Electric camera

• US 10,462,403 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Inventors: Nakano, Takahiro, Nishimura, Ryuji, Kinugasa, Toshiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Luong T
• Application Number:
  US15/959,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20180241958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2209/045 using mosaic colour filter
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6812 based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6842 by controlling the scanning position, e.g. windowing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/843 Demosaicing, e.g. interpolating colour pixel values
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/133 including elements passing panchromatic light, e.g. filters passing white light
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/134 based on three different wavelength filter elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/71 Charge-coupled device [CCD] sensors; Charge-transfer registers specially adapted for CCD sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/766 comprising control or output lines used for a plurality of functions, e.g. for pixel output, driving, reset or power

Abstract

An electric camera includes an image sensing device with a light receiving surface having N vertically arranged pixels and an arbitrary number of pixels arranged horizontally, N being equal to or more than three times the number of effective scanning lines M of a display screen of a television system, a driver to drive the image sensing device to vertically mix or cull signal charges accumulated in individual pixels of K pixels to produce, during a vertical effective scanning period of the television system, a number of lines of output signals which corresponds to 1/K the number of vertically arranged pixels N of the image sensing device, K being an integer equal to or less than an integral part of a quotient of N divided by M, and a signal processing unit having a function of generating image signals by using the output signals of the image sensing device.

Claims

1. A camera comprising:

an image sensor having an array of pixels arranged vertically and horizontally in a grid pattern;

a processor to form a plurality of image signals by using the pixels of the image sensor in a static image mode and a moving video mode, the processor configured to;

form the image signals by using a first set of the pixels of the image sensor corresponding to a predetermined first view angle during recording in the static image mode, and

form the image signals by using a second set of the pixels of the image sensor corresponding to a predetermined second view angle during recording in the moving video mode, wherein the predetermined second view angle is different from the predetermined first view angle;

an image-instability detector configured to detect an amount of image-instability of the camera and configured to change a position of the second set of the pixels according to the amount of image-instability detected by the image-instability detector, in order to correct the image-instability; and

a display configured to;

display a still image corresponding to the image signals formed based on the first set of the pixels, and

display a moving image corresponding to the image signals formed based on the second set of the pixels.

2. The camera according to claim 1,

wherein the position of the second set of the pixels is changed to perform instability correction caused by vertical movement of the camera.

3. The camera according to claim 1,

wherein the position of the second set of the pixels is changed to perform instability correction caused by horizontal movement of the camera.

4. The camera according to claim 1,

wherein the position of the second set of the pixels is changed to perform instability correction caused by vertical and horizontal movement of the camera.

5. The camera according to claim 1,

wherein the processor is further configured to perform white balance processing on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

6. The camera according to claim 1,

wherein the processor is further configured to perform luminance signal processing on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

7. The camera according to claim 1,

wherein the processor is further configured to perform color signal processing on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

8. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

an interpolator configured to perform interpolation operations on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

9. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

an encoder configured to encode the still image with a first encoding format and for encoding the moving image with a second encoding format, wherein the first encoding format is different from the second encoding format.

10. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory configured to record the still image after the still image is encoded by a first encoding method and for recording the moving image after the moving image is encoded by a second encoding method that is different from the first encoding method.

11. An operating method for a camera comprising:

receiving light with an image sensor having an array of pixels arranged vertically and horizontally in a grid pattern;

forming a plurality of image signals by using the pixels of the image sensor in a static image mode and a moving video mode, including;

forming the image signals by using a first set of the pixels of the image sensor corresponding to a predetermined first view angle during recording in the static image mode; and

forming the image signals by using a second set of the pixels of the image sensor corresponding to a predetermined second view angle during recording in the moving video mode, wherein the predetermined second view angle is different from the predetermined first view angle;

detecting an amount of image-instability of the camera and changing a position of the second set of the pixels according to the amount of detected image-instability, in order to correct the image-instability;

displaying a still image corresponding to the image signals formed based on the first set of the pixels; and

displaying a moving image corresponding to the image signals formed based on the second set of the pixels.

12. The method according to claim 11,

wherein the position of the second set of the pixels is changed to perform instability correction caused by vertical movement of the camera.

13. The method according to claim 11,

wherein the position of the second set of the pixels is changed to perform instability correction caused by horizontal movement of the camera.

14. The method according to claim 11,

wherein the position of the second set of the pixels is changed to perform instability correction caused by vertical and horizontal movement of the camera.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

performing white balance processing on one or more of the first or second set of of the pixels.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

performing luminance signal processing on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

17. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

performing color signal processing on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

performing interpolation operations on one or more of the first or second set of the pixels.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

encoding the still image with a first encoding format and encoding the moving image with a second encoding format, wherein the first encoding format is different from the second encoding format.

20. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

recording the still image after the still image is encoded by a first encoding step and recording the moving image after the moving image is encoded by a second encoding step that is different from the first encoding step.