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. 10, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 01, 2003
Osamu Ueda, Kanagawa, JP;
Hisataka Hirose, Kanagawa, JP;
Toshiki Ishida, Kanagawa, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus capable of obtaining a sufficient resolution in a picture signal for zooming in on an output signal of an image pickup device by means of an electronic zoom process and a control method thereof. To attain this object, a timing generator generates a timing signal for controlling timing for reading charges to an image pickup device and the timing for mixing or transferring the charges. A zoom control portion determines a scaling factor for, by signal processing, expanding or reducing picture data generated based on the output signal of the image pickup device. The zoom control portion also determines the number of mixed pixels and a cutout range of the charges in the image pickup device. A vertical scaling factor control portion controls the timing generator so that mixture of the charges and charge transfer will be compliant with the number of mixed pixels and the cutout range respectively as determined by the zoom control portion.