Transparency Blending for Uncertain Image Ordering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Interactive devices like Projection with Interactive Capture (PIC) systems struggle to accurately display images in the order they were created due to unsynchronized clocks and network lag, causing the actual creation order to be indeterminate.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that determine the probability of the creation order of graphical contents by analyzing network transfer times and use a transparency blending formula to render an opacity of overlapped portions, allowing for visual representation of the uncertainty in the creation order.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If images are displayed in the order they are received, then the display order is determined, but the actual creation order cannot be accurately reflected due to unsynchronized clocks and network lag
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary probability value between 0 and 1 to represent the uncertainty in creation order. Instead of making a definitive binary determination, the system uses this intermediate probability metric to quantify the uncertainty, allowing for more nuanced handling of the ordering problem under unsynchronized conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter representation from a discrete order (first/second) to a continuous probability parameter (0 to 1). This parameter transformation allows the system to express uncertainty in creation order more accurately, resolving the contradiction between having a determined display order and maintaining ordering accuracy
2Loss of information
If transparency blending is used to represent uncertainty, then visual indication of creation order probability is achieved, but the display complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses transparency blending (alpha compositing) to visually encode the probability of creation order. By varying the transparency parameter based on probability values, the system preserves creation order information in a visually intuitive manner while using a relatively simple graphics operation that is widely supported
Data Source
AI summary
A method for processing images in an information sharing and collaboration environment includes: receiving a plurality of graphical contents including a first graphical content from a first source and a second graphical content from a second source different from the first source within the information sharing and collaboration environment and overlapping the first and second graphical contents; determining a probability that the first graphical content was created before the second graphical content; rendering, using a transparency blending formula and based on the probability that the first graphical content was created before the second graphical content, an opacity of an overlapped portion of the first and second graphical contents; and displaying, on a display, the overlapped first and second graphical contents.