Solid state image sensor with high resolution
AssigneeTokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsNozomu Harada, Okio Yoshida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is disclosed a solid state image sensor including an interline transfer charge coupled device (IT-CCD) serving as an area image sensor and a vibrating plate for vibrating or swinging the IT-CCD in a plane orthogonal to an incident image light, horizontally, periodically and relatively to the incident image light in a given vibration mode. When the solid state image sensor is applied for NTSC television system in which one frame is composed of two fields, the IT-CCD is vibrated so that it senses an image at different positions during the two fields periods. As a result, a reproduced picture has a resolution which is obtained as if the number of picture elements of the image sensor per se is doubled.
Claims12
A solid state image sensor for sensing a light image compatible with a predetermined television system in which one frame includes a plurality of fields including first and second fields, said image sensor comprising:
- a solid state image sensing device including a substrate and a photosensing region formed on said substrate, for receiving an incident light image to generate and store therein signal charges corresponding to said light image wherein said photosensing region includes at least one linear cell array containing a predetermined number of cells, said solid state image sensing device further comprising a transfer means disposed adjacent to said linear cell array, for reading out and transfering the charges stored in said cells, said transfer means including at least one linear transfer section extending along said linear cell array;
- and
- deflection means mechanically coupled to said solid state image sensing device, for swinging said substrate in prescribed swing mode in such a manner that each cell is located at different sensing positions during different field periods in one frame period of the television system, whereby signal charges stored in the first filed period is simultaneously read out from the cell array to the transfer section before said each cell is located at the subsequent positions for storing signal charges corresponding to an image of the second field, whereby an image resolution of the one frame image is improved with respect to the whole area of said frame image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.