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US 8,711,452 B2Granted
Processing color and panchromatic pixels
AssigneeOmniVision Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJohn F. Hamilton, Jr., John T. Compton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for forming a final digital color image includes capturing an image using an image sensor having panchromatic pixels and color pixels corresponding to at least two color photoresponses; providing from the captured image a digital panchromatic image and an intermediate digital color image; and using the digital panchromatic image and the intermediate digital color image to provide the final digital color image.
Claims18
A method for forming a digital color image comprising:
- capturing an image using a solid state image sensor having a pixel array that includes both panchromatic pixels and color pixels, wherein the color pixels correspond to at least two color photoresponses and wherein the pixel array is made up of a plurality of tiled minimal repeating units, each minimal repeating unit including a plurality of cells, each cell including at least two panchromatic pixels and at least two pixels having the same color photoresponse, wherein the minimal repeating unit is
- P
- P
- P
- P
- B
- B
- A
- A
- P
- P
- P
- P
- C
- C
- B
- B
- wherein P represents panchromatic pixels, A represents color pixels having a first photoresponse, B represents color pixels having a second photoresponse, and C represents color pixels having a third photoresponse;
- grouping signals from all of the color pixels in each cell into one or more group signals to increase color photosensitivity, wherein all pixels whose signals are grouped into a group signal have the same color photoresponse;
- combining the group signals to form a low-resolution digital color image having a first resolution based on the resolution of the cells;
- using second signals from the individual panchromatic pixels to provide a high-resolution digital panchromatic image having a second resolution based on the resolution of the pixels in the image sensor;
- and
- combining the high-resolution digital panchromatic image and the low-resolution digital color image to provide a high-resolution digital color image.
20 more elements
A method for processing a color image captured by an image sensor to permit the effective reproduction of a color image captured under low lighting conditions, comprising:
- (a) using a solid state image sensor to capture an image, the image sensor having a pixel array including both panchromatic pixels and color pixels, wherein the color pixels correspond to at least two color photoresponses, and wherein the pixel array is made up of a plurality of tiled minimal repeating units, each minimal repeating unit including a plurality of cells, each cell including at least two panchromatic pixels and at least two pixels having the same color photoresponse, wherein the minimal repeating unit is:
- P
- P
- P
- P
- B
- B
- A
- A
- P
- P
- P
- P
- C
- C
- B
- B
- wherein P represents panchromatic pixels, A represents color pixels having a first photoresponse, B represents color pixels having a second photoresponse, and C represents color pixels having a third photoresponse;
- (b) grouping signals from all of the color pixels within each cell into one or more group signals to increase color photosensitivity, wherein all pixels whose signals are grouped into a group signal have the same color photoresponse;
- (c) combining the group signals to form a low-resolution digital color image having a first resolution based on the resolution of the cells;
- (d) using second signals from the individual panchromatic pixels to provide a high-resolution digital panchromatic image having a second resolution based on the resolution of the pixels in the image sensor;
- and
- (e) combining the low-resolution digital color image and the high-resolution digital panchromatic image to produce a high-resolution digital color image.
20 more elements
A method for forming a digital color image comprising:
- capturing an image using a solid state image sensor having a pixel array that includes both panchromatic pixels and color pixels, wherein the color pixels correspond to at least two color photoresponses and wherein the pixel array is made up of a plurality of tiled minimal repeating units, each minimal repeating unit including a plurality of cells, each cell including at least two panchromatic pixels and at least two pixels having the same color photoresponse, wherein the minimal repeating pattern is:
- P
- B
- P
- A
- B
- P
- A
- P
- P
- C
- P
- B
- C
- P
- B
- P
- wherein P represents panchromatic pixels, A represents color pixels having a first photoresponse, B represents color pixels having a second photoresponse, and C represents color pixels having a third photoresponse;
- grouping signals from all of the color pixels in each cell into one or more group signals to increase color photosensitivity, wherein all pixels whose signals are grouped into a group signal have the same color photoresponse;
- combining the group signals to form a low-resolution digital color image having a first resolution based on the resolution of the cells;
- using second signals from the individual panchromatic pixels to provide a high-resolution digital panchromatic image having a second resolution based on the resolution of the pixels in the image sensor;
- and
- combining the high-resolution digital panchromatic image and the low-resolution digital color image to provide a high-resolution digital color image.
20 more elements
A method for processing a color image captured by an image sensor to permit the effective reproduction of a color image captured under low lighting conditions, comprising:
- (a) using a solid state image sensor to capture an image, the image sensor having a pixel array including both panchromatic pixels and color pixels, wherein the color pixels correspond to at least two color photoresponses, and wherein the pixel array is made up of a plurality of tiled minimal repeating units, each minimal repeating unit including a plurality of cells, each cell including at least two panchromatic pixels and at least two pixels having the same color photoresponse, wherein the minimal repeating pattern is:
- P
- B
- P
- A
- B
- P
- A
- P
- P
- C
- P
- B
- C
- P
- B
- P
- wherein P represents panchromatic pixels, A represents color pixels having a first photoresponse, B represents color pixels having a second photoresponse, and C represents color pixels having a third photoresponse;
- (b) grouping signals from all of the color pixels within each cell into one or more group signals to increase color photosensitivity, wherein all pixels whose signals are grouped into a group signal have the same color photoresponse;
- (c) combining the group signals to form a low-resolution digital color image having a first resolution based on the resolution of the cells;
- (d) using second signals from the individual panchromatic pixels to provide a high-resolution digital panchromatic image having a second resolution based on the resolution of the pixels in the image sensor;
- and
- (e) combining the low-resolution digital color image and the high-resolution digital panchromatic image to produce a high-resolution digital color image.
20 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.