Currently, standards for measuring and testing the quality of images from camera phones are lacking. Consequently, phones currently on the market with sensors of identical resolutions produce images with vastly different quality, causing dissatisfaction and confusion for consumers.
Aiming to provide a solution to the problem, The International Imaging Industry Association's Camera Phone Image Quality (CPIQ) Initiative is to meet in Edinburgh in Scotland next week to plan the completion of a set of image quality performance metrics as well as a consumer-oriented rating system for camera phone images.
The group will also plan the rollout of the CPIQ Initiative's rating system and discuss an eventual logo certification program. Once completed, the system will provide a tool for distilling a complex set of measurements and tests into a rating that consumers can easily understand to help them choose a camera phone.
In addition to the technical work, the group aims to build awareness and encourage industry-wide adoption of the CPIQ standards and image-quality testing methods.
The technical specifications developed by CPIQ to date are available from I3A's Resources Store, located at www.i3a.org/resources.
-- By Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design