An image sensor including: a first photodiode; a first circuit including an overflow transistor and a first transfer transistor connected to the first photodiode, a switch element connected to the first transfer transistor and a capacitor disposed between the first transfer transistor and the switch element, wherein the capacitor is a physical capacitor; a second photodiode; and a second circuit including a second transfer transistor connected to the second photodiode, a reset transistor connected to an output of the first circuit and a driving transistor connected to the second transfer transistor and the output of the first circuit.

Optimal field mappings that provide the highest contrast images for back-scanned and time delay integration (TDI) imaging are given. The mapping can be implemented for back-scanned imaging with afocal optics including an anamorphic field correcting assembly configured to implement a non-rotationally symmetric field mapping between object space and image space to adjust distortion characteristics of the afocal optics to control image wander on a focal plane array. The anamorphic field correcting assembly can include one or more mirrors or lenses having non-rotationally symmetric aspherical departures. For optimal TDI imaging, anamorphic optics are also employed.

An auto exposure method for an image sensor includes (a) evaluating variance, for each of a plurality of histograms of the pixel values from a respective plurality of individual exposures of the image sensor at respective exposure 5 time settings, of contribution from individual bins of the histogram to total entropy of the histogram, to determine an optimal exposure time for the image sensor corresponding to a minimum value of the variance, and (b) outputting the optimal exposure time to the image sensor.

An imaging device (100) for acquiring and displaying images in real-time, the imaging device comprising i) an imaging sensor (110) comprising a radiation sensitive array (120) for acquiring an image (142), ii) a readout circuit (140) connected to the radiation sensitive array for reading out the image, iii) a signal processor (160) for processing the image for obtaining a processed image (162), and iv) a display (180) for displaying the processed image, the radiation sensitive array being arranged in rows of sensor pixels and the display being arranged in rows of display pixels, and wherein the readout circuit is a rolling shutter circuit for sequentially reading out the rows of sensor pixels for sequentially providing subsets of pixels, the signal processor is configured for, on availability of one of the subsets of pixels, processing the subset of pixels for providing a processed subset of pixels, and the display is configured for, on availability of the processed subset of pixels, displaying the processed subset of pixels on a thereto corresponding subset of display pixels for displaying the processed image sequentially on the rows of display pixels.

In an image capturing apparatus, an image sensing unit has a plurality of pixels and photoelectrically converts an object image formed by an optical imaging system including a focus lens and outputs an electrical image signal, a control unit controls at least a readout rate or an exposure condition independently for different regions of the image sensing unit, and a calculation unit calculates a plurality of focus evaluation values based on image signals read out from the pixels present in a focus detection area in one of the plurality of different regions at different focus lens positions, and find an in-focus position of the focus lens based on the focus evaluation values. The control unit takes an image signal read out from a first region among the plurality of different regions as an image signal for display.

An image sensor includes a plurality of pixels, where each of the plurality of pixels includes a photodiode. The image sensor is configured to capture images of a scene exposed with a flickering light source by for each of the plurality of pixels, acquiring a value representative of a light level at a corresponding pixel by gradually varying a value of sensitivity of the corresponding pixel.

An image pickup apparatus includes: a first light source which, in operation, emits first pulsed light to project a first image of a first pattern at a first position in a predetermined region of a subject, and emits second pulsed light to project a second image of a second pattern at a second position, different from the first position, in the predetermined region of the subject; an image sensor including multiple pixels each including a photodetector that, in operation, converts received light into a signal charge, and a first accumulator and a second accumulator each of which, in operation, accumulates the signal charge; and a control circuit which, in operation, controls the first light source and the image sensor.

An electronic device disclosed herein includes a photodiode, and a plurality of storage components each configured to independently sample and hold charges from the photodiode during each of a plurality of integration periods without discharging the held charge between successive integration periods of the plurality thereof. Each storage component accumulates the charges from the photodiode for a given time window during each integration period, with the given time window for each storage component being different than the given time window for each other storage component. Readout circuitry is configured to transfer the charges from each storage component to a readout node in a respective read period for that storage component. The photodiodes and storage components are not configured to be reset between successive time windows during each integration period.

An imaging apparatus includes a light source that includes a diffusion plate and, in operation, emits, toward a subject, pulsed light that diverges; a photodetector that includes a photoelectric converter that, in operation, receives light from the subject and converts the light to an electric charge and an electric charge accumulator that, in operation, accumulates the electric charge, and, in operation, generates an electric signal based on the accumulated electric charge; and a control circuit that, in operation, controls the light source and the photodetector. The control circuit, in operation, causes the electric charge accumulator to start accumulating the electric charge when a period of time has passed after the control circuit has caused the light source to start emitting the pulsed light, and causes the electric charge accumulator to accumulate the electric charge corresponding to a component, among the light from the subject, that is scattered inside the subject.

An image processing device is an image processing device including a control unit configured to control a scan frequency of a region of an imaging unit, and an analysis unit configured to analyze a captured image captured in the imaging unit, and the analysis unit is configured to analyze the captured image to detect an optical signal transmitted from a signal source, identify an attribute of the signal source on the basis of information included in the detected optical signal, and set a region including the signal source in the captured image in a region with a different scan frequency, and the control unit is configured to control a scan frequency of the imaging unit for each region that is set in the captured image.