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US 6,388,709 B1Granted
Image sensing apparatus with optical modulation elements having transmission characteristics controllable by pixel
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsShuichi Kobayashi, Ken Wada
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Abstract
An image sensing apparatus having a solid-state image sensing device is provided with an optical modulation element, made of electrochromic element for R, G, and B layers, whose spectral transmission characteristics can be independently controlled. By controlling the spectral transmission characteristics of each layer of the optical modulation element, visible light in R, G and B wavelength ranges is controlled so as to incident on a photoelectric converter of the solid-state image sensing device at different times.
Claims32
An image sensing apparatus comprising:
- a solid-state image sensing element having a plurality of pixels for performing an image sensing operation;
- a plurality of optical modulation means, each of which corresponds to each of said plurality of pixels, for modulating incoming light toward said plurality of pixels;
- changing means for changing spectral transmission characteristics of said optical modulation means among a predetermined number of spectral transmission characteristics so that said plurality of optical modulation means collectively forms one of a plurality of spectral transmission patterns;
- image pickup control means for controlling said solid-state image sensing element to perform said image sensing operation a plurality of times in response to the changing of the spectral transmission characteristics by said changing means;
- and
- synthesis means for synthesizing a plurality of images obtained from the plurality of image sensing operations performed under control of said image pickup control means,
- wherein a spectral transmission pattern which is used for at least one image sensing operation controlled by said image pickup control means is formed by controlling said plurality of optical modulation means to include different spectral transmission characteristics and the number of the plurality of spectral transmission patterns is smaller than the number of the spectral transmission characteristics.
4 more elements
An image sensing apparatus comprising:
- a solid-state image sensing element including a plurality of pixels for converting incoming light into electric signals;
- detection means for detecting charge stored in each pixel of said solid-state image sensing element;
- a plurality of optical modulation means whose light transmittance can be independently controlled in order to control incoming light toward said solid-state image sensing element, wherein each of said optical modulation means corresponds to a divided area, having a predetermined number of plural pixels, of said solid-state image sensing element;
- maximum charge detection means for detecting a maximum charged pixel among the predetermined number of plural pixels, whose charges are detected by said detection means, for each divided area of said solid-state image sensing element;
- and
- control means for independently controlling light transmittance of said plurality of optical modulation means so as to decrease the light transmittance of the optical modulation means that corresponds to the divided area including the maximum charged pixel, detected by said maximum charge detection means, whose charged amount is greater than a predetermined first value, and increase the light transmittance of the optical modulation means which-corresponds to the divided area including the maximum charged pixel whose charged amount is smaller than a predetermined second value.
3 more elements
An optical modulation apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of optical modulation means, each of which corresponds to each of a plurality of pixels, for modulating light;
- and
- changing means for changing the spectral transmission characteristics of said optical modulation means among a predetermined number of spectral transmission characteristics so that said plurality of optical modulation means collectively form one of a plurality of transmission patterns,
- wherein at least one of said spectral transmission patterns is formed by controlling said plurality of optical modulation means to include different spectral transmission characteristics and the number of the plurality of spectral transmission patterns is smaller than the number of the spectral transmission characteristics.
1 more element
An image sensing apparatus comprising:
- an image sensing element including a plurality of pixels for converting incoming light into electric signals;
- a plurality of optical modulation elements whose light transmittance can be independently controlled in order to control incoming light toward said image sensing element, wherein each of said optical modulation elements corresponds to a divided area, having a predetermined number of plural pixels, of said image sensing element;
- a charge detector arranged to detect a characteristic charge amount based on charges stored in said predetermined number of plural pixels for each divided area;
- and
- a control device arranged to independently control light transmittance of said plurality of optical modulation elements so as to decrease the light transmittance of the optical modulation element that corresponds to the divided area including a pixel whose detected characteristic charge amount is greater than a predetermined first value, and increase the light transmittance of the optical modulation element that corresponds to the divided area including a pixel whose detected characteristic charge amount is smaller than a predetermined second value.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.