The invention concerns a structure of a CMOS active pixel, comprising a semi-conductive substrate (1) of a first type, at least one first photodiode operating in photovoltaic mode comprising a photovoltaic conversion area (2) defined by a doped area of a second type forming a PN junction with the substrate, said first photodiode re-emitting photoelectric charge carriers collected by the PN junction during the exposure of said first photodiode to a light, at least one second photodiode operating in integration mode and reverse-biased, said second photodiode comprising a charge accumulation area (3) defined by a doped area of the second type forming a PN junction with the substrate, said charge accumulation area being exposed to the charge carriers from the photovoltaic conversion area (2) in order to accumulate such charge carriers.

An image pickup apparatus which is capable of calculating light amount changing characteristics of an object with high accuracy and enlarging a dynamic range during photometric measurement. An image pickup device of the image pickup apparatus has a plurality of unit pixel areas arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, and a first pixel and a second pixel are included in each of the unit pixel areas. When a flicker detection mode in which an image signal for use in calculating the light amount changing characteristics of the object is obtained is selected, a first accumulation period and a second accumulation period for the first pixels and the second pixels, respectively, are set such that a first barycentric position which is a barycentric position of the first accumulation period and a second barycentric position which is a barycentric position of the second accumulation period correspond to each other.

An image sensor unit (3) includes a microlens array (31) and a sensor (32). The sensor includes a plurality of sensor regions (323) that respectively include pixels (322) having different sensitivities arranged in a matrix arrangement. The pixels (322) at corresponding positions of the plurality of sensor regions (323) have identical sensitivities. Each of the microlenses (311) of the microlens array (31) is arranged to direct the light to a corresponding one of the plurality of sensor regions (323) of the sensor (32). The pixels (322c1) in a first row or column of the matrix arrangement of each of the plurality of sensor regions (323) have a first light sensitivity, the pixels (322c2, 322c3) in a second row or column of the matrix arrangement of each of the plurality of sensor regions (323) have a second light sensitivity different from the first light sensitivity, and the first and second light sensitivities are different from the light sensitivities of the pixels (322) in rows or columns of the matrix arrangement other than the first and second rows or columns of the matrix arrangement of each of the plurality of sensor regions (323).

A pixel may include an inner sub-pixel group and an outer sub-pixel group. The inner sub-pixel group may have a smaller light collecting area than the outer sub-pixel group and therefore be less sensitive to light than the outer sub-pixel group. This may enable the pixel to be used to generate high dynamic range images, even with the sub-pixel groups using the same length integration time. The inner sub-pixel group may be nested within the outer sub-pixel group. Additionally, one or both of the inner sub-pixel group and the outer sub-pixel group can be split into at least two sub-pixels so that the sub-pixel group can be used to gather phase detection data. Adjacent pixels may have sub-pixel groups split in different directions to enable detection of vertical and horizontal edges in a scene.

The image sensor pixel may include a photodiode, a charge storage region, readout circuitry, and a transfer transistor that couples the photodiode to the charge storage region. The photodiode may generate first and second image signals during first and second exposure periods, respectively. The transfer transistor may transfer the first image signal to the charge storage region. While generating the second image signal, the readout circuitry may perform readout operations on the first image signal. Thereafter, the charge storage region may be reset to a reset voltage level. The readout circuitry may perform readout operations on the reset voltage level. Then, transfer transistor may transfer the second image signal to the charge storage region. The readout circuitry may perform readout operations on the second image signal. The readout operations on both the first and second image signals may be double sampling readouts.

An image sensor pixel may include a photodiode, a charge storage region, a floating diffusion node, and a capacitor. A first transistor may be coupled between the photodiode and the charge storage region. A second transistor may be coupled between the charge storage region and the capacitor. The photodiode may generate image signals corresponding to incident light. Multiple image signals may be summed at the charge storage region. The second transistor may determine a portion of the image signal that may be sent to the capacitor for storage. The portion of the image signal that is sent to the capacitor may be a low gain signal. A remaining portion of the image signal may be a high gain signal. The image sensor pixel may also include readout circuitry that is configured to readout low and high gain signals stored at the floating diffusion node in a double-sampling readout operation.

An electronic read circuit for a radiation detector comprises: an element sensitive to the radiation, an injection circuit, able to inject a charge at one terminal of the sensitive element, the injection circuit extending between at least one input terminal and one output terminal, the output terminal being able to be connected to the sensitive element, the injection circuit being able to produce a charge under the effect of a trigger pulse. The injection circuit is able to inject a first charge when an input terminal is connected to a first input potential and a second charge when an input terminal is connected to a second input potential. The circuit comprises means for storing a difference between an output potential of the injection circuit, called equilibrium potential, and a reference potential, such that the second charge depends on the second input potential and on the equilibrium potential.

An electronic device and a control method therefor are provided. The electronic device includes a main lens, an image sensor, and at least one processor. When an input for acquiring an image is received, the at least one processor is configured to acquire, from the at least one main lens, a first image including an object by setting the image sensor to a first position corresponding to a first focal point for the object, acquire, from the at least one main lens, a second image including the object by setting the image sensor to a second position corresponding to a second focal point for the object, and combine the acquired first image and the acquired second image to generate a combined image. The first focal point and the second focal point are positions symmetrical to each other with reference to an on-focus position for the object.

An image pickup apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, and each of the pixels includes a photoelectric conversion unit that accumulates signal charge generated by photoelectric conversion of irradiated light, a first holding unit and a second holding unit that hold the signal charge transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit, and an output unit that outputs, to a column signal line, a signal based on an amount of the signal charge held by the first holding unit or the second holding unit. The first holding unit and the second holding unit alternately hold the signal charge generated in the photoelectric conversion unit for each frame period, and in a period in which the signal charge is not transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit, the first holding unit and the second holding unit output the signal charge to the output unit.

An imaging device includes pixels each including first and second photoelectric conversion units on which pupil-divided parts of incident light are incident and a holding unit that holds charges transferred from the first and second photoelectric conversion units, and outputting signals based on amounts of charges held by the holding unit. Each pixel outputs a first signal and a second signal based on amounts of charges generated by the first photoelectric conversion unit and by the first and second photoelectric conversion units, respectively, during a first exposure time, and a third signal and a fourth signal based on amounts of charges generated by the first photoelectric conversion unit and by the first and second photoelectric conversion units, respectively, during a second exposure time. The first and second signals are output before the third and fourth signals in one frame and after the third and fourth signals in another frame.