Image capturing apparatus, method of controlling same, and storage medium
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorAihiko Numata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image capturing apparatus, comprising: a first imaging section having a plurality of imaging sections arranged so that parts of their image capturing ranges overlap; a second imaging section configured to generate a detailed image by capturing a part of an image capturing range of the first imaging section; a combining section configured to generate a wide-angle image by combining images captured by the plurality of imaging sections; a transfer section configured to transfer the wide-angle image; and a control section configured to control a maximum charge accumulation time period that can be set to the plurality of imaging sections in the first imaging section to be greater than a maximum charge accumulation time period that can be set to the second imaging section.
Claims16
An image capturing apparatus, comprising:
- a first image capturing device having a plurality of imaging sections arranged so that parts of their image capturing ranges overlap each other, each imaging section having a solid-state image sensor;
- a second image capturing device having a solid-state image sensor and configured to generate an image by capturing a part of an image capturing range of the first image capturing device with higher sensitivity than at least one of the plurality of imaging sections;
- and
- at least one processor or circuit configured to function as the following units:
- a combining process unit configured to generate a wide-angle image, by combining images captured for each frame period by the plurality of imaging sections;
- a transfer unit configured to transfer the wide-angle image combined by the combining process unit to an external device;
- and
- a control unit configured to perform control so that a charge accumulation time of the solid-state image sensor in the second image capturing device during one frame period is parallel to any of the charge accumulation times of the solid-state image sensors of the plurality of imaging sections in the first image device and the charge accumulation time of the solid-state image sensor in the second image capturing device during one frame period is shorter than any of the charge accumulation times of the solid-state image sensors of the plurality of imaging sections in the first image capturing device.
A method of controlling an image capturing apparatus provided with a first image capturing device having a plurality of imaging sections arranged so that parts of their image capturing ranges overlap each other, each imaging section having a solid-state image sensor, and a second image capturing device having a solid-state image sensor and configured to generate an image by capturing a part of an image capturing range of the first image capturing device with higher sensitivity than at least one of the plurality of imaging sections, the method comprising:
- generating a wide-angle image by combining images captured for each frame period by the plurality of imaging sections;
- transferring the wide-angle image combined by the combining to an external device;
- and
- controlling so that the charge accumulation time of the solid-state image sensor in the second image capturing device during one frame period is parallel to any of the charge accumulation times of the solid-state image sensors of the plurality of imaging sections in the first image device and the charge accumulation time of the solid-state image sensor in the second image capturing device during one frame period is shorter than any of the charge accumulation times of the solid-state image sensors of the plurality of imaging sections in the first image capturing device.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method of controlling an image capturing apparatus provided with a first image capturing device having a plurality of imaging sections arranged so that parts of their image capturing ranges overlap each other, and each imaging section having a solid-state image sensor, and a second image capturing device having a solid-state image sensor and configured to generate an image by capturing a part of an image capturing range of the first image capturing device with higher sensitivity than at least one of the plurality of imaging sections, the method comprising:
- generating a wide-angle image by combining images captured for each frame period by the plurality of imaging sections;
- transferring the wide-angle image combined by the combining to an external device;
- and
- controlling the charge accumulation time of the solid-state image sensor in the second image capturing device during one frame period is parallel to any of the charge accumulation times of the solid-state image sensors of the plurality of imaging sections in the first image device and the charge accumulation time of the solid-state image sensor in the second image capturing device during one frame period is shorter than any of the charge accumulation times of the solid-state image sensors of the plurality of imaging sections in the first image capturing device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.