Image Processor Region Segmentation Color Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote communication systems fail to provide a satisfactory user experience due to unnatural color tones in images resulting from prior estimation methods, which can deteriorate the sense of presence during remote interactions.
Innovation Solution
An image processor that segments images into regions, estimates the lighting environment, and performs color correction based on the light-source color at the self-base, ensuring that the image at the other base is adjusted to match the lighting conditions, thereby maintaining a natural color tone and enhancing the sense of presence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If prior estimation method is used to adjust color tone, then processing simplicity is maintained, but color naturalness deteriorates resulting in unnatural color tones
Solution Approach 1:
The image is segmented into multiple regions based on depth information, with different color correction processing applied to each region. This allows the system to maintain processing efficiency through automated segmentation while achieving natural color tones by applying region-specific corrections that account for varying lighting conditions across the image.
Solution Approach 2:
Different color correction parameters are applied to different regions of the image based on their depth and lighting characteristics. This local quality approach ensures that each region's color tone is corrected according to its specific lighting environment, producing natural overall color appearance while maintaining processing simplicity through automated region-based processing.
2Reliability
If color correction is applied to match light-source color, then sense of presence is enhanced, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary estimation of the light-source color and depth-based region segmentation before applying color correction. This preliminary action allows the main color correction process to proceed efficiently using pre-computed parameters, enhancing the sense of presence through accurate color matching while keeping processing complexity manageable through staged processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically estimates lighting conditions and performs color correction without requiring manual intervention. This self-service approach enhances the sense of presence by dynamically adapting colors to match the remote environment while maintaining processing simplicity through automated algorithms that eliminate the need for complex manual configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an image processor, an image processing method, a program, and a remote communication system that make it possible to provide a more satisfactory user experience. A region segmentation section segments an image at another base into a plurality of regions, and an estimation section estimates a lighting environment in which the image at the other base has been captured, by performing an image analysis on the image as a whole at the other base and on each region in the image at the other base. Then, the color correction section performs color correction, in accordance with a light-source color at the self base, on the image at the other base that has a light-source color corresponding to the lighting environment. For example, the present technology is applicable to a remote communication system using an image received and transmitted between the other base and the self base.