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:
Feb. 15, 2011
Filed:
Aug. 02, 2006
Hideaki Ishihara, Hachioji, JP;
Takayuki Hanawa, Hachioji, JP;
Nobuyuki Doguchi, Hino, JP;
Fumiyuki Okawa, Hino, JP;
Hideaki Ishihara, Hachioji, JP;
Takayuki Hanawa, Hachioji, JP;
Nobuyuki Doguchi, Hino, JP;
Fumiyuki Okawa, Hino, JP;
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An endoscope includes a solid image-pickup device having an image area and an optical black area for performing photoelectric conversion and including a function of varying an amplification ratio, and a first signal clamp circuit clamps the analog output signal that is outputted from the solid image-pickup device to adjust into an input range of the analog signal processing circuit with an analog reference signal which is unaffected by a defective pixel in the optical black area. The clamped signal is processed to extract signal components which are photoelectrically converted by the analog signal processing circuit by the image area. The output signal from the analog signal processing circuit clamps the signal in the optical black area by using output signals of at least the number of pixels larger than the number of pixels in a horizontal direction in the optical black area by the second signal clamp circuit.