Vehicle Display Gray-Scale Control Under Changing Ambient Light
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Automotive display systems face challenges in maintaining visibility of lower gray shades under varying ambient illumination levels, as existing automatic luminance control methods do not effectively improve image visibility in response to changing lighting conditions.
Innovation Solution
An image enhancement system that combines a forward-looking light sensor and an ambient light sensor with an electronic control unit to calculate a display luminance control value, dynamically adjusting the shades of gray in video images based on both sensors' values to enhance visibility across different lighting conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If display luminance is increased to maintain visibility in bright ambient conditions, then image visibility is improved, but display power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic luminance control by continuously monitoring forward-looking light conditions and ambient light conditions separately. The system dynamically adjusts display luminance based on the driver's viewing direction and ambient conditions, ensuring visibility is maintained only when and where needed. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by optimizing the balance between visibility and power consumption in real-time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses feedback from two light sensors to continuously adjust display luminance. The forward-looking light sensor provides feedback about lighting conditions in the driver's forward viewing direction, while the ambient light sensor provides feedback about overall ambient conditions. This dual feedback mechanism allows the system to maintain visibility while minimizing power consumption by adjusting luminance based on actual viewing conditions
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system ensures visibility of entire images under various ambient lighting conditions while reducing overall display power consumption by dynamically adjusting luminance and enhancing dark and intermediate gray shades, maintaining comfortable viewing and reducing power usage.
Implementation Method 1
The forward looking light sensor is configured to sense a forward looking light seen by a driver of the vehicle while looking over a display to generate a forward luminance value
Implementation Method 2
The ambient light sensor is configured to sense an ambient light seen by the driver while looking at the display to generate an ambient luminance value
Data Source
AI summary
An image enhancement system in a vehicle includes a forward looking light sensor, an ambient light sensor, and an electronic control unit. The forward looking light sensor is configured to sense a forward looking light seen by a driver to generate a forward luminance value. The ambient light sensor is configured to sense an ambient light seen by the driver to generate an ambient luminance value. The electronic control unit is configured to calculate a display luminance control value based on the forward luminance value and the ambient luminance value, analyze a video image in a video input signal to determine multiple shades of gray within the video image, adjust the shades of gray in the video image based on the forward luminance value, the ambient luminance value, and the display luminance control value to generate the enhanced video image, and present the enhanced video image to the display.