Performance analysis of structural similarity-based backlight dimming algorithm modulated by controlling allowable local distortion of output image

Abstract

This paper proposes a global backlight dimming algorithm based on structural similarity that controls the local distortion level of the output image for preserving overall image quality. Unlike existing methods, the proposed method non-iteratively determines a global clipping point that maintains structural similarity for each pixel above the desired level. The proposed method consists of three steps: region analysis, candidate clipping point calculation, and backlight luminance determination. In the first step, the structural similarity is analyzed based on various clipping points. In the second step, the proposed method estimates a candidate clipping point, which preserves the structural similarity index of each pixel above the desired level, based on the estimation of local statistics. Then, the proposed method determines a global clipping point based on a group of candidate clipping points. Finally, the output luminance is determined based on the selected global clipping point. Experimental results showed that the proposed method successfully maintained the structural similarity of each pixel above the desired level. In addition, the proposed method reduced the variation of minimum structural similarity by up to 94.7% compared to the benchmark methods.