Item Image Color Calibration Using Physical Color Standards
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Inaccurate color renderings of items in online sales and printed catalogs lead to costly returns and dissatisfaction due to discrepancies between perceived and actual colors, often caused by improper image capture and rendering devices.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing a physical color standard to calibrate and correct image capture and rendering, adjusting for ambient light and brightness, and employing augmented reality to superimpose the item's image onto the buyer's environment for accurate and congruent representation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If image capture and rendering devices are used to display items online, then items can be viewed remotely, but color accuracy deteriorates due to device-induced color errors
Solution Approach 1:
A physical color standard is introduced as an intermediary reference object between the image capture device and the item being photographed. The color standard serves as a mediator that allows calibration of the capture device's color rendering, enabling accurate color representation in remote viewing while maintaining the versatility of online display.
Solution Approach 2:
The system captures images of the physical color standard under the same lighting conditions as the item, then uses these reference images to calculate and apply color correction parameters to the item images. This parameter adjustment process compensates for device-induced color errors while preserving remote viewing capability.
2Measurement precision
If physical color standards are used for calibration, then color accuracy improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using complex electronic calibration devices, the system uses a simple physical color standard that can be photographed with a regular camera. The physical standard creates a visual copy/reference that can be processed by image software, simplifying the overall calibration system while maintaining high color accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical color standard serves itself as both the calibration reference and the object being photographed. By placing the color standard next to the item in the same image capture, the system eliminates the need for separate calibration procedures and complex calibration equipment, reducing device complexity while improving color accuracy.
3Stability of the object's composition
If images are captured under controlled lighting, then color consistency improves, but adaptability to different ambient conditions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures the physical color standard under the actual ambient lighting conditions and uses this feedback to calculate correction parameters. This feedback loop allows the system to adapt to different ambient conditions while maintaining color consistency, as the calibration reference is captured in the same lighting environment as the item.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts color correction parameters based on the captured color standard's appearance under specific ambient lighting. By changing the correction parameters according to the actual lighting conditions, the system maintains color consistency across different ambient environments without requiring controlled lighting during item capture.
Data Source
AI summary
This document discloses a method, system, and/or software configured to provide improved color rendering of an item or scene, such as an item for sale through websites or printed brochures (e.g., color catalogs). This improved color rendering can be provided through improved accuracy when rendering an online item, such as on a user's laptop, smartphone, or desktop computer showing a webpage. Further still, this document discloses ways in which to solve numerous problems in the field of online sales where an accurate rendering of an item, and even a customized rendering of an item to fit a buyer's intended use for the item, is desired. This document also describes ways in which to improve color renderings for a print item through use of a user's device to capture an image using the device's camera, and then display the item more accurately or congruently than it was originally displayed in print.