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US 2026/0281584 A1Published application
Image sensor and image capture apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsRyota GOMI, Hitoshi NASU
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Abstract
Disclosed is an image sensor that comprises a plurality of pixels configured to output pulses in response to photon incidence and a plurality of counters provided in one-to-one correspondence to the plurality of pixels and configured to count pulses output by the corresponding pixel. The plurality of pixels includes a focus pixel.
Claims14
An image sensor comprising:
- a plurality of pixels configured to output pulses in response to photon incidence;
- and
- a plurality of counters provided in one-to-one correspondence to the plurality of pixels and configured to count pulses output by the corresponding pixel, wherein
- the plurality of pixels includes a focus pixel.
1 more element
An image sensor comprising:
- a plurality of pixels configured to output pulses in response to photon incidence, each of the plurality of pixels including one or more photoelectric conversion elements;
- and
- a plurality of counters respectively provided for the plurality of pixels and configured to count pulses output by the corresponding pixel, wherein
- a pixel including a plurality of the photoelectric conversion elements includes a switch for controlling one of the plurality of the photoelectric conversion elements to be in an active state and controlling a remainder to be in an inactive state.
1 more element
An image capture apparatus comprising:
- an image sensor;
- and
- a controller that executes phase-difference detection type autofocus based on pixel values of focus pixels in the image sensor,
- wherein the image comprises:
- a plurality of pixels configured to output pulses in response to photon incidence;
- and
- a plurality of counters provided in one-to-one correspondence to the plurality of pixels and configured to count pulses output by the corresponding pixel, wherein the plurality of pixels includes the focus pixels.
4 more elements
An image capture apparatus comprising:
- an image sensor includes a plurality of pixels configured to output pulses in response to photon incidence and a plurality of counters provided in one-to-one correspondence to the plurality of pixels and configured to count pulses output by the corresponding pixel, wherein each of the plurality of pixels includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements;
- a controller that performs control to cause each of the plurality of pixels to function as either a normal pixel in which the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are set to an active state or a focus pixel in which a portion of the photoelectric conversion elements is set to an active state and remaining photoelectric conversion elements are set to an inactive state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.