Localized Environmental Sensing for XR Lighting Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic devices struggle to accurately capture and process localized environmental conditions, such as lighting, within a physical environment, leading to inaccuracies in extended reality experiences due to reliance on global lighting estimates that fail to account for spatial and temporal variations.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of localized environmental input sensing systems that utilize multiple cameras and sensors to determine local lighting conditions and other environmental factors, incorporating saliency information to focus on salient regions, thereby providing precise environmental condition estimates for improved XR experiences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If global lighting estimates are used for extended reality rendering, then the system complexity is reduced and processing is simplified, but the accuracy of environmental condition representation deteriorates due to failure to account for spatial and temporal variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the physical environment into multiple local portions or regions, each with its own lighting conditions. Instead of using a single global lighting estimate, the system divides the environment into zones and captures lighting data for each zone separately, allowing accurate representation of spatial variations while maintaining manageable system complexity through structured segmentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a zero-dimensional global average lighting estimate to a multi-dimensional spatial representation by incorporating positional information and creating a map of lighting conditions across different locations. This dimensional expansion enables the system to capture spatial and temporal variations while organizing the increased data complexity in a structured manner.
2Measurement precision
If multiple cameras and sensors are deployed to capture localized environmental conditions, then the accuracy of lighting and environmental measurements is improved, but the device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs cameras and sensors that serve multiple functions: they capture both visual content for XR rendering and environmental lighting data simultaneously. The same imaging devices used for spatial mapping and object recognition are also utilized for lighting measurement, eliminating the need for dedicated lighting sensors and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses its own cameras and sensors to capture environmental lighting conditions that it would otherwise need external dedicated sensors for. The XR device performs self-characterization of the environment by utilizing its existing imaging capabilities to measure lighting, color, and spatial characteristics, making the system self-sufficient and reducing hardware complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject technology may provide localized environmental input sensing for electronic devices. Localized environmental input sensing may include obtaining local lighting condition estimates for one or more local portions of a physical environment. The local lighting conditions may include ambient light levels and/or a light direction of a directional light source. The one or more local portions of the physical environment may be determined based on an identification of a salient region of the physical environment to a user of an electronic device.