With Color Filter Or Operation According To Color Filter Patents (Class 348/273)
  • Patent number: 10698698
    Abstract: Implementations of the present disclosure are directed to a method, a system, and an article for reducing start-up times for software applications. An example computer-implemented method can include: initiating a software application on a client device; downloading on the client device an initial portion of data configured to render an operable version of the software application; providing the operable version of the software application on the client device; downloading on the client device a remaining portion of data configured to render a complete version of the software application; and providing the complete version of the software application on the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: MZ IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Brendan Seaman, Sebastian Plehn
  • Patent number: 10694169
    Abstract: In some embodiments, an image sensor structure includes a super-pixel sensor comprising a plurality of micro-pixel sensors. The image sensor structure includes a plurality of micro-lenses affixed to focus light on the plurality of micro-pixel sensors. In some embodiments, each micro-lens of the plurality of micro-lenses directs light to locations on a respective one or more of the plurality of micro-pixel sensors. In some embodiments, the image sensor structure includes one or more color filters affixed at locations for filtering light directed by the micro-lenses to a first set of color image micro-pixel sensors comprising one or more of the plurality of micro-pixel sensors for capturing color image data and one or more polarization filters affixed at locations for filtering light directed by the micro-lenses to a second set of polarization micro-pixel sensors comprising one or more of the plurality of micro-pixel sensors for capturing depth map data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Richard J. Topliss, Albert A. Ho, Thomas M. Gregory, Ning Y. Chan, Richard H. Tsai
  • Patent number: 10674098
    Abstract: An imaging system has an imager comprising a plurality of jots. A readout circuit is in electrical communication with the imager. The readout circuit can be configured to facilitate the formation of an image by defining neighborhoods of the jots, wherein a local density of exposed jots within a neighborhood is used to generate a digital value for a pixel of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Eric R. Fossum
  • Patent number: 10674068
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a dual-core focusing image sensor, a focusing control method for the same and an electronic device. The dual-core focusing image sensor includes an array of photosensitive pixels, an array of filter units arranged on the array of photosensitive pixels and an array of micro lenses arranged above the array of filter units. The array of micro lenses includes at least one first micro lens and a plurality of second micro lenses, each second micro lens is corresponding to one photosensitive pixel, each first micro lens is corresponding to one focusing photosensitive unit, each focusing photosensitive unit includes N*N photosensitive pixels, and at least a part of the focusing photosensitive unit is covered by a white filter unit, where N is an even number greater than or equal to 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventor: Dan Ouyang
  • Patent number: 10666873
    Abstract: An image processing device for generating an output image front an input image of a scene, the input image being the first image and the output image being the second image, the output image corresponds to an exposure that is different from an exposure of the input image, the image processing device comprising an intensity transformer that is configured to determine one or more intensities of an output pixel of the output image based on an input patch around an input pixel of the input image that corresponds to the output pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fahd Bouzaraa, Onay Urfalioglu
  • Patent number: 10658413
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a lower insulating layer on a lower substrate, a lower pad structure inside the lower insulating layer, an upper insulating layer on the lower insulating layer, an upper pad structure inside the upper insulating layer, and an upper substrate on the upper insulating layer. A via plug passes through at least a portion of each of the upper substrate, the upper insulating layer, and the lower insulating layer, and in contact with the upper pad structure and the lower pad structure. The upper pad structure includes upper pad conductive layers and an upper connection layer between the upper pad conductive layers. The upper connection layer includes a conductive pattern having a shape different from a shape of at least one of the upper pad conductive layers. The via plug is in direct contact with the upper pad conductive layers and the upper connection layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sun Woo Park, Sun Hyun Kim, Ho Woo Park, Eung Kyu Lee, Chang Keun Lee, Hisanori Ihara
  • Patent number: 10660204
    Abstract: A device for fixing a camera module, comprising: a base part; and a fixing unit including a first fixing part for supporting one side of each of a plurality of boards, and a second fixing part for supporting the other side facing one side of each of the plurality of boards, wherein the plurality of first fixing parts extends in a first direction from the base part, and includes a plurality of protruding parts protruding in the direction perpendicular to the first direction in order to support one side of each of the plurality of boards, and the plurality of second fixing parts extends in the first direction from the base part, and includes a plurality of protruding parts for supporting the other side of each of the plurality of boards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: LG INNOTEK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kwang Sung Kim, Ji Hwan Park, Yong Tae Park, Beom Seok Yu
  • Patent number: 10643340
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and a device for acquiring depth information, as well as a gesture recognition apparatus. The method includes: projecting an infrared spectrum to a target object; collecting the infrared spectrum reflected by the target object at different positions and generating a first infrared image and a second infrared image respectively; and processing the first infrared image and the second infrared image on a basis of infrared spectrum response characteristics to acquire the depth information of the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Pengpeng Wang, Haisheng Wang, Xiaoliang Ding, Chih-Jen Cheng, Yanling Han, Wei Liu, Xueyou Cao, Ping Zhang
  • Patent number: 10623675
    Abstract: An image sensor according to some example embodiments includes a pixel array unit including a plurality of transmission signal lines and a plurality of output signal lines, and a plurality of pixels connected to the plurality of transmission signal lines and the plurality of output signal lines. Each of the plurality of pixels includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements, which are configured to detect and photoelectrically convert incident light. The plurality of pixels include at least one autofocusing pixel and at least one normal pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kyung Ho Lee
  • Patent number: 10614561
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for enhancing a low-illumination image based on a camera response characteristic, including: selecting an exposure model and obtaining a camera response equation model corresponding thereto; determining a parameter of the camera response equation model; estimating an exposure ratio of a multi-exposure image sequence to be generated to an original image so as to generate the multi-exposure image sequence; and performing image fusion on multi-exposure images to obtain an enhanced image with a better visual effect and less distortion. The method can solve the problem that existing low-illumination image enhancement algorithms introduce more artificial traces while enhancing images, and can obtain the enhanced image with the better visual effect and less distortion, thereby obtaining the enhanced image preserving naturalness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: PEKING UNIVERSITY SHENZHEN GRADUATE SCHOOL
    Inventors: Ge Li, Zhenqiang Ying, Yurui Ren
  • Patent number: 10616515
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging device, a method for driving the solid-state imaging device, and an electronic device capable of improving auto-focusing accuracy by using a phase difference signal obtained by using a photoelectric conversion film. The solid-state imaging device includes a pixel including a photoelectric conversion portion having a structure where a photoelectric conversion film is interposed by an upper electrode on the photoelectric conversion film and a lower electrode under the photoelectric conversion film. The upper electrode is divided into a first upper electrode and a second upper electrode. The present disclosure can be applied to, for example, a solid-state imaging device or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keisuke Hatano, Fumihiko Koga, Tetsuji Yamaguchi, Shinichiro Izawa
  • Patent number: 10580170
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to processing colour images to reconstruct hyperspectral images from the colour images. An image processor determines an output hyperspectral image by determining for each point of the output hyperspectral image a combination of multiple hyperspectral prototype components to correspond the output hyperspectral image to the input image. Each of the multiple hyperspectral prototype components comprises multiple component values associated with respective wavelengths and each of the multiple component values is based on multiple points of training image data associated with the wavelength of that component value. Since the component values are based on multiple points of the training image, relationships between points in the training image, such as texture, can be used to reconstruct the hyperspectral image data, which leads to a more robust and more accurate reconstruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: National ICT Australia Limited
    Inventor: Antonio Robles-Kelly
  • Patent number: 10572974
    Abstract: A method for demosaicing a raw image includes: (1) horizontally-interpolating a green channel formed of primary pixel-values Bg(x,y)g to yield a horizontally-interpolated green channel that includes both Bg(x,y)g and non-primary pixel-values Igh(x,y)r,b; (2) modifying each Igh(x,y)r,b, by horizontally-neighboring pixel-values, to yield a refined horizontally-interpolated green channel; (3) vertically-interpolating the green channel to yield a vertically-interpolated green channel that includes pixel-values Igv(x,y)r,b; (4) modifying each Igv(x,y)r,b by vertically-neighboring pixel-values, to yield a refined vertically-interpolated green channel; (5) generating a full-resolution green channel from the refined interpolated green channels and gradients thereof; (6) generating a full-resolution red channel by determining red pixel-values from a local-red mean value of neighboring pixel-values and the full-resolution green channel; (7) generating a full-resolution blue channel by determining pixel-values from a lo
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarvesh Swami, Yubo Duan, Chengming Liu
  • Patent number: 10554920
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus having a plurality of Bayer arrays each including 4 pixels sharing a common electrode connected to a vertical signal line wherein: each of the pixels has a pixel electrode connected to a horizontal signal line; and the location of each of the horizontal signal lines and the location of each of the pixel electrodes each connected to one of the horizontal signal lines are determined so that the locations in a neighboring Bayer array are a mirror image of counterpart locations in another Bayer array adjacent to the neighboring Bayer array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventor: Kenichi Okumura
  • Patent number: 10551664
    Abstract: In a color display device, when using white (W) sub-pixels in addition to subpixels of red (R) and green (G) plus blue (B) without increasing a wiring line number, the per-color pixel number in a unit area decreases so that the image resolution is deteriorated. The area and number of subpixels are adjusted in accordance with the visual sensitivity or luminosity required. Practically, the area of red (R) and blue (B) subpixels which are relatively low in luminosity is set to be about two times greater than the area of green (G) and white (W) subpixels that are relatively high in luminosity while letting the number of green (G) and white (W) subpixels be twice the number of red (R) and blue (B) subpixels. A larger subpixel is configured from a plurality of unit subpixels. A smaller subpixel is formed of a one unit subpixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignees: Japan Display Inc., Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shoichi Hirota, Shinichi Komura, Yoshifumi Sekiguchi, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Masaya Adachi
  • Patent number: 10533941
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are optical sensor platform(s) employing hyperbolic metamaterial(s) supporting highly confined bulk plasmon guided modes over broad wavelength range(s) from visible to near-infrared. By exciting these modes using—for example—a two-dimensional (2D) grating-coupling technique, sensors according to the present disclosure advantageously exhibit extreme sensitivity modes up to a maximum of 30,000 nm per refractive index unit and a record figure of merit of 590 thereby permitting detection of ultralow-molecular-weight bio-molecules at picomolar concentrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Case Western Reserve University
    Inventors: Guiseppe Strangi, Kandammathe Valiyaveedu Sreekanth, Umut Gurkan, Michael Hinczewski, Mohamed Elkabbash, Antonio De Luca
  • Patent number: 10531020
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a solid-state image pickup device, a manufacturing method therefor, and an electronic apparatus that enables further miniaturization of a solid-state image pickup device to be achieved. A lower electrode is provided in each of pixels so as to hold a photoelectric conversion film including an organic material between the lower electrode and an upper electrode, and an isolation region is disposed to isolate the lower electrodes of the pixels from each other and includes at least a fixed charge film. The isolation region is formed by the fixed charge film that is formed more deeply than the thickness of the lower electrode. The present technology is, for example, applicable to a solid-state image pickup device having an organic photoelectric conversion film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventor: Kenichi Murata
  • Patent number: 10531018
    Abstract: An image sensor comprises: a pixel array having a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions provided for each of a plurality of microlenses arranged in matrix; a plurality of signal output lines provided for each column of the pixel array; signal readout circuits each provided for each column of the pixel array; and a control circuit that controls to output a signal of a selected row to one of the plurality of signal output lines and controls to process the signal by the corresponding signal readout circuit. The control circuit performs control such that while a signal of a first row output to one of the plurality of signal output lines is processed by the corresponding signal readout circuit, a signal from a second row is output to another of the plurality of signal output lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazuki Haraguchi
  • Patent number: 10511760
    Abstract: An imaging device includes: a first image sensor comprising first pixels that receive incident light, and that include a first and second photoelectric conversion units that are arranged in a first direction; and a second image sensor including second pixels that receive light that has passed through the first image sensor, and that include a third and fourth photoelectric conversion units that are arranged in a second direction that is different from the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akira Izumi
  • Patent number: 10497733
    Abstract: A photoelectric conversion apparatus has a photoelectric conversion substrate having a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions and a microlens array arranged above the plurality of photoelectric conversion portions; a light transmissive plate; a first member arranged between the photoelectric conversion substrate and the light transmissive plate; a second member arranged between the first member and the microlens array; and a third member arranged between the first member and the second member. A porosity of the first member<a porosity of the third member<a porosity of the second member is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaki Kurihara, Nobuhiko Sato
  • Patent number: 10491848
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a solid-state imaging device and an electronic apparatus that realize a high frame rate image capture without deteriorating an image quality. A floating diffusion holds a charge accumulated on one or more photoelectric conversion units. A plurality of amplification transistors read out a signal corresponding to the charge held by the floating diffusion. The signal read out by the amplification transistor is output to a vertical signal line. The plurality of amplification transistors are connected in parallel. The present technology is applicable to a CMOS image sensor, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroaki Ishiwata
  • Patent number: 10477165
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging apparatus comprises a pixel unit including G-pixels 110-G, R-pixels 110-R, and B-pixels 110-B, an image signal output interval of the G-pixels 110 made shorter than image signal output intervals of the R-pixels and B-pixels. Regarding lights respectively having wavelength bands near a green color, near a red color, and near a blue color, the G-pixels 110-G have higher sensitivity to the wavelength band near the green color than both to the wavelength band near the red color and wavelength band near the blue color, the R-pixels 110-R have higher sensitivity to the wavelength band near the red color than both to the wavelength band near the green color and wavelength band near the blue color, and the B-pixels 110-B have higher sensitivity to the wavelength band near the blue color than both to the wavelength band near the green color and wavelength band near the red color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hisashi Takado
  • Patent number: 10462404
    Abstract: A solid-state image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate having a photoelectric conversion element converting incident light into a charge and a charge retaining section temporarily retaining the charge photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion element and a light shielding section having an embedded section extending in at least a region between the photoelectric conversion element and the charge retaining section of the semiconductor substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohiro Ohkubo, Suzunori Endo
  • Patent number: 10453972
    Abstract: An integrated optical sensor comprises a semiconductor substrate (1), an integrated circuit (2), a dielectric layer (6), a wiring (4), a structured filter layer (7) and a diffuser (10). The semiconductor substrate (1) has a main surface (11) and the integrated circuit (2) is arranged in the substrate (1) at or near the main surface (11). Furthermore, the integrated circuit (2) comprises at least one light sensitive component (3). The dielectric layer (6) comprises at least one compound of the semiconductor material. The dielectric layer (6) is arranged on or above the main surface (11). The wiring (4) is arranged in the dielectric layer (6) and provides an electrical connection to the integrated circuit (2), i.e. the wiring is connected to the integrated circuit (2). The structured filter layer (7) is arranged on the dielectric layer (6) and faces the at least one light sensitive component (3), i.e. the diffusor (10) is positioned over the structured filter layer (7).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: ams AG
    Inventor: Hubert Enichlmair
  • Patent number: 10393576
    Abstract: An image sensor including a color filter isolation layer and a method of manufacturing the image sensor. The image sensor includes a plurality of color filters that transmit light of a predetermined wavelength band to a light sensing layer. The image sensor also includes an isolation layer disposed between adjacent ones of the plurality of color filters. The isolation layer is formed of a material having a lower refractive index than a refractive index of the color filters, thus totally internally reflecting light incident on the isolation layer from one of the plurality of color filters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Seokho Yun, Sunghyun Nam, Sookyoung Roh, Hongkyu Park
  • Patent number: 10387743
    Abstract: A method for image reconstruction includes defining a dictionary including a set of atoms selected such that patches of natural images can be represented as linear combinations of the atoms. A binary input image, including a single bit of input image data per input pixel, is captured using an image sensor. A maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator is applied, subject to a sparse synthesis prior derived from the dictionary, to the input image data so as to reconstruct an output image comprising multiple bits per output pixel of output image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Ramot at Tel-Aviv university Ltd.
    Inventors: Alex Bronstein, Or Litany, Tal Remez, Yoseff Shachar
  • Patent number: 10375368
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus for converting image data from a Bayer format image to a four-plane image format using two memory channels. An example apparatus includes an interface for receiving the Bayer image including repeating pixel groups, where each pixel group includes a first pixel type, a second pixel type, a third pixel type, and a fourth pixel type. The apparatus also includes a memory and a circuit to write the Bayer image to the memory as four-plane data. The four-plane data includes pixels of the first type and the third type in the Bayer image that are written via the first memory channel, and pixels of the second type and the fourth type in the Bayer image that are written via the second memory channel. Embodiments also relate to converting three sensor image data to a Bayer format image using the two memory channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: D. Amnon Silverstein
  • Patent number: 10339631
    Abstract: A hybrid optical sensor array includes a first and second set of pixels having differing spectral sensitivities. A first set of data for a scene is captured by the first set of pixels at a first resolution, and a second set of data for the scene is captured by a second set of pixels at a second resolution. The first set of data is demosaiced based on at least the second set of data. A third set of data for the scene is output at a third resolution, greater than the first resolution. This allows high resolution matching images to be produced without perspective or timing discrepancies inherent in multi-camera machine vision systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Raymond Kirk Price, Denis Demandolx, Michael Bleyer, Jian Zhao
  • Patent number: 10303119
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system that provides a holographic layer as a micro-lens array and/or a color filter array in an imager. The method of writing the holographic layer results in overlapping areas in the hologram for corresponding adjacent pixels in the imager which increases collection of light at the pixels, thereby increasing quantum efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Alexander Mokhnatyuk
  • Patent number: 10297626
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a pixel array, a plurality of column circuits, an amplifier, switch arrays of a first layer to an nth layer, and signal lines of the first layer to the nth layer. n is an integer of two or more. The switch array of an ith layer is disposed between the switch array of an (i+1)th layer and the amplifier. i is an integer of one or more and less than n. The signal line of the first layer is connected to the nth amplifier. The signal line of the nth layer is connected to the switch array of the nth layer. Each of the plurality of switches included in the switch array of the nth layer is connected to the column circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hideki Kato, Yasunari Harada, Masato Osawa
  • Patent number: 10290079
    Abstract: An image processing method and apparatus, and an electronic device are provided. The image sensor is controlled to output the compositing image. The merged image and the color-block image can be output respectively under different scenes requiring different imaging effect. Then the preset target region is identified in the merged image. Finally, the processed merged image (i.e. the merged true-color image) corresponding to the preset target region is composited with the processed color-block image (i.e. the simulation true-color image). Therefore, the signal-to-noise ratio, the resolution and distinguishability are improved. The placed location in the simulation true-color image can be manually adjusted, thereby enhancing user experience.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventor: Cheng Tang
  • Patent number: 10275855
    Abstract: An imaging device comprises a hybrid optical sensor array including a first and second set of pixels that comprise different numbers of pixels. The first set of pixels is sensitive to infrared light, while the second set of pixels comprises three subsets of pixels sensitive to RGB light. A first set of data for a scene is captured by the first set of pixels and a second set of data for the scene is captured by a second set of pixels. The first and second sets of data are jointly demosaiced, such that the higher resolution data set is utilized to increase the resolution of a lower resolution data set. This allows for high-resolution infrared and RGB images to be produced for a scene without perspective or timing discrepancies inherent in multi-camera machine vision systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Raymond Kirk Price, Denis Demandolx, Michael Bleyer
  • Patent number: 10270997
    Abstract: A CMOS image sensor with reducing interconnections is provided. The CMOS image sensor may include a first row of pixels that includes a first pixel. The first pixel may include a first plurality of photodiodes and a first plurality of transfer gates. Each of the first plurality of photodiodes may be associated with a corresponding one of the first plurality of transfer gates. The CMOS image sensor may include a second row of pixels that includes a second pixel. The second pixel may include a second plurality of photodiodes and a second plurality of transfer gates. Each of the second plurality of photodiodes may be associated with a corresponding one of the second plurality of transfer gates. A first one of the transfer gates of the first plurality of transfer gates may be coupled to a first one of the transfer gates of the second plurality of transfer gates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: GVBB HOLDINGS S.A.R.L.
    Inventors: Petrus Gijsbertus Centen, Jeroen Rotte, Juul Josephus Johannes Van Den Heijkant, Rudolf Van Ree
  • Patent number: 10244182
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present technology may comprise a method and apparatus for reducing spatial flicker artifacts in high dynamic range images produced from multiple image captures with differing integration times. The method and apparatus may comprise, in the image captures, measuring pixel intensity selecting pixels with a predetermined intensity thresholds, calculating a ratio based on a channel selection, normalizing the calculated ratio to an ideal ratio, and applying the normalized ratio to corresponding image pixels in a second image capture to produce a flicker-free image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Manjunath Somayaji, Rohit Ranade
  • Patent number: 10225496
    Abstract: A photoelectric conversion device includes a pixel array including pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the pixels being configured to output a pixel signal, and including an optical filter and a photoelectric conversion unit, wherein the optical filters of different colors are arranged for each rows and each columns, a holding circuit including first holding units for each of the columns, the first holding units being configured to respectively hold the pixel signals read out from the pixels including the optical filters of different colors in one column of the pixel array in parallel, an output signal line, and a readout circuit configured to successively read out the pixel signals of pixels including the optical filters of the same color from the first holding units for each of the columns to the output signal line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masanori Ogura, Jun Iba
  • Patent number: 10204954
    Abstract: A photoelectric conversion element includes a plurality of light-receiving elements, a plurality of pixel circuits, and a plurality of storage units. The light-receiving elements are aligned in a predetermined alignment direction for each color of light to be received, to receive and convert the light into electric charge. The pixel circuits are disposed respectively adjacent to the plurality of light-receiving elements, to convert the electric charge generated by the corresponding light-receiving element into a voltage signal. The storage units are disposed respectively corresponding to the plurality of the pixel circuits, to store therein the voltage signal generated by the corresponding pixel circuit. The storage units are disposed in an adjacent region that is adjacent to a photoelectric conversion region in which the light-receiving elements and the pixel circuits are disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoki Asaba, Masamoto Nakazawa
  • Patent number: 10200639
    Abstract: [Object] The present technique relates to an image pickup device, an image pickup method, and a program that enables pixels having 4 types of spectral sensitivities to be controlled while changing exposure times. [Solving Means] The present technique is applicable to an image pickup device including pixels having 4 types of spectral sensitivities, that include pixels having a panchromatic spectral sensitivity and are arranged on an image pickup surface, pixels that realize a first exposure and pixels that realize a second exposure different from the first exposure being arranged on the image pickup surface with respect to the 4 types of spectral sensitivities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoo Mitsunaga, Shun Kaizu, Teppei Kurita, Toru Nishi
  • Patent number: 10185138
    Abstract: According to an illustrative embodiment an imaging system is provided. The system includes a lens tube; a first polarizing filter; and a second polarizing filter; wherein the first polarizing filter and the second polarizing filter are adjacent each other, and wherein a polarizing imparted by the first polarizing filter is different from a polarizing imparted by the second polarizing filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Kosugi, Shuzo Sato, Eiji Otani, Mitsuru Sato
  • Patent number: 10170045
    Abstract: A display device includes a display unit including multiple pixels, and a driving circuit that drives the display unit following a color assignation rule. The multiple pixels are classified into first through fourth groups such that groups to which the pixels belong are different from all groups to which pixels belong that are adjacent in eight directions, and pixels adjacent in 8 directions to pixels belonging to the same group, are of the same groups. The first through fourth colors are respectively assigned to the pixels of the first through fourth groups in the first subframe, the second through fourth and first colors are respectively assigned in the second subframe, the third, fourth, first, and second colors are respectively assigned in the third subframe, and the fourth and first through third colors are respectively assigned in the fourth subframe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shigetsugu Yamanaka
  • Patent number: 10170507
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device has a plurality of micro lenses, a first substrate, and a second substrate. The first substrate has a plurality of first photoelectric conversion units. Each of the plurality of first photoelectric conversion units corresponds to any one of the plurality of micro lenses. The second substrate has a plurality of second photoelectric conversion units and a plurality of third photoelectric conversion units. A plurality of pairs of photoelectric conversion units are disposed, and each of the plurality of pairs of photoelectric conversion units includes one of the second photoelectric conversion units and one of the third photoelectric conversion units. Each of the plurality of pairs of photoelectric conversion units corresponds to at least one of the plurality of first photoelectric conversion units. The second substrate further includes charge isolation regions disposed between the second photoelectric conversion units and the third photoelectric conversion units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shunsuke Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10158816
    Abstract: An imaging sensor is configured to generate a signal that is obtained by amplifying one of a signal corresponding to a first accumulation period and a signal corresponding to a second accumulation period by using amplification factors having different values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Muto, Yasuharu Ota
  • Patent number: 10153318
    Abstract: An image sensor device may include an array of image sensing pixels arranged in rows and columns. Each image sensing pixel may include an image sensing photodiode, a first source follower transistor coupled to the image sensing photodiode, and a switch coupled to the image sensing photodiode. Each image sensor device may include a second source follower transistor coupled to the switch, and a row selection transistor coupled to the first and second source follower transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS (CROLLES 2) SAS
    Inventors: François Roy, Frédéric Lalanne, Pierre Emmanuel Marie Malinge
  • Patent number: 10136077
    Abstract: An imaging device includes a detector array and an aperture disposed along an optical path, with an array of filter elements positioned within the aperture in the optical path. Each filter element is configured to filter out energy that is within a unique wavelength band of interest within a wavelength spectrum of interest, to form filtered energy within the wavelength spectrum of interest that is outside the unique wavelength band of interest. The filtered energy is passed from each filter element to a plurality subsets of non-contiguous detector elements in the detector array, which in turn each generate one or more detector values based on the received energy. The detector values may be processed to determine an intensity value for the wavelength band of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: David R. Twede, Johann M. Veras
  • Patent number: 10115753
    Abstract: Provided are an image sensor and an imaging apparatus. The image sensor of a multi-layered sensor structure, the image sensor includes a plurality of sensing pixels, each of the plurality of sensing pixels including a micro lens configured to collect light, a first photoelectric converter configured to convert light of a first wavelength band into an electric signal, and a second photoelectric converter formed on a substrate configured to convert incident light into the electric signal, wherein a central axis of the second photoelectric converter is spaced apart from an optical axis of the micro lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Byung-joon Baek
  • Patent number: 10104305
    Abstract: An imaging device includes an image acquisition unit that acquires an original image in which pixels with different exposure periods coexist; a corrected-image generating unit that generates corrected images individually for a plurality of pixel groups formed by classifying the pixels according to the exposure periods, the corrected images being generated by interpolating pixel values and executing exposure correction; and an HDR combining unit that combines the corrected images, wherein, in a case where the difference between the pixel value of a pixel belonging to one of the pixel groups, acquired by exposure, and the pixel value of a pixel belonging to another one of the pixel groups, generated by interpolation at the same position as the aforementioned pixel, is greater than a predetermined threshold, the HDR combining unit increases the combining ratio of the pixel in the corrected image belonging to the one of the pixel group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kazuhito Nemoto
  • Patent number: 10072970
    Abstract: An imaging device includes a detector array and an aperture disposed along an optical path, with an array of filter elements disposed in the optical path therebetween. The detector array has a plurality of detector elements that are sensitive to a wavelength spectrum of interest, such as, for example, the visible spectrum and/or the infrared (IR) spectrum. Each filter element is configured to filter out energy within the wavelength spectrum of interest that is in a wavelength band of interest to form filtered energy within the wavelength spectrum of interest that is outside the wavelength band of interest. The filtered energy is passed by each filter to at least one corresponding detector element, which generates one or more detector values based on the received energy. The detector values may be processed to determine an intensity value for the wavelength band of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: David R. Twede, Johann M. Veras
  • Patent number: 10075237
    Abstract: Disclosed are a visible light communication system and a visible light communication method. In this system, a signal transmitter sends a visible light signal, and a signal light receiver capture an image of the visible light signal to recover the visible light signal according to the captured image. The signal receiver includes an image capturing module, an image processing module and a signal recovery module. The method includes: capturing an image of a visible light signal; processing the captured image of the visible light signal; determining whether there is a complete packet according to the processed image; if yes, directly recovering the visible light signal according to the processed image; but if no, executing a packet recovery process according to the processed image of the visible light signal, then obtaining the complete packet and recovering the visible light signal transmitted from the signal transmitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Institute For Information Industry
    Inventors: Hsiang-Chain Hsieh, Chi-Wai Chow, Yen-Ting Chen, Chia-Wei Chen, Wei-Chung Wang
  • Patent number: 10006765
    Abstract: A depth detection apparatus that detects depth information on a depth to an object on the basis of first and second signals corresponding to first and second pupil regions of an exit pupil, including: a first calculation unit that calculates a first shift amount between the first and second signals; a signal processing unit that generates a corrected signal by performing filter processing on at least one of the first and second signals, the filter processing being performed to relatively displace the first and second signals by a displacement amount corresponding to the first shift amount; and a second calculation unit that calculates a second shift amount between the filtered first and second signals or between signals, one of which is filtered in the filter processing and the other one of which is unfiltered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kiyokatsu Ikemoto
  • Patent number: 10003727
    Abstract: A camera module includes a camera, a light emitting unit, a circuit board. The camera is mounted on the circuit board and having an optical axis. The light emitting unit is disposed on the circuit board which emits a light beam forming a batwing-shaped luminous intensity distribution. The batwing-shaped luminous intensity distribution has at least two peaks of maximum luminous intensity. The optical axis of the camera is arranged at a position between the at least two peaks of the batwing-shaped luminous intensity distribution. The camera module emits a uniform light for enhancing authenticity of the image and increasing the reliability of the recognition system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yu Min Hsu, Chih Yuan Huang, I Hsiang Lo, Hou Ming Huang, Yung En Chu
  • Patent number: RE47062
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which can restore, from a color and sensitivity mosaic image acquired using a CCD image sensor of the single plate type or the like, a color image signal of a wide dynamic range wherein the sensitivity characteristics of pixels are uniformized and each of the pixels has all of a plurality of color components. A sensitivity uniformization section uniformizes the sensitivities of pixels of a color and sensitivity mosaic image to produce a color mosaic image, and a color interpolation section interpolates color components of the pixels of the color mosaic image M to produce output images R, G and B. The present invention can be applied to a digital camera which converts a picked up optical image into a color image signal of a wide dynamic range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomoo Mitsunaga, Seiji Kobayashi, Hiroaki Ono