Image pickup apparatus wherein plural elements simultaneously pick up the image and the state of the incident

• US 6,184,933 B1
• Filed: 11/25/1997
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ogura, Shigeo
• Primary Examiner(s): Garber, Wendy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu, Ngoc-Yen, VU, NGOC YEN T
• Application Number:
  US08/978,009
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.5235, H04/N.5225, H04/N.5232, H04/N.5238, 348/207, 348/222, 348/224, 348/228, 348/229, 348/230, 348/234, 348/237, 348/238, 348/262, 348/265, 348/337, 348/340, 348/345, 348/349, 348/350, 348/354, 348/355, 348/362, 348/364, 348/266, 348/273, 348/272, 348/280, 348/294, 348/296, 348/311, 348/312, 396/89, 396/96, 396/100, 396/102, 396/103, 396/104
• US Class Current: 348/364
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/71 Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/72 Combination of two or more compensation controls
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/84 for processing colour signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/136 using complementary colours

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus wherein plural elements simultaneously pick up the image and the state of the incident light includes a plurality of image pickup elements for generating an object image signal on the basis of a signal output from at least one of the plurality of image pickup elements, and for generating an incident light state signal on the basis of a signal from another image pickup element having substantially the same photographing region as a photographing region of said at least one image pickup element which generates the object image signal. A read-out period for one frame of said at least one image pickup element which generates the object image signal being different from the read-out period for one frame of said another image pickup signal which generates the incident light state signal.

Claims

1. An image pickup device comprising:

a plurality of image pickup elements for generating an object image signal on the basis of a signal output from at least one of said plurality of image pickup elements, and for generating an incident light state signal on the basis of a signal from another image pickup element; and

a readout cycle of said at least one image pickup element being different from a readout cycle of said another image pickup element while said object image is supplied to a viewfinder,

wherein said device has a first mode for generating the object image signal using a part of said plurality of image pickup elements and for generating the incident light state signal on the basis of a signal from the rest of said plurality of image pickup elements, and a second mode for generating the object image signal using all of said plurality of image pickup elements.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein an exposure amount of said at least one image pickup element which generates the object image signal is set to be different from an exposure amount of said another image pickup element which generates the incident light state signal.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein an effective read-out range of said at least one image pickup element which generates the object image signal is different from an effective read-out range of said another image pickup element which generates the incident light state signal.

4. A device according to claim 1, further comprising operation means for selecting the first and second modes.

5. A device according to claim 1, wherein the object image supplied to the viewfinder comprises a monochrome image.

6. A device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of image pickup elements comprise a Red element, a Blue element, and a Green element, and wherein the readout cycle of the Red image element is different from the readout cycle of the Blue and Green image elements when the object image is supplied to the viewfinder.

7. A device according to claim 1, further comprising a switch for selectively supplying an output of said at least one image pickup element to either automatic exposure processing circuitry or to imaging processing circuitry.

8. A device according to claim 1, wherein, when the readout cycle of the at least one image pickup element is different from the readout cycle of the another image pickup element, the output of said at least one image pickup element is supplied to automatic exposure processing circuitry at the same time that the output of said another image pickup element is supplied to image processing circuitry.

9. A device according to claim 1, wherein the readout cycle of said at least one image pickup element is changed between (i) a first readout cycle when an output from said at least one image pickup element is provided to image processing circuitry, and (ii) a second, different, readout cycle when the output of said at least one image pickup element is provided to circuitry other than the image processing circuitry.

10. A device according to claim 1, wherein the readout cycle of said at least one image pickup element is made to be different from the readout cycle of said another image pickup element by changing an effective readout range of said at least one image pickup element.