Electric camera

• US 9,100,604 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2014
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Maxell Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nakano, Takahiro, Nishimura, Ryuji, Kinugasa, Toshiro
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, LUONG TRUNG
• Application Number:
  US14/264,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20140232915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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. An electric camera comprising:

an image sensing device, with a light receiving surface having a quantity N of vertically arranged pixels, and an arbitrary quantity of pixels arranged horizontally, wherein N is greater than or equal to three times a quantity M of effective scanning lines of a display screen of a television system;

a driver configured to drive the image sensing device to vertically mix or cull signal charges accumulated in individual pixels, at intervals of a quantity K of pixels, in order to produce a quantity of lines of output signals which corresponds to the quantity M of effective scanning lines, wherein the quantity K is an integer less than or equal to an integer portion of a quotient of N divided by M;

a view angle change switch configured to input a request to change a view angle of a moving image; and

a signal processing unit configured to generate image signals by using the output signals of the image sensing device;

wherein when the request to change the view angle is to magnify an output image by the view angle change switch. the driver changes the quantity of K from a

first value K1 to a second value K2, in order to read out image signals with the same quantity of output lines from different areas on the imaging sensing device wherein the first value K1 is larger than the second value K2;

wherein the signal processing unit generates the image signals with the same scanning lines.

2. An electric camera according to the claim 1,

wherein the view angle change switch is configured to input the request to continuously change the view angle of the moving image,

wherein the signal processing unit is configured to generate magnified image signals with interpolation processing, according to a magnification factor set by the view angle switch.

3. An electric camera according to the claim 2,

wherein the view angle switch includes a zoom switch interlocked with an optical zoom mechanism.

4. An electric camera comprising:

an image sensing device, with a light receiving surface having a quantity N of pixels arranged vertically, and an arbitrary quantity of pixels arranged horizontally, wherein N is greater than three times a quantity M of effective vertical lines of a television system;

a signal processing unit configured to generate and output image signals with the quantity M of effective vertical lines of the television system, by using output signals of the image sensing device,

a zoom switch configured to enable a user to input zooming operation information,

wherein the signal processing unit generates the image signals, read out with mixing or culling vertical pixel lines of signals, at pixel intervals of a quantity K of lines, from different areas of the imaging device, the areas being continuously changed, and the quantity K being discontinuously changed according to magnification factors.

5. An electric camera according to the claim 4,

wherein the zoom switch is interlocked with an optical zoom mechanism.