Spatial Temporal Dithering for Pixel Storage Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Display systems with large pixel storage sizes require significant bandwidth, memory, and power, making them unsuitable for portable devices, while reducing pixel size by removing least significant bits degrades image quality, especially in color gradients.
Innovation Solution
A method involving spatial and temporal dithering, where a dither addend is determined and added to pixel components, then rounded to reduce storage size without significantly affecting image quality, by applying this process to multiple pixels and frames.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If pixel storage size is reduced by removing least significant bits, then bandwidth, memory requirements, and power consumption are decreased, but image quality is degraded with noticeable blocky color changes in color gradients
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dithering processing before the final quantization to pixel color values. By adding dither noise to the color components prior to reducing bit depth, the method prepares the data in advance to mask quantization errors, thereby maintaining perceived image quality while achieving reduced pixel storage size
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the pixel data by adding a dither addend to color components and then rounding to a reduced bit depth. This parameter transformation approach converts high-precision color values into lower-precision values that, when combined with dithering, maintain visual quality while reducing storage requirements from 24-bit to 18-bit or lower
2Use of energy by moving object
If pixel storage size is reduced, then bandwidth and power consumption are decreased, but color gradient smoothness is lost with abrupt color changes
Solution Approach 1:
The dithering operation is performed in advance before quantization, adding controlled noise to color values. This preliminary action ensures that when bits are removed, the resulting abrupt color changes are randomized and perceived as smooth gradients by the human visual system, maintaining color gradient stability at lower power consumption
3Quantity of substance
If pixel storage size is reduced, then memory requirements and bandwidth are decreased, but image processing fidelity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a mathematical transformation by adding a dither addend to each color component and then rounding to the target bit depth. This parameter change strategy redistributes quantization errors across multiple pixels through dithering, preserving image processing fidelity while achieving reduced memory requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The dither addend acts as an intermediary element that mediates between the original high-precision color values and the reduced-precision stored values. By introducing this intermediate dithering step, the patent maintains information fidelity during the transition from high-bit to low-bit representation
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for spatially and temporally dithering pixels. A pixel comprising at least one color component of a first size is provided. A dither addend is determined based on the display position of the pixel. The dither addend is added to the color component, and the color component is rounded to a second size. In one embodiment, a first frame may be provided for displaying the first pixel, the dither addend corresponding to the first frame. One or more additional frames for displaying the first pixel are provided, and one or more additional dither addends corresponding to the first pixel in the additional frames may be determined. The dither addend is different from the additional dither addends, and the additional dither addends are different from each other.