Method and apparatus to estimate scene illuminant based on skin reflectance database

A system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions operative to perform a method comprising:

• obtaining an image of a real-world scene;
• determining a first estimated illuminant spectral power distribution for an illuminant of the real-world scene;
• identifying, within the image, at least a first region that represents human skin;
• from the image, determining a representative skin color value for the first region;
• based on the first estimated illuminant spectral power distribution and the representative skin color value, selecting a first candidate skin reflectance spectrum;
• selecting a first updated estimated illuminant spectral power distribution based on the representative skin color value and the selected first candidate skin reflectance spectrum;
• and
• rendering a virtual object by an augmented reality device using the first updated estimated illuminant spectral power distribution as an illuminant of the virtual object.

A method comprising:

• obtaining an image of a real-world scene;
• identifying, within the image, at least a first region that represents human skin;
• from the image, determining a representative skin color value for the first region;
• based on the representative color value, selecting at least one candidate skin color value from among a plurality of candidate skin color values, where each of the candidate skin color values is associated with a respective illuminant;
• selecting, as an estimated illuminant for the real-world scene, the respective illuminant associated with the selected candidate skin color value;
• and
• rendering a virtual object by an augmented reality device using the estimated illuminant as an illuminant of the virtual object.