Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ohtsuka Patent Office

Canon Kabushiki Xaisha

Toshikazu Yanai

Shigeo Ogura

Nobuhiro Takeda

Kenichi Kimura

Yoshihiro Uchino

Toshiya Kurihashi

Tsunefumi Tanaka

Makoto Sekita

Takeshi Akiyama

Norihiro Nanba

Hiroshi Saruwatari

Keisuke Araki

Yoshihiro Honma

Yasuyuki Yamazaki

Masato Kosugi

Kenichi Shinbori

Masashi Hori

Akira Suga

Sadahiko Tsuji

Makoto Kondo

Eiji Ohara

Hiroyuki Ogino

Yuji Sakaegi

Masato Ikeda

Kenichi Kondo

Yoshiro Udagawa

Hideyuki Rengakuji

A plurality of analog-to-digital (AD) conversion units is provided in a column signal line connecting commonly to vertical pixel columns. A signal of one pixel is digitized by the plurality of AD conversion units and averaged to achieve noise reduction. Operations for reading signals from a plurality of pixels are performed in parallel for alleviating the decrease of the frame rate.

Imaging apparatus having image sensor to reduce column noise

An image capturing apparatus is provided. A synchronizing signal generation unit generates a short-term vertical synchronizing signal VDS and a long-term vertical synchronizing signal VDL, one cycle of which is equal to N cycles of VDS. An exposure control unit performs short-term exposure and long-term exposure for the predetermined number of lines of an image sensor according to VDS and VDL. The exposure control unit starts a read operation of pixel signals for a long-term exposure line in synchronism with VDL, and starts a read operation of pixel signals for a short-term exposure line in synchronism with VDS, which does not overlap a read period Fr_L Readout of pixel signals of a long-term exposure line.

Image capturing apparatus that controls performing of short-term and long-term exposures and corresponding read operations, and control method thereof

An apparatus having an electronic zoom function, comprising an image sensing element, a zoom magnification setting unit, a pixel signal readout unit, an image processor, and a controller which, when the zoom magnification is between first and second zoom magnifications, controls to read out pixel signals of a first pixel count, and to generate the image using pixel signals of a second pixel count, and when the zoom magnification is between third and fourth zoom magnifications, controls to read out pixel signals of a third pixel count, and to generate the image using pixel signals of a fourth pixel count, the second pixel count is not larger than the first pixel count, the fourth pixel count is not larger than the third pixel count.

Image sensing apparatus, control method thereof, and storage medium

In an image capture mode, a noise reading operation and image signal reading operation are used. In a photometric operation mode, the image signal reading operation is used.

Imaging apparatus

An image capturing apparatus includes an image sensor including a first reference pixel for black level, a second reference pixel for black level, and an effective pixel, and a processing unit which applies first processing to an output signal from the effective pixel based on an output signal from the first reference pixel for black level, and applies second processing to an output signal from the effective pixel based on an output signal from the second reference pixel for black level. The first reference pixel for black level and the second reference pixel for black level each include a charge-voltage converter which converts electric charge into a voltage and a pixel amplifier which amplifies the voltage of the charge-voltage converter. The pixel amplifiers of the first reference pixel for black level and the second reference pixel for black level differ in arrangement.

Image capturing apparatus and control method therefor

An image pickup apparatus which prevents distortion of an image captured using an image pickup element employing an XY reading method and which suppresses degradation of the captured image caused by light leakage to pixel circuits is provided. Transfer transistors and reset transistors in all rows are turned on and photodiodes and FDs are reset before exposure of the photodiodes is started. Then, after a predetermined exposure time has been elapsed, the transfer transistors in all the rows are turned on and signal charges of the photodiodes of all pixels are transmitted to the FDs. When the exposure is terminated, a mechanical shutter is closed so as to block leakage light, and voltages corresponding to the signal charges transmitted from the photodiodes are successively read from the FDs on a row-by-row basis.

Image pickup apparatus and method for controlling the same

In an image pickup device, in order to enable signal charge read-out from the image pickup element in a thinning-out manner from the pixels of predetermined rows, even in case the image display unit has a number of pixels in the vertical direction smaller than the number of pixels that can be outputted from the image pickup element in a single image pickup operation, and also to form a color image even from the thinned-out image signal from the image pickup element, the signal charges are read in thinning-out manner from the pixels of predetermined rows, then there is formed a line-sequential color difference signal consisting of a signal S(odd) in which color signals (Ye+Mg) and (Cy+G) are repeated in this order and a signal S(even) in which color signals (Ye+G) and (Cy+Mg) are repeated in this order and an image signal corresponding to a row in every four rows in the vertical direction is outputted from the image pickup element.

Image pickup device adaptable to display fewer vertical pixels

An image pickup apparatus includes horizontally and vertically arranged charge-generating pixels, vertical charge transfer elements reading out charges generated by the pixels of vertical pixel lines, a horizontal charge transfer element reading out charges read out by the vertical transfer elements, in the horizontal direction, and a controller controlling a first mode dividing the pixel charges into fields and sequentially reading out the fields to form an image of one frame, and a third mode thinning out the pixel charges of a first field and reading them out to the vertical transfer elements, thinning out charges of the pixels of a third field to read them out to the vertical transfer elements, adding together the charges read out to the vertical transfer elements in the first and third fields and reading out the added charges to the horizontal charge transfer element to form an image of one frame.

Image pickup apparatus having a plurality of different readout modes

In an image sensing apparatus which uses a solid-state image sensing device, it is an object of the present invention to minimize smear. In order to achieve the object, a solid-state image sensing apparatus includes a solid-state image sensing device, a calculation unit which calculates a signal correction amount from an output signal from the solid-state image sensing device, an indication unit (even_odd_flag) which indicates whether the above output signal is output from an even-numbered line or odd-numbered line of the solid-state image sensing deice, the first correction unit which corrects the signal correction amount in accordance with the output from this indication unit, and the first subtraction unit which subtracts, from the above output signal, the signal correction amount corrected by the first correction unit.

Image sensing apparatus and method for correcting signal from image sensing device by using signal correction amount

There is provided an image pickup apparatus including a plurality of pixels which are arranged in a horizontal and a vertical direction and which generate charges corresponding to optical signals, in which a color filter arrangement of a first order are arranged in horizontal pixel rows of odd numbers and a color filter arrangement of a second order are arranged in horizontal pixel rows of even numbers; and a drive circuit having a first mode for reading out pixel data of 2k+1 fields (k is a natural number) by an interlace operation from the plurality of pixels, a second mode for reading out pixel data of one field among the 2k+1 fields from the plurality of pixels, and a third mode for reading out images of a plurality of fields, the number of which is smaller than the of the 2k+1 fields, among the 2k+1 fields from the plurality of pixels.

Image pickup device with vertical and horizontal charge transfer devices operable in plural modes

A reflecting-type optical system according to the invention includes an optical element composed of a transparent body having an entrance surface, an exit surface and at least three curved reflecting surfaces of internal reflection. A light beam coming from an object and entering at the entrance surface is reflected from at least one of the reflecting surfaces to form a primary image within the optical element and is, then, made to exit from the exit surface through the remaining reflecting surfaces to form an object image on a predetermined plane. In the optical system, 70% or more of the length of a reference axis in the optical element lies in one plane.

Reflecting type optical system

Method and apparatus for processing image signals

A reflecting type of zoom optical system comprises a plurality of optical elements each of which includes a transparent body and two refracting surfaces and a plurality of reflecting surfaces formed on the transparent body and is arranged so that a light beam enters the transparent body from one of the two refracting surfaces, repeatedly undergoes reflection by the plurality of reflecting surfaces, and exits from the other of the two refracting surfaces, and/or a plurality of optical elements on each of which a plurality of reflecting surfaces made from surface reflecting mirrors are integrally formed, and each of which is arranged so that an entering light beam repeatedly undergoes reflection by the plurality of reflecting surfaces and exits from the optical element. In the reflecting type of zoom optical system, an image of an object is formed via the plurality of optical elements and zooming is performed by causing at least two optical elements from among the plurality of optical elements to vary their relative positions.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Toshikazu Yanai