# US 12,771,949 B2 · Systems and methods of eliminating video flicker caused by LED duty cycling to maintain brightness and control power consumption

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- Number: US 12,771,949 B2
- Document ID: US12771949B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/778,664
- Filed: 2024-07-19
- Published: 2024-11-07
- Granted: 2026-10-20
- Earliest claimed: 2018-10-10
- Assignees: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH
- Applicants: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH
- Inventors: Walter A. Martin; Terry Neill
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12771949B2

## CPC

- H04N 23/745: Detection of flicker frequency or suppression of flicker wherein the flicker is caused by illumination, e.g. due to fluorescent tube illumination or pulsed LED illumination
- H04N 23/71: Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation
- H04N 23/73: by influencing the exposure time
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

## Abstract

A video camera system includes a video capture device and a camera controller. The video capture device includes a sensor that receives light, a shutter that selectively permits the light to be received at the sensor based on a shutter speed, and a frame processor that generates a plurality of video frames based on the light. The camera controller includes a frame parameter calculator that calculates a luminance parameter of the plurality of frames, a frequency domain analyzer that executes a frequency domain analysis based on the luminance parameter to generate a plurality of luminance amplitude values mapped to a plurality of frequencies, and a control signal generator that generates a target shutter speed based on the plurality of luminance amplitude values mapped to the plurality of frequencies, and transmits a control signal based on the target shutter speed to cause the shutter to operate at the target shutter speed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system, comprising one or more processors to:
determine a first luminance of a first frame of a plurality of frames;
compare the first luminance of the first frame with a second luminance of a second frame of the plurality of frames to determine a highest expected luminance;
determine a target shutter speed for a shutter of a video capture device based on the highest expected luminance;
determine that a change in luminance between consecutive frames of the plurality of frames is greater than a threshold change in luminance, responsive to the target shutter speed being less than a minimum shutter speed; and
provide instructions to adjust the target shutter speed to an adjusted target shutter speed.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to identify a luminance corresponding to each pixel of the first frame of the plurality of frames.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to generate an initial target shutter speed based on a plurality of luminance amplitude values.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to determine the second luminance of the second frame of the plurality of frames.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to determine the target shutter speed for the shutter of the video capture device based on a frequency corresponding to the highest expected luminance.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to determine that flicker has not been eliminated based on a change in luminance between the first luminance of the first frame and the second luminance of the second frame.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to provide the instructions to adjust target shutter speed to reduce a change in luminance between the first luminance of the first frame and the second luminance of the second frame to a value less than a threshold change in luminance.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
a communications circuit to communicate with a remote device.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to provide the instructions to adjust the target shutter speed for display by a user interface.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the video capture device to generate the plurality of frames, the video capture device including the shutter, the shutter configured to permit light to be received to generate the plurality of frames.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to cause the shutter to operate at the target shutter speed.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the first luminance is an average luminance of the first frame and the second luminance is an average luminance of the second frame.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to determine at least one of a periodicity or a frequency of a flicker in the plurality of frames.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the one or more processors to determine an initial target shutter speed based on frequency analysis of the first luminance of the first frame.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising:
the plurality of frames based on light from a plurality of luminaires having differing flicker frequencies or pulse width modulation (PWM) control schemes.

### Claim 16

A method, comprising:
determining, by one or more processors, a first luminance of a first frame of a plurality of frames;
comparing, by the one or more processors, the first luminance of the first frame with a second luminance of a second frame of the plurality of frames to determine a highest expected luminance;
determining, by the one or more processors, a target shutter speed for a shutter of a video capture device based on the highest expected luminance;
causing, by the one or more processors, the shutter to operate at a target shutter speed responsive to the at least one luminance parameter;
determining, by the one or more processors, that a change in luminance between consecutive frames of the plurality of frames is greater than a threshold change in luminance;
adjusting, by the one or more processors, the target shutter speed to determine an adjusted target shutter speed responsive to determining that the change in luminance is greater than the threshold change in luminance; and
causing, by the one or more processors, the shutter to operate at the adjusted target shutter speed.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, the target shutter speed for the shutter of the video capture device based on a frequency corresponding to the highest expected luminance.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, comprising:
adjusting the target shutter speed responsive to the target shutter speed being less than a minimum shutter speed.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, comprising:
identifying a luminance corresponding to each pixel of the first frame of the plurality of frames.

### Claim 20 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, comprising:
providing, by the one or more processors, an instruction to adjust the target shutter speed to reduce the change in luminance to be less than the threshold change in luminance.
