Color Contrast Enhanced Rendering for Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays

Area of Science:

• Computer Vision
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Optics

Background:

• Optical see-through head-mounted displays (OST-HMDs) blend virtual objects with physical backgrounds.
• Achieving high-fidelity color perception in mixed reality (MR) remains a challenge due to display limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a real-time rendering scheme for enhancing color contrast in OST-HMDs.
• To improve the distinguishability of virtual objects against complex backgrounds.

Main Methods:

• Formulated color contrast enhancement as a constrained optimization problem based on psychophysics.
• Designed an end-to-end algorithm to optimize chromaticity and luminance shifts for displayed colors.
• Evaluated the approach using both simulated and real OST-HMD environments.

Main Results:

• Objective evaluations and subjective user studies confirmed improved virtual object visibility.
• The proposed method effectively enhances contrast between virtual elements and the real-world background.
• Maintained consistency with the original displayed colors while boosting contrast.

Conclusions:

• The developed rendering scheme significantly enhances color contrast in OST-HMDs.
• This leads to a more distinguishable and visually pleasing mixed reality experience.
• The approach offers a practical solution for improving color perception in MR devices.