H04N5/347

SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS AND ELECTRONIC
20210385394 · 2021-12-09 ·

The present technology relates to solid-state imaging apparatuses and electronic equipment, each of which is capable of contributing to an increased sense of resolution at an outer peripheral portion of an image photographed by using a wide-angle lens. The solid-state imaging apparatus includes a pixel array section in which a plurality of pixels is arranged such that a pixel pitch becomes smaller at a greater distance away from a central portion toward an outer peripheral portion. The present technology is applicable to, for example, solid-state imaging apparatuses and the like suited for photographing by using a wide-angle lens such as a fisheye lens used in a 360-degree panoramic camera.

Electronic device including camera module and method for controlling electronic device
11196945 · 2021-12-07 · ·

The present invention relates to an electronic device including a camera module and a method for controlling the electronic device. According to various embodiments of the present invention, a camera module may comprise: an image sensor comprising a first pixel comprising multiple first light reception units and a second pixel comprising multiple second light reception units; and a calculation unit functionally connected to the image sensor and capable of measuring depth information, wherein the calculation unit is configured to: acquire a first signal corresponding to a first part of an external object, using the multiple first light reception units, and a second signal corresponding to a second part of the external object, using the multiple second light reception units; identify first phase difference information corresponding to the first signal and second phase difference information corresponding to the second signal; determine location information of the first part and the second part, at least on the basis of the first phase difference information and the second phase difference information; and provide the location information to an external processor of the camera module connected to the calculation unit.

Smart binning circuit, image sensing device and operation method of the same

A smart binning circuit includes an edge information generator suitable for generating edge information from pixel data outputted from a pixel array; a weight allocator suitable for allocating a weight based on the edge information; a binning component suitable for generating a binning value by performing an edge detection interpolation (EDI) binning on the edge information; a bayer binning component suitable for generating an average value representing pixels that are down-scaled through a 4-sum binning operation; and a combiner suitable for combining the binning value and the average value according to the allocated weight.

SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE, SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD FOR THE SAME, AND IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS USING THE SAME
20210377476 · 2021-12-02 · ·

A solid-state image pickup device includes: comparators; counters; and a control portion for carrying out control in such a way that in a phase of an addition mode, the two comparators and the two counters corresponding to the two pixel columns, respectively, are set as a unit, 1 is added to a second digit of one counter of the two counters when both the comparison results from the two comparators has a first logic, 1 is added to a first digit of the one counter when one of the comparison results from the two comparators has the first logic, and 1 is added to none of the first digit and the second digit of the one counter when both the comparison results from the two comparators has a second logic.

SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD THEREFOR, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging device, a signal processing method therefor, and an electronic apparatus enabling sensitivity correction in which a sensitivity difference between solid-state imaging devices is suppressed.

The solid-state imaging device includes a pixel unit in which one microlens is formed for a plurality of pixels in a manner such that a boundary of the microlens coincides with boundaries of the pixels. The correction circuit corrects a sensitivity difference between the pixels inside the pixel unit based on a correction coefficient. The present disclosure is applicable to, for example, a solid-state imaging device and the like.

Binner circuit for image signal processor
11375140 · 2022-06-28 · ·

Embodiments relate to image signal processors (ISP) that include binner circuits that down-sample an input image. An input image may include a plurality of pixels. The output image of the binner circuit may include a reduced number of pixels. The binner circuit may include a plurality of different operation modes. In a bin mode, the binner circuit may blend a subset of input pixel values to generate an output pixel quad. In a skip mode, the binner circuit may select one of the input pixel values as the output pixel pixel. The selection may be performed randomly to avoid aliasing. In a luminance mode, the binner circuit may take a weighted average of a subset of pixel values having different colors. In a color value mode, the binner circuit may select one of the colors in a subset of pixel values as an output pixel value.

IMAGING DEVICE, OPERATION METHOD THEREOF, AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE
20220201234 · 2022-06-23 ·

An imaging device capable of executing image processing is provided. Analog data (image data) acquired through an imaging operation is retained in a pixel, and data obtained by multiplying the analog data by a given weight coefficient in the pixel can be extracted. The data is taken into a neural network or the like, whereby processing such as image recognition can be performed. Since an enormous amount of image data can be retained in pixels in an analog data state, processing can be performed efficiently.

Active-pixel sensor array
11366225 · 2022-06-21 ·

A range detector for detecting distance of an object is provided. The detector includes: a light source configured to emit a first light pulse and a second light pulse towards a distant object, the first light pulse being configured for short-range object detection and the second light pulse being configured for long-range object detection; an active pixel sensor having a plurality of pixel elements each of which including at least one photodiode and at least one floating diffusion region configured to receive photoelectric charge from the at least one photodiode, the at least one photodiode being disposed with respect to the light source, such that the first and second pulses are reflected back from the object towards the at least one photodiode; and a controller configured to actuate the light source to selectively emit the first and second light pulses and to determine distance of the object.

SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE AND IMAGING DEVICE
20220191417 · 2022-06-16 ·

To improve image quality. A solid-state imaging device according to an embodiment includes: a plurality of unit pixels (310) each of which includes a first photoelectric conversion element (311) that generates an electric charge corresponding to an amount of light received, and a detector (312) that detects a firing of an address event based on the electric charge generated in the first photoelectric conversion element, the plurality of unit pixels being arranged in a matrix; and a reset controller (202) that resets one or more first unit pixels in which the firing of the address event has been detected among the plurality of unit pixels, in which the reset controller periodically resets one or more second unit pixels among the plurality of unit pixels.

THERMAL IMAGING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF THERMAL IMAGING
20220187135 · 2022-06-16 · ·

A thermal imaging apparatus comprising: a thermal detector device (100) comprising an array of thermal sensing pixels (102) and signal processing circuitry (104) coupled to the detector device (100). The circuitry (104) supports a background identifier (110) and a pixel classifier (112), the background identifier (110) comprising a common intensity identifier (114) and an expected background intensity calculator (116). The background identifier (110) receives pixel measurement data captured by the detector device (100) in respect of pixels of the array (102) and the common intensity identifier (114) identifies a largest number of substantially the same pixel intensity values from the pixel measurement data. The expected background intensity calculator (116) uses the largest number of substantially the same pixel intensity values to generate a model of expected background intensity levels. The pixel classifier (112) uses the model to determine whether an intensity measurement by a pixel (118) of the array (102) corresponds to a background or an object in an image.