A substance detection device includes an illuminator that illuminates a monitoring range with light at a first wavelength and light at a second wavelength at different timings, an image capturer that obtains a first actual image by capturing an image of the monitoring range which is illuminated by the light at the first wavelength and obtains a second actual image by capturing an image of the monitoring range which is illuminated by the light at the second wavelength, and an image processor that acquires a difference in lightness of corresponding pixels between the first actual image and the second actual image that are obtained by the image capturer, compares the acquired difference in lightness of the corresponding pixels with a reference value, and detects a specific substance that is present in the monitoring range based on a result of the comparison.

Tone mapping is performed by digital image processing circuitry on a macro-pixel basis. A luminance value of a macro-pixel of a digital image in a color space is determined. The macro-pixel includes a plurality of individual pixels. Respective tone-mapping gain values of each pixel of the macro-pixel are determined based on the determined luminance value of the macro-pixel. The determined tone-mapping gains are applied to the respective pixels of the macro-pixel. The color space may be a CFA color space, such as a Bayer color space.

A digital image processing circuit processes macro-pixels of a digital image. A gain control parameter of each pixel of the macro-pixel of the digital image is determined based on a location of the pixel in the digital image. Relative pixel positions of the pixels of the macro-pixel are determined, the relative pixel positions representing pixel positions with respect to color grids. A gain value of each pixel of the macro-pixel is determined based on the relative pixel positions. The gain values are modified based on the gain control parameters. The modified gains are applied to the pixels of the macro-pixel.

A photoelectric conversion device includes a plurality of pixels. Each pixel includes an amplification transistor that has an input node configured to receive electric charge generated through photoelectric conversion, a reset transistor, and a capacitance control unit. In a state where the reset transistor is off, the capacitance control unit switches a capacitance of the input node from a first capacitance value to a second capacitance value, which is greater than the first capacitance value. Subsequently, the reset transistor is controlled from off to on in a state where the capacitance of the input node has been controlled to the second capacitance value. After the reset operation, the amplification transistor outputs a pixel signal in a state where the capacitance of the input node is the first capacitance value.

To acquire a color image. A solid-state image pickup device according to an embodiment includes a plurality of light receiving portions, each of which receives light of a specific wavelength to generate an electric charge corresponding to an amount of the received light, a detector that detects a photoelectric current based on an electric charge generated in at least one of the plurality of light receiving portions, a generator that generates a voltage signal based on the electric charge generated in each of the plurality of light receiving portions, and a driving circuit that causes the generator to generate voltage signals based on electric charges generated in at least two of the plurality of light receiving portions, respectively, on the basis of a detection result of the photoelectric current by the detector.

An imaging device of the present disclosure includes a detection unit that detects a specific region in a taken image as a region of interest, a control unit that performs control to read out a pixel signal at first pixel resolution in a region including the region of interest and read out a pixel signal at second pixel resolution lower than the first pixel resolution in a region not including the region of interest, and an analog-digital conversion unit that converts the pixel signal read out by the control by the control unit into a digital signal.

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes at least one image sensor, and a processor for generating a plurality of images having different noise characteristics through the at least one image sensor, and combining the plurality of images.

In an image processing method, an image processing device obtains an input image from an image sensor. Each pixel of the input image is either a type-I pixel or a type-II pixel. Each type-I pixel carries a luminance channel value and no color data, and each type-II pixel carries a single color channel value and no luminance data, wherein the single color channel value is a cyan channel value, a magenta channel value, or a yellow channel value. The image processing device generates a target image by performing interpolation based on the luminance channel values and the single color channel values of the pixels of the input image, wherein each pixel in the target image corresponds in location to a pixel in the input image and has three color channel values generated by the interpolation.

A method for down-up sampling of image sensor data includes the steps of down sampling green pixels in a super Bayer pattern of image sensor data, where a decimation factor of the downsampling corresponds to a size of a color cluster in the super Bayer pattern, where two green pixels that are those closest to a non-green pixel cluster remain in each green cluster after downsampling, and wherein each non-green pixel cluster is bordered by four downsampled green pixels, and up sampling non-green color pixels in a non-green cluster from the remaining green pixels that are closest to the non-green cluster by a bilinear interpolation of each non-green pixel with respect to the closest remaining green pixels, where the up sampling of the non-green color pixels is guided by a compressed array that corresponds to the image sensor data.

A method for down-up sampling of image sensor data includes the steps of down sampling green pixels in a super Bayer pattern of image sensor data, where a decimation factor of the downsampling corresponds to a size of a color cluster in the super Bayer pattern, where two green pixels that are those closest to a non-green pixel cluster remain in each green cluster after downsampling, and wherein each non-green pixel cluster is bordered by four downsampled green pixels, and up sampling non-green color pixels in a non-green cluster from the remaining green pixels that are closest to the non-green cluster by a bilinear interpolation of each non-green pixel with respect to the closest remaining green pixels, where the up sampling of the non-green color pixels is guided by a compressed array that corresponds to the image sensor data.