Temporal Modulation Encoding for Expanded Human Perception
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Solution Overview
Problem
Human vision is limited by its trichromatic nature, making it insensitive to a continuum of electromagnetic radiation intensities, polarization, and frequencies outside the visible spectrum, such as infrared and ultraviolet, which can be valuable for information transfer in natural scenes and data visualization.
Innovation Solution
Encoding additional information channels using time-dependent modulation of existing trichromatic channels, tonal encoding, or specialized illumination to make invisible information perceptible, systematic, and localized, thereby expanding human perception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If human vision uses trichromatic sampling of the visible spectrum, then color perception is achieved, but information about the continuous spectrum, polarization, and invisible frequencies is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies temporal modulation to encode spectral information that cannot be captured by spatial-color channels. By modulating the intensity of reflected light at different frequencies and presenting these to a camera with temporal resolution, the system transforms lost spectral dimensionality into a detectable temporal dimension, recovering polarization and spectral data without adding physical sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a camera with temporal resolution as an intermediary device to capture polarization and spectral information. The camera acts as a mediator between the electromagnetic radiation and human perception, converting invisible spectral data into visible temporal patterns that can be processed and displayed to enhance human vision.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional information channels are encoded using time-dependent modulation, then perception is expanded, but the complexity of the imaging system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the camera system multi-functional by enabling it to capture not only standard visible images but also polarization and spectral information through temporal modulation. The same camera hardware performs multiple functions: conventional imaging, polarization detection, and spectral analysis, thereby expanding perception capability without requiring separate specialized devices for each function.
3Loss of information
If existing trichromatic channels are modulated temporally to encode additional information, then invisible channels become accessible, but the processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary encoding of spectral and polarization information into the temporal domain during image capture. By pre-modulating the reflected light at specific frequencies before it reaches the camera sensor, the system prepares the data in advance for later extraction, reducing the processing burden during analysis and enabling efficient recovery of hidden information channels.
Data Source
AI summary
Media and devices that exploit the possibility of encoding multiple channels of spatially structured information into single images, by exploiting temporal modulation of color and brightness, are proposed. Applications include relief of color blindness, producing images enriched with normally “invisible” information from infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization, and effectively adding new perceptible colors within the visible spectrum.