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:
Sep. 20, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 19, 2008
Masaya Kinoshita, Kanagawa, JP;
Takashi Kameya, Kanagawa, JP;
Masaya Kinoshita, Kanagawa, JP;
Takashi Kameya, Kanagawa, JP;
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The number of channels is changed in accordance with an operation mode in an image pickup apparatus. An image-pickup control unitdetermines the number of operation channels W in accordance with an operation mode. A sensor unitoutputs an image pickup signal corresponding to each pixel in accordance with the number of operation channels W. A data sending unitperforms serial conversion on image pickup signals, and transfers them to the image processing unitusing a high-speed interface (a signal line) such as an LVDS in accordance with the number of operation channels W. A data receiving unitperforms parallel conversion on the transferred serial signal for each of the channels in units of M bits. A data reconstruction unitdetects a synchronization code embedded in the parallel signals, extracts data windows, and supplies, to a signal line, image pickup signals of bit length n which are reconstructed from the data windows. A clock gating circuitsupplies a clock CLKto a signal lineonly during a period in which a valid flag (a signal line) indicates validity.