Abstract: A frame transfer type solid-state imaging apparatus has a matrix of pixels which store information charges corresponding to a received image. The information charges are moved from the pixels to vertical transfer registers, and then to a horizontal transfer register, prior to being stored. A timing control circuit generates a vertical scan timing signal and a horizontal scan timing signal using a divided clock signal. A horizontal drive circuit generates a horizontal transfer clock using the divided clock signal and the horizontal scan timing signal. The horizontal transfer clock is used to move the information charges from the vertical transfer registers to the horizontal transfer register. A vertical drive circuit generates a vertical transfer clock using a reference clock signal and the vertical scan timing signal. The vertical transfer clock is used to move the information charges from the pixels to the vertical transfer registers.

Abstract: Solid state image sensors, and methods of operation thereof, includes an array of photosensitive pixels arranged in rows and columns and in which pixel data signals are read out from the pixels via column circuits, which introduces column fixed pattern noise to the signals. The signals are selectively inverted at the inputs to the column circuits and the inversion is reversed following output from the column circuits. Each column circuit may include an analog-to-digital converter and a digital inverter for inverting digital output therefrom. The selective inversion may be applied to alternate rows or groups of rows of the pixel data, and may be applied differently to different frames of the pixel data. These techniques result in column fixed pattern noise being modulated in a manner which makes the noise less apparent to the eye, and which facilitates subsequent cancellation of the noise.

Abstract: An image pickup apparatus is constructed as including: a smear level detecting section for detecting smear components of CCD image pickup device; a smear correcting section for correcting effective pixel signals based on the detected smear components; an output deteriorated pixel determining section for determining corresponding effective signal pixels as output deteriorated pixels when the level of smear component has reached a predetermined value; a compensation condition determining section for determining whether an output deteriorated pixel satisfies predetermined compensation conditions or not; and a data compensating section for performing data compensation of pixels determined as satisfying the compensation conditions by using information of neighboring pixels, the other pixels determined as not satisfying the compensation conditions at the compensation condition determining section being subjected to correction at the smear correcting section.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for reducing smear in electronic images utilizes estimated smear signals to remove components in the image signals of the electronic images that are attributable to the smear. The estimated smear signals correspond to the smear components of the image signals. The estimated smear signals are generated by collecting electrical charges in an electronic image sensor after an exposure period. The estimated smear signals may be generated in sequence to the acquisition of the image signals. Alternatively, the estimated smear signals may be generated in parallel to the acquisition of the image signals.

Abstract: A number of different elements are added together in a staggered way to avoid the total loss of resolution caused by the binning process. The circuit for doing this includes a variable gain. In a second circuit for carrying this out, to fixed pattern noise reduction circuits are used.

Abstract: An anti-blooming charge accumulation pixel using an anti-blooming element coupled to the pixel prevents blooming by ensuring that a voltage of a charge accumulation device of the pixel is always returned to a clamping voltage following comparison events. The anti-blooming element is used to return the voltage across a photodiode to the supply voltage when both a low voltage comparison and a high voltage comparison have occurred. A control block is used to determine an input signal to the anti-blooming element based upon the result of a low voltage comparison and a high voltage comparison. The input signal can be used to drive the anti-blooming element to a desired logic level, thereby causing the voltage across the charge accumulation device to be the clamping voltage. The use of the anti-blooming element eliminates blooming to adjacent pixels, independent of an integration time of the pixel.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a portable terminal provided with a camera to take a picture of a subject comprised of a lens, and an image pickup device. The invention is aimed to provide a portable terminal in which a mirror image or information about photographing status is displayed on a first display which can be seen from the object side when an object is photographed using the portable terminal, and the image is displayed on a second display which can be seen from the to-be-taken subject so that a person to be photographed can easily check his/her image or photographing status. To this end, the first display is provided on the surface on which the lens is provided and the second display is provided on a side different from the side on which the lens is provided. Provision is made of a display unit that displays the image, photographed by directing the lens to the subject, on the first and the second displays.

Abstract: A sweep-out drain is provided in parallel with a horizontal transfer line via a drain gate. When vertical one-half downsampling is performed, signal charge that has accumulated in the photodiodes of (4m+3)th and (4m+4)th rows is shifted to vertical transfer lines and is output from the horizontal transfer line as a video signal. Signal charge that has accumulated in the photodiodes of (4m+1)th and (4m+2)th rows is not shifted to the vertical transfer lines. If signal charge (smear charge) that has accumulated in the photodiodes of the (4m+1)th and (4m+2)th rows leaks into the vertical transfer lines owing to a brightly illuminated subject, the smear charge is swept out from the sweep-out drain via the drain gate. A video signal from which smear charge has been eliminated is obtained.

Abstract: In an automatic exposure control apparatus, image-capturing is performed at a double exposure time TI (I=1, 2, . . . ) and a single exposure time; a CCD output therein produced is applied with a CCD drive signal to perform an integrating operation for a signal in an AE area by using an integration circuit, and then outputs integration values 2EI+SI and EI′+SI′ to an exposure operation/control circuit; and the exposure operation/control circuit then performs an AE operation to receive 2EI+SI−(EI′+SI′)≈EI and compares the value to a target value for determining exposure conditions, and upon receipt of a shutter trigger, it uses an AE operation value containing almost no smear component to determine an appropriate exposure condition even in actual image-recording. According to the apparatus herein stated, exposure errors resulting from smears can be prevented.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for reducing smear in electronic images utilizes estimated smear signals to remove components in the image signals of the electronic images that are attributable to the smear. The estimated smear signals correspond to the smear components of the image signals. The estimated smear signals are generated by collecting electrical charges in an electronic image sensor after an exposure period. The estimated smear signals may be generated in sequence to the acquisition of the image signals. Alternatively, the estimated smear signals may be generated in parallel to the acquisition of the image signals.

Abstract: An automatic exposure (“AE”), control apparatus to prevent exposure errors resulting from “smear.” Image-capturing is performed at a single exposure time TI (I=1, 2, . . . n); a CCD output is applied with a CCD drive signal to perform an integrating operation for a signal in an AE area using an integration circuit, and then outputs integration value EI+SI at each exposure time. A shutter trigger operation presents readout of an exposure value. An integrator value En+Sn obtained just before the shutter trigger operation, and a smear value Sn′ obtained just after the shutter trigger operation are provided to an exposure operation/control circuit. The exposure operation/control circuit then performs an AE operation to receive En+Sn−Sn≈En and compares the value to a target value for determining exposure conditions, and provides an AE operation value containing almost no smear component to determine an appropriate exposure condition.

Abstract: To obtain an image pickup apparatus capable of reducing the influence of noise, an image of an object is photographed by a CCD through an image pickup optical system. The CCD output is converted into a digital signal by sequentially processing it by a sample-and-hold circuit, a variable gain amplifier, and an A/D converter, in a digitization circuit which is formed into an IC. This digital signal is applied to a digital processing circuit on an IC different from the IC of the digitization circuit. There the digital signal is converted into a digital video signal of a predetermined format. With this arrangement, the processing in the digitization circuit is done without being influenced by noise generated by the subsequent digital processing circuit.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a color linear sensor of a simple structure which can accurately measure a degree of a color mixture in a sensor section. In a color linear sensor having a dot-sequential sensor array (1), only one pixel of a predetermined color (R) in a reference pixel region (3) is allowed to receive an incident light. Then, a degree of color mixture is estimated by calculating a level difference between a signal output of this pixel and a signal output of a pixel of the same color as that of the former pixel in an effective pixel region (2). Also, the present invention is to provide a color linear sensor which can prevent sensors from being displaced from each other in position, simplify a configuration of an external circuit and which can prevent a color mixture from being caused by signal charges deteriorated after they are transferred by a transfer register.

Abstract: The processing time and memory in converting scanned images to a hardware scription language is significantly reducer by using a "peephole" method to examine only partial images of features of the scanned image that is to be converted. The present method generated minimized feature templates (MFTs) by systematically removing all non-feature image pixels. In particular, the method and apparatus of the present invention establishes pattern estimates from image samples, eliminates unnecessary image pixels using off-line statistical analysis, and extracts feature templates from the larger size image patterns. Pattern recognition is then conducted by processing a few pixels of the unknown image pattern. An application of this technique is to recognize drawing symbols, such as, AND, NAND, OR, NOR, XOR, and XNOR gates, buffers, inverters, registers, and I/O pins from scanned images of electronic drawings.

Abstract: A method and system that obscures image features in a region of interest designated by a user. An operator designates a special shaped region of interest and a computer convolves a specially designed kernel with the image data in the region. The kernel is designed to pull features outside the region into the region while combining the information within the region with the information pulled from outside. The kernel can be designed to correspond to the shape of the region for efficient computation. Once the region of interest is obscured the image is printed resulting in a print that does not include undesirable features.

Abstract: The absence of a memory matrix in full frame CCD imagers renders it difficult to convert an image with a sufficiently high frame rate for displaying it again in a satisfactory manner on, for example, an LCD screen. To eliminate this disadvantage, an image is projected on a segment of the imaging matrix in an embodiment of the invention and, after the integration period, is stored in an adjoining, separately controllable segment which is used as a memory during the read-out while in the first segment a fresh image is received and converted into electric charge. During the transfer of the information from the first to the second segment, empty lines are formed between the lines containing information, in which empty lines compensation charge is formed during the charge storage which can be subtracted from the signals so as to compensate for the smear added to the signals during storage in the--exposed--second segment.

Abstract: A solid-state image pick-up device has photo-diodes each connectable to every second transfer stage of vertical shift registers, and the other stages store false image signal components respectively contained in the electric charge packets; a smear image eliminating circuit subtracts the value of the false image signal component from the value of the associated electric charge packet so as to elimiante the smear image from the optical image represented by the electric charge packets.

Abstract: A method of removing columnar streaks from a digital image of the type in which it is assumed that pixels in a predetermined region near a given pixel are strongly related to each other and employing gain and offset values to compute streak removal information, a test is performed for a strong relation between the pixels in a predetermined region near a given pixel and streak removal information is computed only if such a strong relationship exists, whereby image content that does not extend the full length of the image in the column direction will not be interpreted as a streak.

Abstract: In a solid state image pickup device including a semiconductor substrate, a photo/electro conversion element and a register formed within the semiconductor substrate, and an photoshield layer having a slit-type aperture for limiting light incident to the photo/electro conversion element, an optical element is provided for the slit-type aperture, to thereby pass polarized light having an electric field polarization face polarized in the longitudinal direction of the slit-type aperture.

Abstract: A driving method for a solid state imaging device with a horizontal blanking period for each scanning line and a vertical blanking period for each field and including a plurality of cell sections formed in a matrix form on a semiconductor substrate, the plurality of cell sections including a plurality of signal charge storage sections for storing signal charges, a plurality of readout sections for reading out the signal charges from the signal charge storing sections, a plurality of signal charge transferring sections for transferring the readout signal charges, and a plurality of pixel electrodes electrically connected to the plurality of signal charge storage sections, a photoelectric converting layer including at least one photoelectric converting film stacked on the plurality of pixel electrodes, the photoelectric converting film being electrically connected to the electrodes and having a pn junction, and at least one transparent electrode formed on the photoelectric converting film.

Abstract: An Adaptive Discrete Cosine Transformation is widely used for orthogonally transforming image data. The number of adders necessary for sum-of-product operations in a matrix multiplication is reduced. A high speed matrix multiplication and a progressive image build-up are realized by minimizing the number of operations by skipping those for insignificant data. This invention speeds up the operations for restoring image data, minimizes the necessary circuit size, and enables a progressive image build-up to be performed efficiently.

Abstract: In a monitor mode, the saturated electric charge amount of a plurality of first, second, third, and fourth types of photoelectric conversion elements disposed in matrix form on a semiconductor substrate is set to one half a saturated electric charge amount during a still mode. In the monitor mode, electric charges stored by two of the four types of photoelectric conversion elements are transferred to vertical CCDs, mixed and vertically transferred to a horizontal CCD. In the still mode, electric charges of one of the four types of photoelectric conversion elements at a time for a 1 V period (where V is a vertical scan period) are transferred to vertical CCDs and vertically transferred to the horizontal CCD. Furthermore, in the still mode, initially, the electric charges in the photoelectric conversion elements are cleared out for 4n * V periods, where n is a positive integer. Thereafter, smear electric charges are swept out from the vertical CCDs during a 1 V period.

Abstract: In an input scanner for recording hard-copy images by exposing areas of the image to an array of photosensors, a system ensures sensor array uniformity. With each cycle of passing a discrete image signal through an amplifier associated with each photosensor, a low standby current is applied to certain transistors within the amplifier until the next signal is to be output. Critical nodes within the amplifier are caused to settle to known charge values before each image signal is passed therethrough.

Abstract: An encoder decomposes an input color image signal into a luminance signal and color signals, places the color signals in image memories, then fetches color signals of a given screen before and after. A detector calculates differences between the color signals to detect color misregistration either on a pixel basis or a block basis. On the other hand, color signals of a last image acquired before occurrence of color misregistration are stored in frame memories. When color misregistration is detected, a corrector reads the color signals of the last image from the frame memories, and produces correction signals. A counter carries out counting for each difference between color signals of given screens before and after, then detects a distribution of color misregistration of a screen. A selector checks the distribution of color misregistration of a screen to identify the cause of color misregistration, then selectively outputs either the input color image signal or a correction signal sent from the corrector.

Abstract: The present invention is to provide a smear compensation circuit in which the memory capacity of a memory can be reduced without deteriorating the quality of a reproduced image based on an output of a solid state image pickup device.A peak value of the video signal in the vertical blanking period is detected by a peak detecting circuit (10) and a gain of smear data written in a 1H memory (8) is adjusted by (xA) in response to the detected peak value, whereby the smear data is stored in the memory having a restricted memory capacity. Further, when the data is read out from the 1H memory (8), the gain of the read-out data is adjusted in an opposite manner (x1/A) to thereby obtain a smear component of the original level. Then, this smear component is subtracted from the video signal.

Abstract: In the method of transferring charges generated by signal charge generating sections in response to light, a signal charge existing under some transfer electrode of the plural charge transfer sections arranged in parallel to each other is transferred through one of a plurality of connecting sections formed under the transfer electrode corresponding to another charge transfer section among the plural connecting sections formed between the plural charge transfer sections, on the basis of a predetermined drive pulse; and when the charge is transferred to the other charge transfer section, a charge remaining at the primary charge transfer section is transferred from the primary charge transfer section to the other charge transfer section, through the other connecting section among the plural connecting sections, to combine the remaining charge with the signal charge previously transferred.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for processing the output signals of a charge transfer device having at least one row of photoelectric elements. The charge transfer device produces output signals with charge levels that are provided to a shift register having a plurality of elements. The successive charge levels from each photoelectric element are provided to respective shift register elements, and the charge levels are transferred within the shift register to a readout terminal. Some of the charge is retained by each element as the charge is transferred. The retained charge is added to the next charge transferred into the element. This adding of residual charges averages the charges transferred, producing undesirable noise. A sample and hold device removes sampling artifacts inherent in the signal provided by the CCD, to produce a signal representing successive image pixel values.

Abstract: The analysis of an image of the field of observation from a heat camera by bands of n lines prompts the appearance of streaks or "striping" in certain zones of the image, all these zones constituting a "striping space". The device for the implementation of the method includes means to determine a base of orthonormal functions H and V, generating a vector space of functions for which the values taken, at each point of the image, represent the luminance values of all the types of striping, means to modelize the striping exhibited by the image in determining the coefficients of distribution of this striping on the basic functions, means to synthesize the striping, in determining the luminance values of the striping from the coefficients of correlation and from the values of he basic functions, and, finally, means to substract the luminance values of the synthesized striping from the luminance values of the initial image.

Abstract: A CCD imager includes at least one four-phase vertical shift register having first, second, third and fourth transfer electrodes. In order to prevent nonuniform distribution of smear charge and other unwanted charge, and improve the quality of a picture, there is further provided a means for making the potential well under each first electrode deeper than the potential wells under the second, third and fourth electrodes. Preferably, a N-type semiconductor region is formed under each first electrode by ion implantation.

Abstract: A video camera system combining a charge coupled device (CCD) with a rotating prism optical element is disclosed. The rotating prism optical element moves an optical image on the transducer surface of the CCD array in precise synchronism with a CCD array clock which is transferring charge between transducer sites of the array. Since charge transfer occurs in synchronism with image movement, the exposure of transducer sites to image blurring or smearing additional optical energy is eliminated. The disclosed apparatus is particularly useful for high-speed, high-resolution, military, possibly airborne, camera systems. The invention also contemplates resolution of color images, with the use of color selective filters over adjacent columns of the CCD imaging array. The invention additionally contemplates utilizing a rotating prism optical element with other types of detectors.