Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ohtsuka Patent Office

Canon Kabushiki Xaisha

Nobuhiro Takeda

Shigeo Ogura

Toshikazu Yanai

Kenichi Kimura

Yoshihiro Uchino

Toshiya Kurihashi

Makoto Sekita

Hirokazu Kobayashi

Tsunefumi Tanaka

Takeshi Akiyama

Norihiro Nanba

Hiroshi Saruwatari

Keisuke Araki

Satoshi Suzuki

Masato Ikeda

Makiko Saito

Ken Sasaki

Takashi Sasaki

Masanori Tanaka

Takafumi Kishi

Yoshiro Udagawa

Yoshihiro Honma

Yasuyuki Yamazaki

Masato Kosugi

Kenichi Shinbori

Masashi Hori

Takashi Matsuda

Yuichiro Yamashita

Hiroki Hiyama

Masao Suzuki

Kenji Takahashi

Akihiro Fujiwara

Sadahiko Tsuji

Hiroyuki Wada

Hiroyuki Ogino

Keisuke Ota

Mie Ishii

Tomotaka Muramoto

Shoji Kono

Hideki Ikedo

Sunao Kurahashi

Ryoji Kubo

Yasuhiro Oguro

Takahiro Yamasaki

Koji Oshima

Teruyuki Okado

Shunichi Wakashima

Shingo Tatsumi

Takao Sasakura

Yoshiaki Miyamoto

Hideaki Yamaki

Kazuhiko Etoh

An image sensor comprises: a plurality of microlenses; and a pixel region including, with respect to each of the plurality of microlenses, a plurality of first sensitivity regions formed at first depth from a light incident surface, a plurality of second sensitivity regions formed at second depth which is deeper than the first depth, and a plurality of connection portions that electrically connect the plurality of first regions and the plurality of second regions in different combinations.

Image sensor, image capturing apparatus, method of performing phase difference focus detection, and storage medium

An analog-to-digital converter includes a generator, a comparator, and a counter. The generator generates a reference signal whose voltage changes with respect to time. The voltage of the reference signal changes with a constant slope in a predetermined first period since the voltage starts changing. The slope of the voltage becomes steeper with respect to time in a second period after the first period. The comparator compares the reference signal and a voltage output from outside, and outputs a comparison result. The counter counts at a predetermined first cycle since the voltage of the reference signal starts changing until the comparison result is inverted.

Analog-to-digital converter having reference signal, image sensor, and image capturing apparatus

An image pickup element has a configuration in which a pixel region substrate and a readout circuit substrate are stacked. On a pixel region substrate, a plurality of unit pixels configured by a micro lens and a plurality of photoelectric converters are arranged in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. On a readout circuit substrate, a plurality of readout circuits that read out a signal based on charges stored in the photoelectric converter is arranged in the horizontal and vertical directions. In the unit pixels that are adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction (or the vertical direction), a first photoelectric converter of a first unit pixel and a second photoelectric converter of a second unit pixel share one readout circuit.

Image pickup element, its control method, and image pickup apparatus with improved focus detection and pixel readout processing

The present invention provides a solid state image sensor, an image capturing apparatus, and an image capturing method that can realize a wide dynamic range while suppressing an increase in a signal amount. A solid state image sensor includes a sensor that issues pulses at a frequency corresponding to a frequency at which photons are incident; and a counter circuit that thins out the pulses issued from the sensor at a thinning ratio corresponding to the number of pulses issued from the sensor, and counts the pulses.

Solid state image sensor, image capturing apparatus, and image capturing method

An image capture apparatus comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a light-receiving circuit that outputs a pulse signal in response to incidence of a photon and a counting circuit configured to count the pulse signal, is disclosed. The image capture apparatus further comprises a detection circuit that detects whether or not a flickering light source is present in a field of view, based on an output frequency of the pulse signal.

Image capture apparatus and method for controlling the same

An image capturing apparatus comprises an image sensor including a plurality of pixels, each pixel being configured to include a sensor unit that outputs a signal pulse in response to a single photon being received, and a counter that counts the signal pulses and outputs a count value; and a control unit configured to control a pulsewidth of the signal pulses in accordance with shooting conditions of the image capturing apparatus or a state of the image capturing apparatus.

Image capturing apparatus and control method thereof

An image sensor with a simple configuration that generates an image to which a filter has been applied is disclosed. An image sensor comprises a plurality of pixels, each pixel including a photoelectric converter that detects incidence of single photons; and a counter that counts pulses present in an output signal from the photoelectric converter. The image sensor outputs a count value as a pixel value, wherein the count value is obtained by counting the pulses present in the output signals from a plurality of the photoelectric converters in a first period, or by counting the pulses present in the output signal from a single photoelectric converter in the first period and a second period.

Image sensor and electronic device having the same for outputting a count value as a pixel value by counting pulses present in the output signals from photoelectric converters

A solid-state image sensor comprises: a plurality of pixels each provided with a sensor unit that generates a pulse signal at a frequency corresponding to a frequency of reception of photons; a first counter that counts a number of pulses generated by the sensor unit; and an output unit that outputs a signal corresponding to a count value counted by the first counter in a case where change in the number of pulses detected per unit time is greater than a threshold.

Solid-state image sensor, image capturing apparatus and image capturing method

There is provided an image sensor comprising: a pixel unit having a plurality of pixels; an A/D converter which converts an image signal from the pixel into a digital image signal; a gradation converter which performs a gradation conversion to the digital image signal; and a selector which selects gradation converting characteristics of the gradation conversion to the digital image signal performed by the gradation converter.

Image sensor, imaging method, and imaging apparatus

In an image capturing apparatus that comprises a pixel area of pixels arranged in a matrix, output circuits apply preset processing to signals read out in parallel from divided areas obtained by dividing the pixel area in a column direction and output the processed signals, a controller performs control to execute first driving for reading out signals corresponding to a predetermined voltage to the output circuits, and second driving for reading out image signals from the pixel area, and a correction circuit generates gain data based on the predetermined voltage for correcting differences between the signals for correction of different columns output for each of the divided areas, and corrects the image signals of the divided areas using the gain data generated for the corresponding divided areas.

Image capturing apparatus capable of performing readout from a plurality of divided areas of a pixel area and control method therefor

In a pixel section of an image sensor, pixels are arranged two-dimensionally, each of the pixels including an amplifier transistor that is connected to a power voltage and has a gate into which a voltage of a signal charge generated by a photoelectric conversion area is input and a selection transistor that is connected to the amplifier transistor and a signal line. The image sensor includes an AD conversion circuit having a reference transistor having a gate into which a ramp signal is input and a constant current source that is connected to the reference transistor and the signal line. The voltage of the ramp signal or a driving ability of the reference transistor changes depending on whether one selection transistor or a plurality of selection transistors is/are turned on per signal line to obtain a signal charge to be AD-converted.

Image sensor and image capture apparatus

An image capturing apparatus comprises a pixel area having a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix; output circuits that apply preset processing to signals read out in parallel from divided areas obtained by dividing the pixel area in a column direction and output the processed signals in parallel; a controller that performs control to execute first driving for reading out signals for obtaining correction data from the divided areas to the output circuits, and second driving for reading out image signals from the divided areas to the output circuits; and a correction circuit that obtains the correction data from the signals read out through the first driving and corrects the image signals using the correction data. The controller executes the first driving with respect to pixels in a part of rows that includes a row at a border of the divided areas.

Image capturing apparatus, control method therefor, image sensor, and control method therefor

A solid-state image sensor includes a plurality of pixels arrayed in the row direction and the column direction, the first column signal line to which every other pixel arrayed in one pixel column is connected and the second column signal line to which remaining every other pixel arrayed in the one pixel array is connected, a pair of which are arranged for the one pixel column in the one pixel array; and a driver which drives the plurality of pixels arrayed in the one pixel column to simultaneously connect amplification transistors of a least two pixels to a same first column signal line on the same pixel column and simultaneously connect amplification transistors of at least two pixels to a same second column signal line on the same pixel column.

Solid-state image sensor, image capturing apparatus and control method thereof, and storage medium

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Yokohama, Japan

Nobuhiro Takeda