Solid-state image pickup device operable at a frame rate with a controllable accumulating time interval

• US 5,767,903 A
• Filed: 01/11/1996
• Issued: 06/16/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Kawamura, Toshihiro, Taniji, Yukio
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ho, Tuan V.
• Application Number:
  US08/584,684
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: 348/207, 348/294, 348/295, 348/296, 348/297, 348/298, 348/311, 348/312, 348/314, 348/910, 386/128, 386/130, 386/129
• US Class Current: 348/296
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/665 involving internal camera communication with the image sensor, e.g. synchronising or multiplexing SSIS control signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/53 Control of the integration time

Abstract

In a solid-state image pickup device comprises a solid-state image pickup section (10) including a substrate and a plurality of photoelectric converting sections formed on the substrate, the photoelectric converting sections accumulates, in response to incident light, electric charges during a controllable accumulating time interval in each frame period as signal charges in synchronism with a frame rate. Connected to the substrate, electronic shutter means discards disused charges during a discarding time interval in the frame period from the photoelectric converting sections to the substrate. The discarding time interval is equal to a difference between the frame period and the controllable accumulating time interval. Connected to the solid-state image pickup section, a timing pulse generating section (20) controls the controllable accumulating time interval.

Claims

1. A solid-state image pickup device comprising:

a solid-state image pickup section comprising;

a substrate;

a plurality of photoelectric converting sections formed on the substrate and arranged in a matrix with m rows and n columns, said plurality of photoelectric converting sections for accumulating, in response to incident light, electric charges during a controllable accumulating time interval in each frame period as signal charges synchronized with a frame rate, where m and n represent first and second positive integers each of which is at least two; and

electronic shutter means, connected to the substrate, for discarding unused charges during a discarding time interval in the frame period from the photoelectric converting sections to the substrate, the discarding time interval being equal to a difference between the frame period and the controllable accumulating time interval; and

control means, connected to said solid-state image pickup section, for controlling the controllable accumulating time interval for picking up an image on a screen of a display device having a vertical scanning rate which is higher than the frame rate, the controllable accumulating time interval matching with a vertical scanning period which is the reciprocal of the vertical scanning rate in the display device.

2. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frame rate comprises 30 Hz.

3. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vertical scanning rate is lower than a field rate of a National Television System Committee (NTSC) system.

4. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the frame rate comprises 30 Hz while the field rate of the NTSC system comprises 60 Hz.

5. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said solid-state image pickup section further comprises:

n vertical transfer registers formed on the substrate adjacent to the n columns of the photoelectric converting sections, said n vertical transfer registers for reading the signal charges out of the photoelectric converting sections as read charges and for transferring the read charges along the vertical direction as vertical transferred charges;

a horizontal shift register formed on the substrate connected to each vertical transfer register, said horizontal shift register for serially shifting the vertical transferred charges as horizontal shifted charges; and

an output amplifier, connected to said horizontal shift register, for converting the horizontal shifted charges into a picked-up voltage signal.

6. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said solid-state image pickup section is operable in a progressive scanning fashion, said solid-state image pickup device further comprising converting means for converting the picked-up voltage signal in the progressive scanning fashion into an output video signal in an interlaced scanning fashion.

7. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said converting means comprises:

a sample-hold circuit, connected to said output amplifier, for sampling and holding the picked-up voltage signal to produce a sampled-and-held signal;

a signal processing circuit, connected to said sample-hold circuit, for processing the sampled-and-held signal into a processed signal;

a frame memory, connected to said signal processing circuit, for storing the processed signal as frame data; and

a rate converting circuit, connected to said frame memory, for carrying out 2;

1 interlace and frame-to-field rate conversion on the frame data to produce the output video signal.

8. A solid-state image pickup device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the field rate comprises 60 Hz.

9. A method of picking up an image on a screen of a display device by a solid-state image pickup device comprising a solid-state image pickup section, comprising the steps:

accumulating, in response to incident light, electric charges during a controllable accumulating time interval in each frame period as signal charges synchronized with a frame rate;

discarding unused charges during a discarding time interval in the frame period, the discarding time interval being a difference between the frame period and the controllable accumulating time interval;

scanning said display device at a vertical scanning rate higher than the frame rate; and

controlling the controllable accumulating time interval so that the controllable accumulating time interval is equal to a vertical scanning period which is the reciprocal of the vertical scanning rate.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the frame rate comprises 30 Hz.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said solid-state image pickup device is operable in a progressive scanning fashion, wherein said method further comprises the steps of:

reading a picked-up voltage signal in the progressive scanning fashion from the solid-state image pickup section; and

converting the picked-up voltage signal into an output video signal in an interlaced scanning fashion.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the converting step comprises the steps of:

sampling and holding the picked-up voltage signal to produce a sampled-and-held signal;

processing the sampled-and-held signal into a processed signal;

storing the processed signal in a frame memory as frame data; and

carrying out 2;

1 interlace and frame-to-field rate conversion on the frame data to produce the output video signal.

13. A method of picking up an image on a screen of a display device by a solid-state image pickup device comprising a solid-state image pickup section including a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, comprising the steps of:

accumulating, in response to incident light, electric charges during a controllable accumulating time interval in each frame period as signal charges synchronized with a frame rate;

discarding unused charges during a discarding time interval in the frame period from the photoelectric converting sections, the discarding time interval being a difference between the frame period and the controllable accumulating time interval;

scanning said display device at a vertical scanning rate higher than the frame rate and lower than a field rate of a National Television System Committee (NTSC) system; and

controlling the controllable accumulating time interval so that the controllable accumulating time interval is equal to a vertical scanning period which is the reciprocal of the vertical scanning rate.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the frame rate comprises 30 Hz and the field rate of the NTSC system comprises to 60 Hz.

15. A method as claimed in claim 13 wherein said solid-state image pickup device is operable in a progressive scanning fashion, said method further comprising the steps of:

reading a picked-up voltage signal in the progressive scanning fashion from the solid-state image pickup section; and

converting the picked-up voltage signal into an output video signal in an interlaced scanning fashion.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the converting step comprises the step of:

sampling and holding the picked-up voltage signal to produce a sampled-and-held signal;

processing the sampled-and-held signal into a processed signal;

storing the processed signal in a frame memory as frame data; and

carrying out 2;

1 interlace and frame-to-field rate conversion on the frame data to produce the output video signal.