A US startup has invented a practical image optimization algorithm to make flat images three-dimensional

In an age where everyone has a camera phone, digital camera or DV, everyone can capture and create images anytime and anywhere. In the era of HDTV, we want every picture we see to be gorgeous. However, not everyone is a master photographer, and the pictures we produce are not so beautiful. In the past, photography masters had to use darkroom technology to produce exquisite photos. Nowadays, high-level photography enthusiasts know how to use software such as Photoshop to beautify photos. The problem now is that if you want to beautify HDTV TV pictures, no matter how many Photoshop masters you have, it will not be enough!

There is a master who not only knows how to make a picture more beautiful, but also invented an image processing technology that can be implanted in a chip, which is fast enough to meet the requirements of today's HDTV TVs, so that every picture we see on TV is beautiful. This master is the well-known innovative entrepreneur Paul Darbee. And the technology he invented has been used in 3 Hollywood movies, many TV shows, large advertisements and art billboards, making these pictures more gorgeous and moving than before. As chip technology and processor performance improve, this technology will be widely used in the consumer electronics market.

More than 20 years ago, Paul Darbee became a technology innovation entrepreneur with his unique ability to cleverly handle a large number of complex mathematical equations. The universal TV remote control he invented in the 1980s is still the de facto standard in the global TV industry today. Over the years, he has invented countless new technologies. Friends say that he can easily pull out a stack of patent certificates from his bag. Using "smart" mathematical methods to beautify the picture is Paul Darbee's latest invention.

At present, the image processing methods widely used by us mainly include contrast and color depth adjustment, image sharpening and interference filtering. These methods are all performed on the image itself, without considering the human brain at all. Paul Darbee is a person who likes to question. He asked himself-when people have a flat photo of a landscape in front of them, they will naturally have a three-dimensional feeling. Why is this? He believes that in this two-dimensional plane picture, there must be some three-dimensional information. The key is how to call out this three-dimensional information so that the flat photo can also present a lifelike three-dimensional feeling to people. Paul Darbee wants to start from the human visual nervous system and process the image according to the principle of the human brain's visual nerves, so this "smart" mathematical method was born.

It only takes a few buttons to adjust the contrast, brightness and color temperature of the TV. But what we have are chips with extremely high computing performance, which can beautify the picture with more ingenious digital image processing technology. The key is to find the best mathematical algorithm. In order to solve this problem, Paul Darbee founded a new company and served as CEO. The company's name is DarbeeVision. He said, "We believe that it is not enough to simply display the world faithfully. Using high-performance computing technology for image processing has opened up new ways for us to improve image quality. From personal headphones to home audio to luxury movie theaters, Dolby technology has triggered a revolution in the field of acoustic engineering, and the same thing is about to happen in the field of image presentation engineering."

DarbeeVision's technical experts have confirmed that the pictures obtained by using the new technology are more beautiful than any perfect camera and display system currently available. Not only optical and electronic technologies are used, but also the response of the human visual nervous system to images is taken into consideration, which is the key factor in obtaining the most perfect images. For an original image, the computer is processed using an image processing method similar to that of the human brain, and then the processing result is implanted into the original image. The new picture obtained by this method looks amazing.

As mentioned above, the basic methods of image processing in today's electronic products are just to improve contrast, color temperature, sharpening and noise reduction. However, these methods not only fail to improve the realism of the picture, but often make the picture look unnatural, or even make the image more cluttered and unclear.

Paul Darbee's new method solves a very vexing problem - adding depth information to a flat image without any artifacts. The core technology of this method is patent pending and has been registered as a trademark - Perceptor™. This method can be performed in real time, and its performance is enough to exceed the level required for digital high-definition television HD 1080p/60, that is, more than 3600 1920 x 1080 pixel images per minute. Moreover, this processing can be completed during the intra-frame period, so there is no need for additional buffer configuration and no time delay.

3D stereoscopic TVs are already popular on the market. Does Darbee's method work for 3D stereoscopic images? Sure! If the left and right eye images are processed separately using this method, the entire picture will be more realistic and beautiful. Darbee calls this picture 3.5D.

DarbeeVision's technology has been successfully applied to movies, television and advertising signs. The next step will be to promote it in three different ways: IP, GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and FPGA. The application market covers traditional TVs as well as emerging markets such as digital HDTVs, video game consoles, mobile devices, digital photo frames and set-top boxes. Therefore, DarbeeVision is ready to play an important role in pushing human visual experience to a new level.

Some people say that what Darbee is doing to images now is what Dolby did to sound. Darbee himself said, "We just want to make the flat image look three-dimensional. We provide the most beautiful image according to your mind consciousness. We provide you with electronic artists."

DarbeeVision's technology processing

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After DarbeeVision's technology processing

About DarbeeVision

DarbeeVision was founded in 2002 by Paul Darbee, an entrepreneurial inventor who is also the inventor of the world's first programmable universal remote control. In 1985, Paul Darbee founded Universal Electronics (NASDAQ: UEIC) and was the first to obtain a series of technical patents in universal remote control technology. Today, he has more than 40 patents and many more patents pending. In 2006, DarbeeVision was awarded a patent for visual computing processing called Darbee Visual Presence™.

Paul Darbee独特的工程技术天赋和富有远见的理念使他得以研究出改善数字图像媒体视觉品质的极佳方法。DarbeeVision的技术首先应用于奥斯卡获奖影片謎霧莊園（Gosford Park）的DVD发行版。由于对DarbeeVision技术的影像效果十分满意，这部电影的导演Robert Altman在其下一步影片的拍摄制作中不仅直接采用更高分辨率的摄影机，并且采用DarbeeVision的技术来完整处理整部电影的视频影像。此后，这项技术被大量用于商业电视、公告广告看板、大幅面印刷和艺术展览等场合。

DarbeeVision's well-proven technology has a wide range of applications. Its complete technology suite includes:

Darbee Software™, software running on general-purpose CPUs for still image processing

Darbee GPU Software™, software that runs on GPUs for real-time digital video processing

Darbee Box™, a consumer electronics device based on FPGA architecture for real-time digital video processing

Darbee IP Block™, a licensable hardware IP block for embedded applications.