-precision images are displayed directly on legacy 24-bit displays, then color precision is improved, but visual banding artifacts occur and compatibility is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the color component values into multiple precision levels, with different segments displayed at different precision levels. High-precision regions are displayed with full extended-color-precision to maintain color accuracy, while low-precision regions are displayed at reduced precision to prevent visual banding artifacts, thus resolving the contradiction between color precision and visual quality on legacy displays
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different display precision levels to different spatial regions of the image based on local characteristics. Regions with smooth color transitions are displayed at lower precision to avoid banding, while regions with important color details maintain higher precision, achieving both artifact reduction and color accuracy preservation on legacy displays
2Measurement precision
If extended-color-precision images are transmitted and stored, then color precision is improved, but data requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically changes the precision parameter of color components based on image content characteristics and display capabilities. Instead of uniformly using extended-color-precision throughout the entire image and system, the precision is adjusted locally and adaptively, reducing overall data requirements and simplifying compression algorithms while maintaining necessary color precision in critical regions
3Adaptability or versatility
If extended-color-precision images are displayed on legacy systems, then compatibility is improved, but color precision is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic precision adaptation mechanism that adjusts the displayed precision level based on the capabilities of the display system. Legacy displays receive appropriately reduced precision signals that prevent banding artifacts, while extended-color-precision displays receive and display the full extended precision, thus achieving both broad compatibility and optimal color precision across different system types
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of source image pixels of a subset of image pixels of a source image cell of a selected color component of a digitized image are processed to generate a corresponding color component for each corresponding processed image pixel of a corresponding processed image cell, wherein the processed image pixels of the processed image cell are in one-to-one correspondence with the source image pixels of the source image cell, a bit length of the color component of each processed image pixel of the processed image cell exceeds a bit length of color component of each source image pixel the source image cell, the processed image cell contains substantial color information in excess of what could be contained within a bit length equal to the bit length of each the source image pixel of the color component of the source image cell.