IMAGING APPARATUS AND IMAGING SYSTEM

• US 20160337606A1
• Filed: 05/06/2016
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ono, Toshiaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,838,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/672 based on the phase difference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/704 Pixels specially adapted for focusing, e.g. phase difference pixel sets
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/767 Horizontal readout lines, multiplexers or registers

Abstract

Ones of row addresses and column addresses of pixels in a first group are the same as those of a second group. A range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses of the first group excludes that of the second group. A range of the others of row addresses and column addresses is included in a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses of the first and second groups. A portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses of the first group overlaps with that of the third group, and the other portion of the range of the first group does not overlap with that of the third group. Intra-group addition signals of the first, second, and third groups are obtained.

Claims

1. An imaging apparatus comprising:

a plurality of pixels each of which includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion units,

wherein each of the plurality of pixels outputs a first signal based on charge generated by one of the plurality of photoelectric conversion units,

wherein the imaging apparatus includes

a first step of adding first signals of a plurality of pixels which have a same row address and consecutive column addresses,

a second step of adding first signals which have the same row address and consecutive column addresses, and

a third step of adding first signals which have the same row address and consecutive column addresses,

wherein row addresses of the plurality of pixels having the signals added to one another in the first step are the same as row addresses having the signals added to one another in the second step, and column addresses of the plurality of pixels having the signals added to one another in the first step are different from column addresses having the signals added to one another in the second step,

wherein the row addresses having the signals added to one another in the first step are different from row addresses having the signals added to one another in the third step, a portion of a range of column addresses having the signals added to one another in the first step overlaps with a portion of a range of column addresses having the signals added to one another in the third step, and the other portions do not overlap with each other, and

wherein the row addresses having the signals added to one another in the second step are different from the row addresses having the signals added to one another in the third step, a portion of the range of the column addresses having the signals added to one another in the second step overlaps with a portion of the range of the column addresses having the signals added to one another in the third step, and the other portions do not overlap with each other.

2. An imaging apparatus comprising:

a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns,

wherein each of the plurality of pixels has a plurality of photoelectric conversion units each of which generates charge,

wherein each of the plurality of pixels outputs a first signal based on the generated charge,

wherein the imaging apparatus includes

a first group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address,

a second group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address, and

a third group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address,

wherein values of ones of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the first group are all the same as values of corresponding ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group, and a range of values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group excludes a range of values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group,

wherein values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group are different from values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group,

wherein a portion of a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group overlaps with a portion of a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group does not overlap with the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group,

wherein a portion of a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group overlaps with the portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group does not overlap with the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and

wherein the imaging apparatus further includes a signal processor which generates

a first intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the first group to one another,

a second intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the second group to one another, and

a third intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the third group to one another.

3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the other portion of the range of the row addresses or the column addresses included in the third group overlaps with a portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group.

5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ranges of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses of the first to third groups are different between the first and second frames.

6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of pixels arranged in the plurality of rows and the plurality of columns outputs a second signal based on the charge generated by at least the other of the plurality of photoelectric conversion units.

7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

fourth, fifth, and sixth groups each of which includes a number of the plurality of pixels arranged in the plurality of rows and the plurality of columns, the pixels included in the groups being different from one another,

wherein a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the fourth group is the same as the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group, and values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the fourth group are different from values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group,

wherein a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the fifth group is the same as the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group, and values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the fifth group are different from values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group,

wherein a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the sixth group is the same as the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the sixth group are different from values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and

wherein the signal processor outputs

a fourth intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on first signals of the plurality of pixels included in the fourth group to one another,

a fifth intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the fifth group to one another, and

a sixth intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the sixth group to one another.

8. The imaging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of pixels arranged in the plurality of rows and the plurality of columns outputs a second signal based on the charge generated by at least the other of the plurality of photoelectric conversion units.

9. An imaging system comprising:

the imaging apparatus set forth in claim 7; and

an output signal processor,

wherein the output signal processor generates

a first inter-group addition signal by adding the first intra-group addition signal to the fourth intra-group addition signal,

a second inter-group addition signal by adding the second intra-group addition signal to the fifth intra-group addition signal, and

a third inter-group addition signal by adding the third intra-group addition signal to the sixth intra-group addition signal.

10. An imaging system comprising:

the imaging apparatus set forth in claim 8; and

an output signal processor,

wherein the output signal processor generates

a first inter-group addition signal by adding the first intra-group addition signal to the fourth intra-group addition signal,

a second inter-group addition signal by adding the second intra-group addition signal to the fifth intra-group addition signal, and

a third inter-group addition signal by adding the third intra-group addition signal to the sixth intra-group addition signal, and

wherein the output signal processor performs focus detection using the first, second, and third inter-group addition signals and the second signals output from the plurality of pixels arranged in the plurality of rows and the plurality of columns.

4. An imaging apparatus comprising:

a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns,

wherein each of the plurality of pixels has a plurality of photoelectric conversion units each of which generates charge,

wherein each of the plurality of pixels outputs a first signal based on the generated charge,

wherein the imaging apparatus includes

a first group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have a same row address or a same column address,

a second group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address, and

a third group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address,

wherein values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the first group are all the same as values of corresponding ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group, and a range of values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group excludes a range of values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group,

wherein values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the first group are different from values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses in the third group,

wherein the range of the values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group is included in the range of the values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group and the plurality of pixels included in the second group,

wherein the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group does not overlap with the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group,

wherein the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group does not overlap with the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group,

wherein the imaging apparatus does not output the first signals based on pixels which have row addresses and column addresses which are the same as the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses in the first group and which are included in the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses in the third group, and

wherein the imaging apparatus further includes a signal processor which generates

a first intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals of the plurality of pixels included in the first group to one another,

a second intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the second group to one another, and

a third intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the third group to one another.

11. An imaging system comprising:

an imaging apparatus including a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, each of the plurality of pixels including a plurality of photoelectric conversion units which generate charge; and

a signal processor,

wherein each of the plurality of pixels outputs a first signal based on the generated charge,

wherein the imaging apparatus includes

a first group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have a same row address or a same column address,

a second group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address, and

a third group including a number of the plurality of pixels which are adjacent to one another and which have the same row address or the same column address,

wherein values of ones of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the first group are all the same as values of corresponding ones of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the second group, and a range of values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the first group excludes a range of values of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses of the plurality of pixels included in the second group,

wherein values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group are different from values of the ones of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group,

wherein a portion of a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group overlaps with a portion of a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the first group does not overlap with the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group,

wherein a portion of a range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group overlaps with the portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the second group does not overlap with the other portion of the range of the others of the row addresses and the column addresses included in the third group, and

wherein the signal processor generates

a first intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals of the plurality of pixels included in the first group to one another,

a second intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the second group to one another, and

a third intra-group addition signal obtained by adding signals based on the first signals included in the third group to one another.