Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd.

Tadao Endo

Toshio Kameshima

Katsuro Takenaka

Tomoyuki Yagi

Keigo Yokoyama

Noriyuki Kaifu

Isao Kobayashi

Shinichi Takeda

Kazuaki Tashiro

Masakazu Morishita

Sho Sato

Toshikazu Tamura

Chiori Mochizuki

Toshihiro Saika

Eiichi Takami

Akira Tago

Akira Funakoshi

Shinichi Hayashi

Toshiaki Sato

Masayoshi Akiyama

Minoru Watanabe

Atsushi Iwashita

Tetsuya Shimada

Satoshi Okada

Tatsundo Kawai

Satoshi Itabashi

Kouji Tomoda

Hirofumi Nakamura

Yoshihiko Masaki

Kazunari Yoshida

Yasuhito Tashiro

An image-pickup apparatus including a detector comprising a detecting unit and a reading circuit, the detecting unit including pixels, each of which including a conversion element, the reading circuit which includes a connecting unit that is electrically connected to a signal wire transferring an electric signal and that electrically connects the signal wire to a node, and which performs a reading operation to output the electric signal from the pixel. A control unit controls an operation of the reading circuit, and a sensing unit senses the end of radiation irradiation based on an output of the reading circuit, which is acquired during the period of an accumulation operation of the detector. The control unit starts establishing the electrical connection between the signal wire and the node through the connecting unit based on the sensed irradiation end, and retains the electrical connection until the start of the reading operation.

Image-pickup system capable of sensing an end of radiation during an accumulation operation and method of controlling same

An image pickup apparatus includes a detector having pixels divided into first and second pixel groups, a signal processor including a reading circuit unit including first and second reading circuits, an A/D conversion unit including first and second A/D converters, a digital data processing circuit, and a controller. The controller instructs the signal processor to perform a signal processing operation several times of adding direct current potentials to analog electric signals of pixels from the reading circuit unit, supplying the signals to the A/D conversion unit, and outputting digital data to the digital data processing circuit while the direct current potentials are changed, and an average processing operation of averaging the digital data for the pixels using the digital data processing circuit.

Image pickup apparatus, image pickup system, method for controlling image pickup apparatus, method for controlling image pickup system, and programs

An imaging operation includes a first imaging operation for outputting image data according to irradiation to the detector with radiation or light in an irradiation field A corresponding to a part of the plurality of pixels, and a second imaging operation for outputting image data according to irradiation to the detectorwith radiation or light in an irradiation field B wider than the irradiation field A, wherein, responsive to a changing from irradiation in the irradiation field A to irradiation in the irradiation field B, an operation of the detector is controlled so that the detector performs an initializing operation for initializing conversion elements during a period between the first and second imaging operations.

Imaging apparatus and imaging system, method thereof and program for the same

An imaging apparatus includes a control unit and a detector that includes multiple pixels and that performs an image capturing operation to output image data corresponding to emitted radiation or light. The image capturing operation includes a first image capturing operation in which the detector is scanned in a first scanning area corresponding to part of the multiple pixels to output image data in the first scanning area and a second image capturing operation in which the detector is scanned in a second scanning area larger than the first scanning area to output image data in the second scanning area. The control unit causes the detector to perform an initialization operation to initialize the conversion element during a period between the first image capturing operation and the second image capturing operation in accordance with switching from the first scanning area to the second scanning area.

Imaging apparatus, imaging system, method of controlling the apparatus and the system, and program

An imaging apparatus includes a conversion unit including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, each pixel including a conversion element, an output switch element, and an initialization switch element; an output drive circuit controls an output operation; an initialization drive circuit controls an initialization operation; and a readout circuit performs a signal sample-and-hold operation and a reset operation. A control unit performs termination of the output operation of a certain row and start of the output operation of another row after the termination of the reset operation, the start of the signal sample-and-hold operation after the termination of the output operation of the certain row and the start of the output operation of the other row, the start of the reset operation and the initialization operation after the termination of the signal sample-and-hold operation, and the termination of the reset operation after the termination of the initialization operation.

An imaging apparatus includes a transmitting path to transmit the output electric signal, and a read-out circuit performing a sampling and holding operation for holding the electric signal read out through the transmitting path, and performing a reset operation to reset the transmitting path, and includes a control unit for controlling an outputting drive circuit and a read-out circuit so as to perform the sampling and holding operation row by row after a start of the output operation, to perform the reset operation after the sampling and holding operation, and to terminate the output operation after the reset operation. This can reduce the frame time without reducing the S/N ratio of the image signal.

Imaging apparatus, radiation imaging system, controlling method of imaging apparatus, and recording medium recording control program of imaging apparatus

An imaging apparatus is provided, which improves correction accuracy at the time of pixel addition reading and scarcely deteriorates in resolution of the image data. This apparatus comprises: a conversion unit comprising a plurality of unit-pixels and converting an incident radiation or a light into pixel information; a signal processing unit capable of reading the pixel information for each unit-pixel, or capable of reading additional added pixel information for a plurality of unit-pixels, based on a control from a control unit for controlling a driving of the conversion unit according to a plurality of operation modes; a storage unit for storing a plurality of correction information according to the plurality of operating modes; and a correction unit for performing the correction of the pixel information based on the correction information extracted from the plurality of correct information according to the operation mode.

Imaging system and method for error-reduction processing

A read out operation for reading out image data from a conversion circuit irradiated with a radiation, and a read out operation for reading out offset image data from the conversion circuit without irradiated with a radiation are selectively conducted, a control is conducted to repeat at a plurality of times the operation for reading out the offset image data, offset data corresponding to each pixel is extracted from one of the plurality of the offset image data to generate corrective offset image data such that offset data corresponding to all the pixels in a row of the matrix is not extracted from one of the plurality of offset image data, and the corrective offset image data is subtracted from the image data to perform an offset correction to render line noise less noticeable, for an offset correction without line noise by a simple signal processing to be provided.

Imaging apparatus, imaging system, signal processing method and program

An imaging apparatus includes a control unit and a detector that includes multiple pixels and that performs an image capturing operation to output image data corresponding to radiation or light that is emitted. The image capturing operation includes a first image capturing operation in a first scanning area corresponding to part of the multiple pixels to output image data in the first scanning area and a second image capturing operation in a second scanning area larger than the first scanning area to output image data in the second scanning area. The control unit causes the detector to perform an accumulation operation in the second image capturing operation in a time determined so that an image artifact caused by the scanning area is lower than a predetermined allowable value on the basis of information about the amount of integration of accumulation times in the first image capturing operation.

Image-pickup system and method of controlling same

An apparatus includes a detection unit including a plurality of pixels that are arranged in a matrix and that are divided into at least first and second pixel groups, a signal processing unit including first and second readout circuits and first and second A/D converters, a power supply unit configured to supply the components included in the signal processing unit with respective biases, and a control unit configured to control at least one of the signal processing unit and the power supply unit. The control unit is configured to perform processing of altering an analog signal capable of being input into at least one of the first and second A/D converters or altering an A/D conversion characteristic of at least one of the first and second A/D converters.

Image pickup apparatus for reading a signal from a panel detector

An imaging system includes a plurality of imaging apparatuses, each of the imaging apparatuses includes a detector for performing an imaging operation for outputting image data corresponding to applied radiation or light and a controller for controlling the operation of the detector. The imaging apparatuses can independently perform an imaging operation and are movable in accordance with a relative positional relationship thereof. Sensing means obtain information indicative of the relative positional relationship between the imaging apparatuses. A control computer sends a control signal for determining operations of the imaging apparatuses to the controller. The control computer determines the operations of the imaging apparatuses by using the information obtained from the sensing means; and sets an appropriate scanning direction of each of the imaging apparatuses in accordance with the positional relationship thereof.

Imaging system and control method therefor

An imaging apparatus includes a sensor array, readout apparatus, and control circuit. The readout apparatus includes first LPFs arranged in correspondence with signal lines, an analog multiplexer, and a second LPF. The cut-off frequencies of the first and second LPFs can be switched on two stages, and the control circuit switches the cut-off frequencies of the first and second LPFs in accordance with the imaging mode.

Readout apparatus and imaging apparatus

An imaging system includes a detector () having a first area where irradiation occurs in a radiation field (A) and a second area other than the first area where irradiation occurs in a radiation field (B) and configured to output image data, and an image processing unit () that performs image processing on the image data. The image processing unit () includes a storage unit () that stores dark output information, a measurement unit () that measures the integral dose of the radiation or light applied to a pixel in the first area and the integral dose of the radiation or light applied to a pixel in the second area, and a correction unit () that corrects the image data, based on the dark output information obtained from the storage unit () and the integral doses measured by the measurement unit (), when changing of the radiation field has occurred.

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Honjo, Japan

Tadao Endo