Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Tatsuhiko Yamazaki

Hidetoshi Hayashi

Kenjiro Watanabe

Kimiyuki Hayasaki

Nobuyuki Hatasa

Shintaro Takenaka

Tetsuya Tateno

Takuro Yamamoto

Toshiaki Minami

Hayao Ohzu

Yuji Hara

Tetsuya Itano

Hiroki Hiyama

Toshiaki Ono

A solid-state image sensor, comprising a plurality of circuit groups each of which can assume an operating state and a non-operating state, a storage unit configured to store an order of switching the plurality of circuit groups from the non-operating state to the operating state, and a control unit configured to receive, from outside the sensor, a control signal, common to the plurality of circuit groups, for switching the plurality of circuit groups from the non-operating state to the operating state, wherein after receiving the control signal, the control unit sequentially switches, according to the order stored in the storage unit, the plurality of circuit groups from the non-operating state to the operating state at an interval of a period corresponding to an integer multiple of a cycle of a clock signal.

Solid-state image sensor, driving method thereof, and camera

The present invention relates to a technology for providing a selection unit configured to perform selection of a bit memory that holds a signal of a first bit of a digital signal from among a plurality of bit memories commonly in a memory unit in each of a plurality of AD conversion units.

Image pickup apparatus, image pickup system, driving method for the image pickup apparatus, and inspection method for the image pickup apparatus

A semiconductor device comprises a plurality of units, each including a sensor unit which accumulates charges upon photoelectric conversion and a storage unit which stores information, and a control unit which controls each of the plurality of units, wherein the control unit sequentially performs, for each of the plurality of units, first operation of comparing a reference voltage with an output signal from the sensor unit based on the amount of accumulated charges and second operation of storing information based on the comparison result in the storage unit corresponding to the sensor unit if an output signal from the sensor unit reaches the reference voltage in the first operation, and the control unit is configured to be able to start the first operation for a next unit upon skipping the second operation and skips the second operation in a predetermined period.

Semiconductor device, method of controlling the same, and camera based on reference comparison

A focus detection apparatus for performing phase difference detection type focus detection includes sensor units each configured to generate a signal used for detecting a phase difference, a setting unit configured to set one or more sensor units as determination targets, a determination unit configured to sequentially select a sensor unit from the determination targets, and repeatedly determine whether a signal generated by the selected sensor unit satisfies a termination condition of having a peak value greater than a threshold, and a detection unit configured to perform focus detection using the signal that satisfies the termination condition. The apparatus operates in a first mode and then shift to a second mode. The setting unit includes, in the determination targets in the second mode, a sensor unit that is not included in the determination targets in the first mode.

Focus detection apparatus

An imaging device comprising an imaging unit that outputs digital data of a pixel value indicating one of colors for each pixel and a conversion unit that outputs from ports I pieces of the digital data that has been input from the imaging unit in a first mode and output from part of the ports J (J&#x3c;I) pieces of digital data obtained from the I pieces of the digital data of the same color that has been input from the imaging unit in a second mode is provided. When outputting digital data of pixels of a single row in the imaging unit in the both modes, the conversion unit outputs digital data of a first color from a first port and outputs digital data of a second color from a second port.

Imaging device and imaging system that converts a pixel bit width depending on an operation mode

A focus detection apparatus that performs a first determination for determining whether a signal level indicating an amount of the electric charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element has reached a lower threshold, and a second determination for determining whether the signal level has reached a higher second. During a time period from when it is determined that the signal level has reached the lower threshold to when it is determined that the signal level has reached the higher threshold, the second determination is performed at a shorter time interval if an elapsed time from when the accumulation of the electric charges is started to when it is determined that the signal level has reached the first threshold is shorter than a reference time, and at a longer time interval if the elapsed time is longer than the reference time.

Focus detection apparatus and method for controlling the same

A semiconductor device includes a pair of sensor units each of which includes a photoelectric conversion unit, a signal holding unit and a transfer unit, and outputs a signal held by the signal holding unit, comprising a control unit including a detector unit, wherein when one of the pair of sensor units operates in a first mode, the other operates in a second mode, the detector unit detects that the output has reached a predetermined value after the one starting a signal transfer, the one ends the signal transfer in response to the detection and determines the held signal, the control unit generates a control signal after that, and the other in the second mode accumulates generated charges and starts a signal transfer in accordance with the control signal, then ends the signal transfer and determines the held signal.

Semiconductor device

Provided is a solid-state image pickup device that includes: a pixel portion having a plurality of pixels that are arranged in a two-dimensional array and generate pixel signals; a readout row counter that generates row addresses for reading the pixel portion; a first reset row counter that generates a row address for resetting a first field of the pixel portion; a second reset row counter that generates a row address for resetting a second field of the pixel portion; a selector that selects one of the row addresses generated by the readout row counter, the first reset row counter, and the second reset row counter; and pixel driving units that respectively select two rows: an odd-numbered row and a neighboring even-numbered row of the pixel portion corresponding to the selected row address.

Solid-state image pickup device and method of driving the same

A focus detecting apparatus, comprising a first pair of sensor blocks each including a sensor unit and a detection unit, and a power supply unit configured to supply power to the detection unit, wherein when one of the first pair of sensor blocks operates in a first mode, the other operates in a second mode, the detection unit of the sensor block operating in the first mode detects an output of the sensor unit, the sensor unit of the sensor block operating in the second mode accumulates charges and terminates the charge accumulation operation in response to the detection operation, and the power supply unit shuts off power supply to the detection unit of the sensor block operating in the second mode for at least part of the period of time during the operation in the second mode.

Focus detecting apparatus and driving method therefor

An ink tank receives data signals from a printer and an LED provided on the ink tank is driven on the basis of the received data signals. The LED is driven in an inactive time period that is different from the time period in which the date signals are input to the ink tank.

Signaling module, liquid container, recording apparatus, and control method

A semiconductor integrated circuit comprises a test mode decision circuit which decides a normal operation mode or a test mode when having input a clock from a reset state and started an operation by using a scan enable signal that is used for a scan test, and retains a decision result until the decision result is reset; a scan enable mask circuit which disables the transmission of a scan enable signal to an internal scan circuit according to a decision result signal; and an access control unit which disables the access to the internal memory unit according to the decision result signal output from the test mode decision circuit. Furthermore, the semiconductor integrated circuit has a configuration of using the scan enable signal and the normal operation input signal in common.

Semiconductor integrated circuit

An ink tank detachably mounted on a printer includes a non-volatile memory and a LED for executing a process in response to a condition of the tank such as ink residual quantity by transmitting information stored in the memory to a printer, and informing the condition of the ink by use of the LED. Further, the content stored in the memory is prevented from being destroyed, and the LED can perform light emission until immediately before detachment and thus contribute to improvement in workability of a user. A volatile memory element is provided in addition to the non-volatile memory. When a user can detach the tank, condition information on the ink tank retained by the non-volatile memory is transferred to the volatile memory in advance. When it is possible to detach the tank, control for turning the LED on and off is achieved by accessing only to the volatile memory.

Liquid container, liquid supply system and printing device using liquid container, and circuit board for liquid container

A median filter using an M&#xd7;N window sorts M&#xd7;N pixel data along each column in descending order to generate N data strings, each having M sorted pixel data. The N data strings are sequentially stored in a shift register. Data strings in different stages of the shift register are merged with one another in descending order to generate a new sorted data string. Such sorted data strings are again merged with each other to generate a data string having M&#xd7;(N&#x2212;1) sorted data. M+1 data surrounding the median value of the data string are merged with a data string having M sorted data in descending order to generate a data string having 2M+1 sorted data. The data value at the median rank of the 2M+1 sorted data is output as the median value of the M&#xd7;N image data.

Growing community of inventors

Zama, Japan

Tatsuhiko Yamazaki