Drive method for solid-state imaging device, solid-state imaging device, and imaging apparatus

• US 20060139469A1
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yoneda, Yutaka, Matsui, Akira, Chiba, Takuya, Tanaka, Kenji, Yokota, Kazuhide, Asato, Seishin, Kurebayashi, Hisashi, Kosakai, Ryota
• Granted Patent: US 7,570,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/272
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/447 by preserving the colour pattern with or without loss of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/46 by combining or binning pixels
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/78 Readout circuits for addressed sensors, e.g. output amplifiers or A/D converters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 3/1562 for selective scanning, e.g. windowing, zooming

Abstract

A drive method for a solid-state imaging device having an oblique pixel pattern includes the steps of: adding, separately for an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row, x pixels in the horizontal direction and y pixels in the vertical direction, the x pixels and the y pixels having the same color, in an area having adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction, where n is an odd number of three or greater and n≧x≧y; and repeatedly adding the x pixels and the y pixels while shifting the n×n area by m pixels in the vertical or horizontal direction, where m is an odd number of three or greater. The n×n area of odd-numbered rows is displaced from that of even-numbered rows by m pixels in the oblique direction in the oblique pixel pattern.

Claims

1. A drive method for a solid-state imaging device having an oblique pixel pattern in which pixels are obliquely disposed, comprising the steps of:

adding, separately for an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row, x pixels in the horizontal direction and y pixels in the vertical direction, the x pixels and the y pixels having an identical color, in an area having adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction, where n is an odd number of three or greater and n≧

x≧

y; and

repeatedly adding the x pixels in the horizontal direction and the y pixels in the vertical direction while shifting the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction by m pixels in the vertical or horizontal direction, where m is an odd number of three or greater, a spatial positional relationship between the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction of odd-numbered rows and the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction of even-numbered rows being such that they are displaced from each other by m pixels in an oblique direction in the oblique pixel pattern.

2. The drive method according to claim 1, wherein an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row which are not adjacent to each other are simultaneously selected for a plurality of times during one horizontal blanking period.

3. The drive method according to claim 2, wherein signals of the pixels of the odd-numbered rows output via an odd-numbered row vertical signal line group including odd-numbered row vertical signal lines, each of which is connected to a corresponding column of odd-numbered row pixels, are added between columns of the oblique pixel pattern, and signals of the pixels of the even-numbered rows output via an even-numbered row vertical signal line group including even-numbered row vertical signal lines, each of which is connected to a corresponding column of even-numbered row pixels, are added between columns of the oblique pixel pattern, and

the odd-numbered rows and the even-numbered rows are selected such that a column number corresponding to the added signal of the odd-numbered rows does not coincide with a column number corresponding to the added signal of the even-numbered rows.

4. A solid-state imaging device comprising:

a pixel array having an oblique pixel pattern in which pixels are obliquely disposed, an odd-numbered row vertical signal line in an odd-numbered row vertical signal line group being connected to each column of odd-numbered row pixels and an even-numbered row vertical signal line in an even-numbered row vertical signal line group being connected to each column of even-numbered row pixels;

row selection means for separately selecting an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row of the oblique pixel pattern;

an odd-numbered row column processing circuit group including column processing circuits and connected to the odd-numbered row vertical signal line group, for adding signals of the odd-numbered row pixels between columns;

an even-numbered row column processing circuit group including column processing circuits and connected to the even-numbered row vertical signal line group, for adding signals of the even-numbered row pixels in pixel columns; and

column selection means for selecting the column processing circuits of the odd-numbered row column processing circuit group and the column processing circuits of the even-numbered row column processing circuit group.

5. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 4, wherein the row selection means selects an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row which are not adjacent to each other for a plurality of times during one horizontal blanking period.

6. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 5, wherein the column selection means performs column selection such that column numbers corresponding to a selected odd-numbered row do not coincide with column numbers corresponding to a selected even-numbered row.

7. The solid-state imaging device according to claim 4, wherein each of the column processing circuits of the odd-numbered row column processing circuit group and the even-numbered row column processing circuit group comprises:

a clamp capacitor configured to clamp pixel signals output via the odd-numbered row vertical signal line group or the even-numbered row vertical signal line group at a predetermined clamp voltage;

a sample-and-hold capacitor configured to sample and hold the pixel signals output from the clamp capacitor; and

an add switch connected between columns and configured to add the pixel signals between the columns at an input side of the sample-and-hold capacitor.

8. An imaging apparatus comprising:

a solid-state imaging device having an oblique pixel pattern in which pixels are obliquely disposed, in an area having adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction, x pixels in the horizontal direction and y pixels in the vertical direction are repeatedly added separately for an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row of the oblique pixel pattern while shifting the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction by m pixels in the vertical or horizontal direction, the x pixels and the y pixels having an identical color, where n is an odd number of three or greater, m is an odd number of three or greater, and n≧

x≧

y, a spatial positional relationship between the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction of odd-numbered rows and the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction of even-numbered rows being such that they are displaced from each other by m pixels in an oblique direction in the oblique pixel pattern;

mode setting means for selectively setting a progressive read mode for independently reading signals of all pixels in the oblique pixel pattern and a pixel addition read mode for adding pixels in the oblique pixel pattern; and

drive means for driving the solid-state imaging device according to the progressive read mode or the pixel addition read mode set by the mode setting means.

9. The imaging apparatus according to claim 8, wherein in the pixel addition read mode, the drive means simultaneously drives an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row of the solid-state imaging device which are not adjacent to each other for a plurality of times during one horizontal blanking period.

10. The imaging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, in the pixel addition read mode, the drive means drives the solid-state imaging device such that signals of the pixels of the odd-numbered rows output via an odd-numbered row vertical signal line group including odd-numbered row vertical signal lines, each of which is connected to a corresponding column of the odd-numbered row pixels in the oblique pixel pattern, are added between columns of the oblique pixel pattern, and signals of the pixels of the even-numbered rows output via an even-numbered row vertical signal line group including even-numbered row vertical signal lines, each of which is connected to a corresponding column of the even-numbered row pixels, are added between columns of the oblique pixel pattern, and such that column numbers corresponding to the added signal of a selected odd-numbered row do not coincide with column numbers corresponding to the added signal of a selected even-numbered row.

11. A solid-state imaging apparatus comprising:

pixels including photoelectric transducers disposed two-dimensionally in a matrix; and

a color filter including primary color components, which are primary components for generating luminance components, and other color components, the color filter being disposed on a surface of the pixels,

wherein the primary color components and the other color components are disposed such that the primary color components surround the other color components.

12. The solid-state imaging apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the other color components are disposed in every other row and in every other column so that a sampling rate of the other color components in the vertical and horizontal directions becomes ½

a sampling rate of the primary color components.

13. The solid-state imaging apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the other color components have two colors, and rows including only the primary color components and rows including the primary color components and the other color components are alternately disposed.

14. The solid-state imaging apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the other color components are disposed in every other row and in every other column so that a sampling rate of the other color components in the vertical and horizontal directions becomes ¼

a sampling rate of the primary color components.

15. The solid-state imaging apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the other color components have two colors;

and

rows including only the primary color components are disposed in every other row, and rows including the primary color components and one color of the other color components and rows including the primary color components and the other color of the other color components are alternately disposed.

16. The solid-state imaging apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each row of the pixels is displaced from the adjacent row of the pixels by ½

a pixel pitch, and each column of pixels is displaced from the adjacent column of the pixels by ½

the pixel pitch.

17. The solid-state imaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the other color components have two colors;

and

rows including only the primary color components are disposed in every other row, and rows including the primary color components and one color of the other color components and rows including the primary color components and the other color of the other color components are alternately disposed.

18. An imaging apparatus comprising:

a solid-state imaging apparatus including a color filter having primary color components, which are primary components for generating luminance components, and other color components, the primary color components and the other color components being disposed such that the primary color components surround the other color components;

an optical system configured to form an image corresponding light from a subject on an imaging plane of the solid-state imaging apparatus; and

a signal processing circuit configured to process an output signal of the solid-state imaging apparatus.

19. A solid-state imaging device comprising:

a pixel array having an oblique pixel pattern in which pixels are obliquely disposed, an odd-numbered row vertical signal line in an odd-numbered row vertical signal line group being connected to each column of odd-numbered row pixels and an even-numbered row vertical signal line in an even-numbered row vertical signal line group being connected to each column of even-numbered row pixels;

a row selector configured to separately select an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row of the oblique pixel pattern;

an odd-numbered row column processing circuit group including column processing circuits and connected to the odd-numbered row vertical signal line group, for adding signals of the odd-numbered row pixels between columns;

an even-numbered row column processing circuit group including column processing circuits and connected to the even-numbered row vertical signal line group, for adding signals of the even-numbered row pixels in pixel columns; and

a column selector configured to select the column processing circuits of the odd-numbered row column processing circuit group and the column processing circuits of the even-numbered row column processing circuit group.

20. An imaging apparatus comprising:

a solid-state imaging device having an oblique pixel pattern in which pixels are obliquely disposed, in an area having adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction, x pixels in the horizontal direction and y pixels in the vertical direction are repeatedly added separately for an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row of the oblique pixel pattern while shifting the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction by m pixels in the vertical or horizontal direction, the x pixels and the y pixels having an identical color, where n is an odd number of three or greater, m is an odd number of three or greater, and n≧

x≧

y, a spatial positional relationship between the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction of odd-numbered rows and the area having the adjacent n pixels in the horizontal direction and the adjacent n pixels in the vertical direction of even-numbered rows being such that they are displaced from each other by m pixels in an oblique direction in the oblique pixel pattern;

a mode setting unit configured to selectively set a progressive read mode for independently reading signals of all pixels in the oblique pixel pattern and a pixel addition read mode for adding pixels in the oblique pixel pattern; and

a drive unit configured to drive the solid-state imaging device according to the progressive read mode or the pixel addition read mode set by the mode setting unit.