Camera Phone Image Quality (CPIQ) Initiative

The CPIQ program has been aquired by IEEE. For more information please visit: http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1858

The lack of standards and metrics for measuring and testing camera phone image quality is one of the key issues affecting the mobile industry today.  Camera phones currently on the market with identical sensor resolution (megapixel) capabilities produce images with vastly different quality, causing dissatisfaction and confusion for consumers.  Vendors struggle with product decisions due to the lack of available metrics for testing and comparing those devices.  At the same time, they know that image quality is important to consumers in order for them to compare products and make selections that meet their individual needs.

CPIQ, an I3A Mobile Imaging Interest Group initiative, is comprised of a team of technologists, marketers, and strategic innovators from mobile and traditional imaging markets who are addressing these needs by developing a comprehensive set of image quality metrics and testing methods specifically for camera phones.  This set of metrics and test methods provides specific tools and validated test methods to facilitate standards-based communication and comparison among carriers, handset manufacturers and component vendors regarding imaging performance.  You can find out more about specific CPIQ deliverables below.

The CPIQ team is comprised of two main working groups:

• The CPIQ Technical Working Group (TWG): TWG participants develop standard metrics for measuring and testing camera phone image quality and correlate those metrics with the CPIQ Subjective Testing process to obtain meaningful and repeatable image quality performance ratings. 
• The CPIQ Marketing Working Group (MWG): MWG participants are designing a consumer-facing rating system specifically for camera phones that will allow consumers to compare products and ultimately make selections that meet their individual needs.  

Combined, the two CPIQ working groups strive toward an overall goal of promoting growth of the mobile imaging ecosystem, while encouraging consumers to take, share, print, and enjoy images captured on their camera phones.

Get Involved!

Join us in the current critical phase of CPIQ — help to develop metrics and tools that will improve camera phone image quality and contribute to the creation of a consumer-facing rating system that will provide meaningful information to consumers and vendors alike.

The Camera Phone Image Quality (CPIQ) initiative welcomes carriers, handset manufacturers, component vendors, and any other interested imaging, software, or hardware companies from around the globe.  Participation in CPIQ is open to all I3A Regular and Strategic Member Companies who are part of I3A’s Mobile Imaging Interest Group.

If you would like to learn more about how to get involved in the CPIQ Initiative, please contact Lisa Walker, I3A President (+1 (914) 285-4933, ext. 4 | lisa@i3a.org).

If you are not currently a member of I3A, learn more about membership and how to join here.

CPIQ Results

CPIQ has delivered significant results to date, in addition to the work in development now.  The published documents are available on the I3A Resources page.

CPIQ's first accomplishment was a white paper providing an evaluation of existing best practices and standards as well as the identification of key measures/metrics in each of several critical CPIQ areas.  The camera phone photo-space is described and an initial subjective evaluation method for CPIQ is discussed.  The white paper is available free of charge.

CPIQ then developed an initial set of objective metrics and test methods for the evaluation of Spatial Frequency Response, Geometric Distortion, Lateral Chromatic Aberration, and Color Uniformity.  An initial draft of the CPIQ Subjective test methods was also developed and published to correlate and validate the impact for each of these metrics on actual perceived image quality.  A package containing the CPIQ 2.0 Specifications & Test Methods is available for purchase from the I3A Resource Store – note that I3A members receive discounts on all purchases.

Available Research by CPIQ Experts

CPIQ's work has been broadly influential in the scientific and standards communities, giving rise to a number of significant research papers – view the list of publications, many of which are available for purchase or free download.

CPIQ Work In Progress

The current CPIQ Technical Working Group is focused on delivering test metric procedures and processes for all the remaining major quality attributes, as well as establishing an approach and means for translating and distilling the complete set of metrics into a consumer rating system for camera phones.  Additional metrics TWG members are working on include:

• Texture blur (introduced by noise smoothing)
• Luminance uniformity across image field
• Signal to Noise and Dynamic Range
• Color consistency and white balance
• Sensitivity, Exposure and Tone Reproduction
• Blemishes and Artifacts
• Color: Preference and Reproduction
• Depth of field
• Veiling glare and stray light 

Meanwhile, the CPIQ Marketing Working Group is concentrating on developing the consumer rating system, ensuring that it offers a better way to segment product offerings and market the right camera phone to the right consumer.  The rating system will balance all aspects of performance (sharpness, color, noise, etc.) into a single comprehensive result.  It will enable carriers to market to their customers using meaningful features like low-light performance, better optics, and image processing.  For consumers it helps establish performance expectations, leading to more sharing and printing of images, and higher customer satisfaction, therefore fewer returns.

CPIQ Contributors

I3A extends thanks and gratitude to the following companies for their contributions to the CPIQ Initiative: