Image pick-up device with control circuit that provides a variab

Details Image pick-up device with control circuit that provides a variab Image pick-up device with control circuit that provides a variab

1996-07-01

1999-12-21

Garber, Wendy

Television

Camera, system and detail

Solid-state image sensor

348222, 348312, 348322, H04N 5228, H04N 5335

Patent

active

060056185

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an imaging (image picking up) system suitable used in a camera apparatus or the like used as an image pick-up apparatus mainly for Factory Automation (FA) to pick up image of, e.g., an object moving at a high speed.


BACKGROUND ART

One applicant of this application has proposed, in the Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 119776/1992, an image pick-up apparatus having an electronic shutter function to carry out exposure time adjustment without use of a mechanical iris by controlling the charge storage time of a solid-state image pick-up device (CCD image sensor) of the Interline Transfer (IT) type.
In this image pick-up apparatus, an approach is employed to read out, to the vertical transfer sections, charges stored in respective pixels of the photoelectric converting section of the CCD image sensor by a read-out signal shown in FIG. 1(b) outputted at the vertical blanking period VBLK during which a vertical blanking signal shown in FIG. 1(a) is caused to be low level. The charge storage time of the CCD image sensor is controlled by a reset signal shown in FIG. 1(c). When this reset signal is delivered, the CCD image sensor sweeps out charges stored in the pixels into the overflow drain.
For this reason, for a time period during which the reset signal is delivered (charge sweep-out period), no charge is stored into the CCD image sensor. Accordingly, effective charges are stored (accumulated) into the photoelectric converting section of the CCD image sensor from the time point when the reset signal delivered to the CCD image sensor is stopped. By controlling the timing at which the reset signal is stopped, it is possible to control the charge storage time, i.e., the shutter speed.
Since the image pick-up apparatus can vary the shutter speed in dependency upon movement (motion) of an object by using such an electronic shutter function, it is advantageous in taking in images particularly in high speed moving object (body).
At present, an image pick-up apparatus used, e.g., mainly for FA and adapted to carry out image pick-up of a moving object is known. This image pick-up apparatus has a configuration as shown in FIG. 2, for example. When an object 201 moving on a movement path 200 moves up to the position in front of an image pick-up section 202, a position detecting section 203 detects this movement of the object to deliver, to a shutter signal generating circuit 204, a trigger signal which falls to low level at time t11 of FIG. 3(a) (i.e., the shutter control signal is caused to be active).
When the trigger signal is delivered, the shutter signal generating circuit 204 delivers, to a CCD control circuit 205, a shutter control signal which rises to high level at the time t11 of FIG. 3(b).
For a time period during which the shutter control signal is not active, the CCD control circuit 205 delivers a reset signal (indicating the state where the shutter control signal is inactive) for sweeping out charges stored in the photoelectric converting section of the CCD image sensor 206 into the overflow drain. Thus, for a time period during which the circuit 206 is supplied with the reset signal, no charge is stored into respective pixels of the photoelectric converting section of the CCD image sensor 206. However, when the trigger signal is delivered, the circuit 205 stops the reset signal (allow the shutter control signal to be active) delivered to the CCD image sensor 206. Thus, storage (accumulation) of effective charges into respective pixels of the photoelectric converting section of the CCD image sensor 206 is started.
More particularly, the CCD control circuit 205 is supplied with a vertical synchronizing signal which represents low level for a time period from time t11 to time t12 of FIG. 3(c) and a horizontal synchronizing signal shown in FIG. 3(d) from a synchronizing signal generating circuit 207. When the shutter control signal of H level (i.e., in active state) is delivered, the CCD control circuit 205 counts, by nine (9), the number of pulses of the hor

REFERENCES:
patent: 4805024 (1989-02-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 5157502 (1992-10-01), Nakajima
patent: 5422670 (1995-06-01), Fukui
patent: 5614949 (1997-03-01), Suzuki et al.

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