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:
Aug. 08, 2006
Filed:
Jan. 17, 2002
Jun Takayama, Tokyo, JP;
Tetsufumi Takaba, Tokyo, JP;
Kyosei Miyata, Tokyo, JP;
Takao Hosaka, Tokyo, JP;
Takenori Kitada, Tokyo, JP;
Koichi Sato, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Kibayashi, Tokyo, JP;
Jun Takayama, Tokyo, JP;
Tetsufumi Takaba, Tokyo, JP;
Kyosei Miyata, Tokyo, JP;
Takao Hosaka, Tokyo, JP;
Takenori Kitada, Tokyo, JP;
Koichi Sato, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Kibayashi, Tokyo, JP;
Konica Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The invention concerns an image-capturing apparatus and an imager. The image-capturing apparatus includes the imager in which a plurality of circuit cells are two-dimensionally aligned, and an electronic charge, photo-electronically converted from a received light and stored in each circuit cell, can be discharged from an arbitral circuit cell. The imager includes first group circuit cells to generate electronic charges corresponding to the pixels of the image including a subject, and second group circuit cells to generate electronic charges corresponding to an amount of light coming from the subject, the electronic charges further being converted to a detected value. In the imager, at least one of two operations of halting a generating-action of the electronic charges in the first group circuit cells and discharging the electronic charges from the first group circuit cells is performed, when the detected value exceeds a threshold value.