Device and method of adjusting electromagnetic radiation transmitted by an optical element

• US 9,280,184 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2011
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Broga, Antanas Matthew, Fletcher, Bergen Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-Yi
• Assistant Examiner(s): KHAN, IBRAHIM A
• Application Number:
  US13/157,442
• Publication Number:
  US 20120313908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 250/208.1, 250/226, 345/88, 345/207, 356/411, 356/402, 349/106
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/0488 with spectral filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/4204 with determination of ambient light solar light G01J2001/4266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0666 for control of colour parameters, e.g. colour temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/10 Intensity circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/22 Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/75 by influencing optical camera components

Abstract

A method of adjusting electromagnetic radiation transmitted by an optical element is described. The method includes sensing the electromagnetic radiation transmitted by the optical element to produce sensed electromagnetic radiation information, and adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information to produce adjusted electromagnetic radiation information based on the a spectral transmission of the optical element.

Claims

1. A method, implemented by a mobile device, of adjusting electromagnetic radiation, the method comprising:

receiving incident electromagnetic radiation at a color filter integrated with an exterior surface of a housing of the mobile device, the color filter providing non-uniform filtering of different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to produce an uneven transmission spectrum that is uneven across the electromagnetic spectrum;

transmitting, through the color filter, filtered electromagnetic radiation;

sensing the filtered electromagnetic radiation, the electromagnetic radiation being sensed on a photosensor having two or more adjusted photosensing elements, each adjusted photosensing element having a respective detection range for a respective different electromagnetic wavelength range, to produce sensed electromagnetic radiation information; and

adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information to compensate for the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter and to produce adjusted electromagnetic radiation information that is representative of the incident electromagnetic radiation instead of the filtered electromagnetic radiation, the adjusting comprising adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information from each adjusted photosensing element independently using one or more weighting factors for each individual adjusted photosensing element, the one or more weighting factors being predetermined based on the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information comprises determining an illuminance by applying to the sensed electromagnetic information the one or more weighting factors, the one or more weighting factors being based on the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter and a luminosity or V-lambda function.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining the illuminance is based on a first luminosity function for dim ambient light conditions and is based on a second luminosity function for non-dim ambient light conditions.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising predetermining the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter before sensing the electromagnetic radiation by applying an electromagnetic radiation having a known spectral distribution to the color filter and measuring the resultant filtered electromagnetic radiation transmitted by the color filter.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising predetermining the one or more weighting factors for adjusting the sensed electromagnetic information based on the predetermined uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filtering comprises outputting one or more prompts instructing application of one or more electromagnetic radiation having known spectral distributions to the color filter.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

based on the adjusted electromagnetic radiation, determining a preset display profile defining display characteristics, and

adjusting a display output based on the preset display profile.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein adjusting the display output comprises adjusting the brightness, color, or whitebalance of the display.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting a camera setting or flash output based on the adjusted electromagnetic radiation information.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the photosensor comprises an image sensor, and wherein the sensed electromagnetic radiation information includes sensed image information, and wherein adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information includes determining image data based on the sensed image information and the transmission spectrum of the color filter.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information includes determining a color temperature.

23. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the device is configured to perform the method of claim 1.

12. A mobile device comprising:

a housing having a color filter integrated with an exterior surface thereof and positioned to receive incident electromagnetic radiation, the color filter providing non-uniform filtering of different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to produce an uneven transmission spectrum that is uneven across the electromagnetic spectrum;

a photosensor, having two or more adjusted photosensing elements, mounted inside the housing and positioned for sensing filtered electromagnetic radiation transmitted through the color filter, each adjusted photosensing element having a respective detection range for a respective different electromagnetic wavelength range; and

a processor configured to;

receive sensed electromagnetic radiation information from the photosensor; and

output adjusted electromagnetic radiation information based on the sensed electromagnetic radiation information, the adjusting electromagnetic radiation being generated by adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information from each adjusted photosensing element independently using one or more weighting factors for each individual adjusted photosensing element, the one or more weighting factors being predetermined based on the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter, the adjusted electromagnetic radiation information being adjusted to compensate for the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter, the adjusted electromagnetic radiation being representative of the incident electromagnetic radiation instead of the filtered electromagnetic radiation.

13. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the color filter is translucent.

14. The mobile device of claim 13 wherein the photosensor comprises:

a first photosensing element adapted to detect a blue region of electromagnetic spectrum;

a second photosensing element adapted to detect a red region of electromagnetic spectrum; and

a third photosensing element adapted to detect a green region of electromagnetic spectrum.

15. The mobile device of claim 14 wherein the photosensor further comprises:

a fourth photosensing element adapted to detect an infrared region of electromagnetic spectrum.

16. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the color filter is a window in the exterior surface of the housing.

17. The mobile device of claim 12 further comprising a memory having stored thereon one or more weighting factors for compensating for the transmission spectrum of the color filter.

18. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the photosensor comprises an image sensor, and wherein the adjusted electromagnetic radiation information includes adjusted image data.

19. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the device is configured to adjust the output of the display based on the adjusted electromagnetic radiation information.

20. The mobile device of claim 19 further comprising a memory having stored thereon one or more preset display profiles defining display characteristics, wherein the device is configured to adjust the output of the display by determining one of the one or more preset display profiles and adjusting the output of the display based on the determined preset display profile.

21. The mobile device of claim 20 wherein the device is configured to adjust the output of the display by adjusting the brightness, color or whitebalance of the display.

22. The mobile device of claim 12 further comprising a flash, and wherein the device is configured to adjust the output of the flash based on the adjusted electromagnetic radiation information.

24. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein a color associated with the color filter is in correspondence with a color of the housing.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions tangibly encoded thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a mobile device, causing the mobile device to:

receive incident electromagnetic radiation at a color filter integrated with an exterior surface of a housing of the mobile device, the color filter providing non-uniform filtering of different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to produce an uneven transmission spectrum that is uneven across the electromagnetic spectrum;

transmit, through the color filter, filtered electromagnetic radiation;

sense the filtered electromagnetic radiation, the electromagnetic radiation being sensed on a photosensor having two or more adjusted photosensing elements, each adjusted photosensing element having a respective detection range for a respective different electromagnetic wavelength range, to produce sensed electromagnetic radiation information; and

adjust the sensed electromagnetic radiation information to compensate for the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter and to produce adjusted electromagnetic radiation information that is representative of the incident electromagnetic radiation instead of the filtered electromagnetic radiation, the adjusting comprising adjusting the sensed electromagnetic radiation information from each adjusted photosensing element independently using one or more weighting factors for each individual adjusted photosensing element, the one or more weighting factors being predetermined based on the uneven transmission spectrum of the color filter.