| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 348230100 | Readout of solid-state image sensor considered or altered | 23 |
| 20080259182 | High Gain Digital Imaging System - The present invention provides digital imaging architectures comprising detectors coupled to readout circuitry, wherein the readout circuitry is capable of providing large amplification to small, noise sensitive input signals to improve their noise immunity, as well as capable of providing a fast pixel readout time. The readout circuitry comprises an on-pixel amplification transistor as well as additional transistors used to read out the amplified signal and/or to reset the amplified output signal stored by a portion of the circuit prior to reading a subsequent signal. The present invention also provides readout circuitry that is capable of providing large amplification and thus additional noise immunity to the input signal from the detector by implementing another amplification stage within the readout circuitry. The readout circuitry can function in particular modes, the use of which can depend on characteristics of the input signals transferred to the readout circuitry from the detectors, or can depend on the characteristics of the output signal required from the readout circuitry. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20090021603 | EXPOSURE ADJUSTMENT METHODS AND SYSTEMS - Exposure adjustment methods and systems are provided. First, image data including a plurality of pixels is obtained. A plurality of sample regions is set based on respective pixels. A parameter calculation is performed according to a plurality of specific pixels in the sample regions to obtain a plurality of groups of adjustment parameters. At least one of the pixels is performed with a parameter adjustment according to the adjustment parameters. | 01-22-2009 |
| 20090141145 | ANTI-ECLIPSING CIRCUIT FOR IMAGE SENSORS - An anti-eclipse circuit of an image pixel includes a clamping circuit for pulling up a voltage of a reset signal output by the pixel and an eclipse detection circuit for controllably coupling the clamping circuit output to the output of the pixel. The clamping circuit includes a source follower transistor and a switching transistor. The eclipse detection circuit includes a comparator that is operated to detect an eclipse condition. The eclipse detection circuit outputs a control signal to cause the switching transistor to conduct only when a eclipse condition is detected while the pixel is outputting a reset signal. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090174792 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE FOR ENLARGEMENT OF DYNAMIC RANGE - An inter-line CCD (IT-CCD) capable of reading signals in two read modes, a field read mode and a frame read mode, is used to control, by a system control means, a CCD exposure and a signal read mode, a short-time exposure signal (Short signal) acquires an image by a field read and a long-time exposure signal (Long signal) acquires an image by a frame read, and these two images are synthesized by a signal synthesizing means to expand a dynamic range. | 07-09-2009 |
| 20090213244 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CORRECTING BACKLIGHT OF CAMERA - An apparatus and method for correcting the backlight of a camera are disclosed. When the camera for photographing a moving image by a photographing device, such as a general-purpose CCD or a general-purpose CMOS, enters into a backlight shooting state for simultaneously photographing an object with a very high luminance level and an object with a very low luminance level, as the shutter speed of the photographing device is varied to a long shutter speed and a short shutter speed, an image shot with the long shutter speed and an image shot with the short shutter speed are synthesized and outputted, thereby enabling a proper luminance level object photographing operation for each of the objects. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently prevent the phenomenon that the object with the low luminance level looks dark due to the object with the high luminance level. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090268055 | CONCENTRIC EXPOSURE SEQUENCE FOR IMAGE SENSOR - A method for image capture includes providing an image sensor having at least one segmented row of pixels, wherein the at least one segmented row comprises at least first and second disjoint row subsets of pixels, wherein the reset and readout operations for each row subset are controllably independent of each other; timing the exposure interval of the first subset to be photographically centered with the exposure interval of the second subset; and combining the image data obtained from the first and second row subset exposures to form a row of pixel values. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20100002094 | Method and apparatus providing multiple exposure high dynamic range sensor - Imagers reproduce an image by converting photons to a signal that is representative of the image. A sensor readout module reads reset and signal voltages corresponding to a plurality of integration times for each of a plurality of pixels. The sensor readout module is capable of determining whether the differences between reset and signal voltages corresponding to respective integration times indicate a saturation condition of the pixel. Accordingly, the sensor readout module may provide an output signal based on reset and signal voltages corresponding to an integration time that is less than an integration time for reset and signal voltages that indicate the saturation condition. A normalization module may normalize the output signal to correspond with a linear response curve. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100302407 | Image Sensor with Sensitivity Control and Sensitivity based Wide Dynamic Range - In one embodiment, a method for sensing an image of a scene includes receiving incident light at a image sensing device including an array of at least two regions of pixel elements, providing one or more control parameters where each of the control parameters modifies the sensitivity of the pixel elements, generating control signals for the one or more control parameter for each region of pixel elements where the sensitivity of the pixel elements is varied on a region by region basis. In another embodiment, method for sensing an image of a scene includes generating control signals for controlling two or more control parameters for controlling the pixel elements of an entire array to provide continuous fine grain control of the sensitivity of the pixel elements. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100309333 | IMAGE SENSORS AND IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION METHODS FOR CAPTURING HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGES - High dynamic range image sensors and image reconstruction methods for capturing high dynamic range images. An image sensor that captures high dynamic range images may include an array of pixels having two sets of pixels, each of which is used to capture an image of a scene. The two sets of pixels may be interleaved together. As an example, the first and second sets of pixels may be formed in odd-row pairs and even-row pairs of the array, respectively. The first set of pixels may use a longer exposure time than the second set of pixels. The exposures of the two sets of pixels may at least partially overlap in time. Image processing circuitry in the image sensors or an associated electronic device may de-interlace the two images and may combine the de-interlaced images to form a high dynamic range image. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100321525 | IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS, IMAGE CAPTURING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - The present invention provides an image capturing apparatus comprising an image capturing unit configured to capture an image; a generation unit configured to generate an exposure period map by assigning, to each of the plurality of image sensor pixels, exposure control information to control a charge accumulation time, based on preliminary capturing data obtained by preliminary capturing using the image capturing unit, the exposure control information including first exposure control information corresponding to a first accumulation time and second exposure control information corresponding to an accumulation time longer than the first exposure control information; a correction unit configured to expand a first region having the first exposure control information on the exposure period map; and a control unit configured to control the accumulation time for each of the plurality of image sensor pixels in accordance with the exposure period map corrected by the correction unit. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110001846 | Image processing device, image processing method recording medium, and program - An image acquisition unit acquires multiple image data sets of pixels in array, having subject distortion due to focal plane shutter effects, corresponding to images taken at continuous exposure timings; a coefficient storage unit stores coefficients, determined by which number-in-order of multiple images that the image data set corresponds to, and by each pixel position in the image; a multiplying unit multiplies a pixel value of a predetermined pixel in the image data sets, by the coefficient stored in the coefficient storage means; and an adding unit adds each pixel value of a predetermined number of the image data sets. The coefficients include a coefficient wherein, at the earliest image data set, pixels exposed earlier are weighted less and pixels exposed later are weighted more, and a coefficient wherein, at the latest image data set, pixels exposed earlier are weighted more and pixels exposed later are weighted less. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20110181754 | IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS - The present invention is an image pickup apparatus including an image pickup device having an image pickup plane on which pixels are two-dimensionally arranged, a mechanical rear curtain shutter that runs along the image pickup plane to control passage/shielding of light, a system control section that divides the image pickup plane into a plurality of pixel groups along the running direction ahead of running of the mechanical rear curtain shutter and collectively resets charge of all pixels in one pixel group sequentially at timing per pixel group according to running characteristics of the mechanical rear curtain shutter, and an image processing section that corrects a signal level of an image signal read from the image pickup device to approximate to an image signal obtained when the pixels have a same exposure time based on the running characteristics of the mechanical rear curtain shutter and reset timing for each pixel group. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20140192227 | GLARING REDUCTION FOR DYNAMIC REARVIEW MIRROR - A method for generating a glare-reduced image from images captured by a camera device of a subject vehicle includes obtaining a short-exposure image and a long-exposure image and generating a resulting high dynamic range image based on the short-exposure and long-exposure images. Pixel values are monitored within both the short- and long-exposure images. A light source region is identified within both the short- and long-exposure images based on the monitored pixel values. A glaring region is identified based on the identified light source region and one of calculated pixel ratios and calculated pixel differences between the monitored pixel values of the long- and short-exposure images. The identified glaring region upon the resulting high dynamic range image is modified with the identified light source region within the short-exposure image. The glare-reduced image is generated based on the modified identified glaring region upon the resulting HDR image. | 07-10-2014 |
| 20140347516 | SIGNAL PROCESSOR AND SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD, SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS, AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE - There is provided a signal processor including a phase difference detection part configured to acquire a pixel value of one light-shielding pixel having a part of a light-receiving region shielded therein and pixel values of a peripheral pixel row of the light-shielding pixel in a light shielding direction. A corrected pixel value obtained by subjecting the pixel value of the light-shielding pixel to a reduced sensitivity correction is compared with the pixel values of the peripheral pixel row to detect a phase difference of the light-shielding pixel. | 11-27-2014 |
| 20150124119 | METHOD FOR CORRECTING IMAGES ACQUIRED VIA ASYNCHRONOUSLY TRIGGERED ACQUISITION - A method for correcting images acquired via an asynchronous triggered acquisition, wherein image acquisition is triggered by a trigger signal based on the motion and/or position of the sample to be imaged by an image sensor, the method including: measurement of the motion and/or position of the sample; determination of an exposure time based on the aforementioned measurement; and correction of an acquired image based on the determined exposure time and a desired exposure time. | 05-07-2015 |
| 20150146039 | RADIAL FPA BASED ELECTRO-OPTIC IMAGER - A radial based approach to electro-optic imagers, rather than the conventional rectilinear approach, would have basic overall system design advantages. Those system design advantages would apply to the components and the entire system implementation and include approaches to objective optical design, focal plane array FPA with fill factor, FPA layout and associated read-out integrated circuit ROIC, support electronics architecture and associated memory requirements, image processing IP algorithms, display layout and format, and eyepiece optics. A radial based approach to EO imagers would yield a device/system with attributes requiring less complicated optical components, with potentially fewer elements, for both the objective and eyepiece lenses. In addition, alternative objective optics could be more easily employed, such as holographic or wave front coded, due to reduced complexity of implementing correction algorithms as a result of referencing the system around its optical axis. The radial readout EO system would have pixel ‘one’ at the center and be ‘read out and displayed’ like the rings of a tree rather than words on a page. | 05-28-2015 |
| 20150296113 | IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS AND PROCESSING METHOD FOR RESULT OF IMAGE PICKUP - The present invention is applied to an image pickup apparatus for which, for example, a CMOS solid-state image pickup element is used. One screen image is divided into a plurality of blocks, and a motion is detected for each of the blocks to control the exposure time of the block. | 10-15-2015 |
| 20150373256 | RADIAL FPA BASED ELECTRO-OPTIC IMAGER - A radial FPA based electro-optic imager, rather than the conventional rectilinear approach, would have basic overall system design advantages. Those system design advantages would apply to the components and the entire system implementation and include approaches to objective optical design, focal plane array FPA with fill factor, FPA layout and associated read-out integrated circuit ROIC, support electronics architecture and associated memory requirements, image processing IP algorithms, display layout and format, and eyepiece optics. A radial based approach to EO imagers would yield a device/system with attributes requiring less complicated optical components, with potentially fewer elements, for both the objective and eyepiece lenses. In addition, alternative objective optics could be more easily employed, such as holographic or wave front coded, due to reduced complexity of implementing correction algorithms as a result of referencing the system around its optical axis. The radial readout EO system would have pixel ‘one’ at the center and be ‘read out and displayed’ like the rings of a tree rather than words on a page. | 12-24-2015 |
| 20150373277 | ADAPTIVE GAIN ADJUSTMENT IN AN IMAGING SYSTEM - Systems for processing pixel signals generated by an image sensor to create improved images. More particularly, systems and methods are disclosed that adjust the gain on, inter alia, a pixel-by-pixel basis, to improve the dynamic range of the imaging system. The systems may include level detectors that measure the amplitude of a pixel signal and, based on that measurement, amplify that pixel signal by an amount that allows certain subsequent processing of the pixel signal to be more accurate. More accurately processed pixel signals can provide better overall images. | 12-24-2015 |
| 20160021289 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING EXPOSURE LEVEL, COMPUTER READABLE RECORDING MEIA FOR PERFORMING THE METHOD, AND IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM - A method for controlling a frame exposure level, comprising: (a) determining a second integration time for the pixel array via a desired exposure level, and determining a second analog gain and a second digital gain via a desired total gain; (b) respectively applying the second analog gain and the second digital gain to amplify at least one second light sensing signal and at least one digital light sensing signal generated from the second light sensing signal; (c) computing a desired total gain for the third frame, and determining a third analog gain and a third digital gain via the desired total gain; and (d) respectively applying the third analog gain and the third digital gain to amplify at least one third light sensing signal and at least one digital light sensing signal generated from the third light sensing signal, and applying the second integration time to the pixel array. | 01-21-2016 |
| 20160119562 | IMAGING DEVICE AND IMAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE - An imaging device, comprising: at least one unit pixel cell; and a voltage application circuit that generates at least two different voltages, each of the at least one unit pixel cell comprising: a photoelectric conversion layer having a first surface and a second surface being on a side opposite to the first surface, a pixel electrode located on the first surface, an auxiliary electrode located on the first surface, the auxiliary electrode being separated from the pixel electrode and electrically connected to the voltage application circuit, an upper electrode located on the second surface, the upper electrode opposing to the pixel electrode and the auxiliary electrode, a charge storage node electrically connected to the pixel electrode, and a charge detection circuit electrically connected to the charge storage node. | 04-28-2016 |
| 20160119563 | IMAGING DEVICE AND IMAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE - An imaging device comprises at least one unit pixel cell. Each of them comprises: a photoelectric conversion layer having a first and second surfaces; a pixel electrode and a shield electrode located on the first surface and separated from each other, a shield voltage being applied to the shield electrode; an upper electrode located on the second surface and opposing to the pixel electrode and the shield electrode, a counter voltage being applied to the upper electrode; a charge accumulation node electrically connected to the pixel electrode; and a charge detection circuit electrically connected to the charge accumulation node. The charge detection circuit includes a reset transistor that sets the pixel electrode at an initialization voltage at predetermined timing. An absolute value of a difference between the shield voltage and the counter voltage is larger than an absolute value of a difference between the initialization voltage and the counter voltage. | 04-28-2016 |
| 20160255263 | PHOTOGRAPHING DEVICE AND METHOD | 09-01-2016 |
