The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has recently developed a series of colour management technologies that enable digital displays and imaging devices, such as light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting systems, smartphones, cameras, as well as extended reality (XR, covering virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR)) headsets, to capture and reproduce colours more faithfully, thereby enhancing the user experience. These cutting-edge technologies have been successfully commercialised and widely adopted by social media, imaging systems and manufacturers of LED lighting products, smartphones and drones. Over 100 million high-end smart devices worldwide each year have been powered by the technologies.
New technologies like OLED and Quantum-dot LED (QLED) have much narrower spectral compositions, making cameras and displays more and more difficult to capture and produce consistent colour appearance. This has presented unprecedented challenges in colour management for digital devices. Prof. Tommy Minchen WEI, Professor of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering and Director of the Colour Imaging and Metaverse Research Centre at PolyU, along with his research team, has developed the following colour management technologies:
A six-channel RGBACL (Red, Green, Blue, Amber, Cyan and Lime) lighting module and control algorithm enhances the colour presentation of LED lighting systems. The algorithm for tuning the colour appearance of human face skin allows quick adjustment when captured by different cameras. This technology has been used by a famous manufacturer of cinema lighting fixtures and in the production of several Hollywood movies and TV series.
Various solutions capture and display colours on video and image shooting equipment, encompassing the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to detect human faces in the frame and to optimise the colour appearance of skin tone.
Chips with AI-powered white balance algorithm built-in ensure more faithful colours in photos and videos taken by digital cameras under different environment. These technologies have been adopted by world-class smartphone and XR device manufacturers.
Other, related technologies include:
