Video Magnifier Latency Reduction via Frame Buffer Elimination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional video magnifiers suffer from latency due to frame buffering, which complicates manual tasks for blind or low vision users, and existing solutions fail to effectively apply shading to highlight selected portions of objects or text without masking the underlying image.
Innovation Solution
A video magnifier system that processes video signals without frame buffers, using a microprocessor and look-up table to apply pixel-by-pixel shading that highlights non-shaded areas without masking the underlying image, allowing for near real-time viewing and reduced latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If frame buffers are used to process video frames, then image scaling and attribute application can be performed, but latency increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the frame buffer component from the video processing system. By removing this intermediate storage element, the system achieves real-time processing without the latency introduced by frame buffering, while still maintaining image scaling and attribute application capabilities through direct pixel manipulation in the video signal path.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional frame buffer-based processing mechanism with a direct digital signal processing approach. Instead of storing entire frames in memory and processing them sequentially, the system processes video signals in real-time through digital circuitry that performs scaling and attribute application on the fly, substituting mechanical/memory-based processing with electronic signal processing.
2Ease of operation
If regions of the screen are blacked out to highlight specific areas, then user focus is improved, but spatial awareness and navigation become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing selective shading that varies across different regions of the display. Instead of uniform blacking out, the system applies different transparency levels to different areas, allowing users to focus on specific regions while maintaining awareness of the overall spatial context. This localized variation in display properties enables both focus and spatial awareness simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes color and transparency changes to achieve regional highlighting. By modifying the transparency and color properties of specific display regions rather than completely blacking them out, the system maintains visual information while guiding user attention. This allows users to perceive both the highlighted areas and their spatial relationships to other elements in the scene.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a video processor for a magnifier camera. In particular, the disclosure relates to a video processor that eliminates the use of a frame buffer. This, in turn, reduces the latency otherwise present in the video signal. The disclosed video processor also allows selected portions of the display to be shaded. This highlights the non-shaded portions of the display while at the same time allowing the entire object to be perceived by the user.