The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 09, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 29, 1996
Yoshiro Udagawa, Miyashiro-machi, JP;
Akira Suga, Tokyo, JP;
Toshikazu Yanai, Kawasaki, JP;
Masato Ikeda, Kurume, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In order to attain a high-speed thin-out reading operation and to obtain high image quality in an image pickup apparatus, a color filter array of this invention is applied to an interline CCD (image pickup element) in which a vertical CCD is driven in eight phases). The high-speed thin-out reading operation is performed as follows. That is, photoelectrically converted carriers for two horizontal lines are transferred to the vertical CCD every third lines (e.g., C in the first line and M in the second line, C in the fifth line and G in the sixth line, . . . are transferred to the vertical CCD), and residual photoelectrically converted carriers (the Y carrier in the third line, the G carrier in the fourth line, the Y carrier in the seventh line, and the M carrier in the eighth line) are discharged by a substrate discharge operation. Thereafter, the photoelectrically converted carriers in the vertical CCD are sequentially transferred in the vertical CCD, and are output via a horizontal CCD and an output amplifier. Chrominance signal carriers on the 1/2PH axis generated by the color filter array of this invention can be removed by an optical LPF, thus obtaining high image quality.