IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0902627
(2007-09-24)
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등록번호 |
US-8310590
(2012-11-13)
|
우선권정보 |
JP-2006-261831 (2006-09-27) |
발명자
/ 주소 |
|
출원인 / 주소 |
|
대리인 / 주소 |
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
2 인용 특허 :
5 |
초록
▼
An image sensor includes: image-capturing pixels that generate first image signals with a charge storage time controlled by a first storage control signal; and focus detection pixels that generate second image signals with a charge storage time controlled by a second storage control signal generated
An image sensor includes: image-capturing pixels that generate first image signals with a charge storage time controlled by a first storage control signal; and focus detection pixels that generate second image signals with a charge storage time controlled by a second storage control signal generated independently of the first storage control signal.
대표청구항
▼
1. An image sensor comprising: image-capturing pixels that generate first image signals to be used for displaying an image;focus detection pixels that generate second image signals to be used for focus detection; anda storage control unit that controls a charge storage time of each of the image-capt
1. An image sensor comprising: image-capturing pixels that generate first image signals to be used for displaying an image;focus detection pixels that generate second image signals to be used for focus detection; anda storage control unit that controls a charge storage time of each of the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels, wherein:each of the image capture pixels and each of the focus detection pixels is physically different from each other in a structure of a photoelectric conversion portion;the storage control unit outputs a first storage control signal through a first signal line for controlling the charge storage time of the image-capturing pixels disposed in a line and a second storage control signal, which is independent from the first storage control signal, through a second signal line, which is different from the first signal line, for controlling the charge storage time of the focus detection pixels disposed in the line. 2. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: the image-capturing pixels are each equipped with an image-capturing photoelectric conversion portion at which an electrical charge corresponding to light entering therein during the first charge storage time is stored, and an image-capturing output unit that outputs a signal corresponding to a quantity of the electrical charge having been stored at the photoelectric conversion portion following a storage end; andthe focus detection pixels are each equipped with a focus detection photoelectric conversion portion at which an electrical charge corresponding to light entering therein during the second charge storage time is stored, a charge holding unit that temporarily holds the electrical charge having been stored at the photoelectric conversion portion following a storage end and a focus detection output unit that outputs an image signal corresponding to a quantity of the electrical charge held in the charge holding unit. 3. An image sensor according to claim 2, wherein: each of the image-capturing output unit and the focus detection output unit each comprises a floating diffusion portion to which the electrical charge having been stored in the photoelectric conversion portion is transferred and an amplifier portion that outputs the image signal corresponding to the quantity of the electrical charge having been transferred to the floating diffusion portion. 4. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: the second image signals are used for a focus detection according to a phase difference detection method; andthe focus detection pixels are each equipped with a pair of photoelectric conversion portions. 5. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: the second image signals are used for a focus detection according to a phase difference detection method; andthe focus detection pixels include first focus detection pixels each equipped with a first photoelectric conversion portion and second focus detection pixels each equipped with a second photoelectric conversion portion to be paired up with the first photoelectric conversion portion. 6. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: charge control is executed so as to store electrical charges at all the image-capturing pixels through a uniform charge storage time and storage starts and ends at all the image-capturing pixels in each row with matching timing. 7. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: after reading out electrical charges having been stored at the image-capturing pixels, the first storage control signal resets the stored charges; andafter reading out electrical charges having been stored at the focus detection pixels, the second storage control signal does not always reset the stored charges. 8. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: the storage control unit outputs the first storage control signal and the second storage control signal independently from each other so that the charge storage time of the image-capturing pixels and the charge storage time of the focus detection pixels in the line are different from each other. 9. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: before a shutter release occurs, the storage control unit outputs the first storage control signal and the second storage control signal independently from each other so that the charge storage time of the image-capturing pixels and the charge storage time of the focus detection pixels in the line are different from each other. 10. An image sensor according to claim 9, wherein: after a shutter release occurs, the storage control unit outputs the first storage control signal and the second storage control signal at the same timing so that the charge storage time of the image-capturing pixels and the charge storage time of the focus detection pixels in the line are consistent with each other. 11. An image sensor according to claim 1, wherein: the first storage control signal is a reset signal for resetting charge storages of the part of the image-capturing pixels;the second storage control signal is a reset signal for resetting charge storages of the focus detection pixels; anda cycle of the first storage control signal is different from a cycle of the second storage control signal. 12. The image sensor according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of first focus detection pixels;and a plurality of second focus detection pixels, wherein: the first focus detection pixels and the second focus detection pixels are alternately disposed along a single horizontal row in the image sensor. 13. The image sensor according to claim 1, wherein adjacent ones of the image focus sensors are physically different from each other in the structure of the photoelectric conversion portion. 14. An image-capturing device, comprising: an image sensor according to claim 1;a control unit that executes storage time control and output read control for the image sensor;a display unit at which display is brought up based upon the first image signals; anda focus detection unit that detects a focus adjustment state of an image-capturing optical system based upon the second image signals, wherein:the control unit concurrently executes the storage time control for the image-capturing pixels and the storage time control for the focus detection pixels, controls storage at the image-capturing pixels by using the first storage control signal, brings up a display at the display unit by reading the first image signals over a predetermined cycle, controls storage at the focus detection pixels independently of the storage at the image-capturing pixels by using the second storage control signal and engages the focus detection unit in focus detection by reading out the second image signals in synchronization with the predetermined cycle. 15. An image-capturing device according to claim 14, wherein: the control unit reads out the first image signals and the second image signals sequentially in an order corresponding to a positional arrangement assumed for the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels and also specifies whether the second image signals having been read are valid or invalid. 16. An image-capturing device according to claim 14, wherein: the control unit executes read of the first image signals and read of the second image signals independently of each other. 17. An image-capturing device according to claim 14, wherein: the control unit reads out the first image signals from some of the image-capturing pixels. 18. An image-capturing device according to claim 14, further comprising: a recording unit that records image signals, wherein:the control unit engages the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels in parallel operation and records into the recording unit the first image signals and the second image signals obtained by executing storage control for the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels to store electrical charges through a uniform storage time based upon the first storage control signal and the second storage control signal. 19. An image-capturing device according to claim 14, wherein: after reading out electrical charges having been stored at the image-capturing pixels, the first storage control signal resets the stored charges; andafter reading out electrical charges having been stored at the focus detection pixels, the second storage control signal does not always reset the stored charges. 20. An image-capturing device, comprising: an image sensor that captures an image formed by an image-capturing optical system and comprises image-capturing pixels that generate display image signals and focus detection pixels that generate focus detection image signals;a control unit that executes storage time control and output read control for the image sensor;a display unit at which display is brought up based upon the display image signals; anda focus detection unit that detects a focus adjustment state at the image-capturing optical system based upon the focus detection image signals, wherein:each of the image-capturing pixels and each of the focus detection pixels is physically different from each other in a structure of a photoelectric conversion portion,the control unit engages the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels in parallel operation, executes storage control so as to store electrical charges at the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels through a uniform storage time, brings up a display at the display unit by reading out the display image signals over a predetermined cycle through a destructive read and engages the focus detection unit in focus detection by reading out the focus detection image signals over the predetermined cycle through a non-destructive read. 21. An image-capturing device according to claim 20, wherein: the focus detection unit detects the focus adjustment state at the image-capturing optical system by executing a phase difference detection method based upon the focus detection image signals. 22. An image-capturing device, comprising: an image sensor that captures an image formed by an image-capturing optical system and comprises image-capturing pixels that generate display image signals, focus detection pixels that generate focus detection image signals and an output unit that amplifies the display image signals and the focus detection image signals and outputs amplified signals;a control unit that executes storage time control and output read control for the image sensor;a display unit at which display is brought up based upon the display image signals; anda focus detection unit that detects a focus adjustment state at the image-capturing optical system based upon the focus detection image signals, wherein:each of the image-capturing pixels and each of the focus detection pixels is physically different from each other in a structure of a photoelectric conversion portion,the control unit engages the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels in parallel operation, executes storage control so as to store electrical charges at the image-capturing pixels and the focus detection pixels through a uniform storage time, brings up a display at the display unit by reading out over a predetermined cycle the display image signals having been amplified with a predetermined amplification factor in the output unit and engages the focus detection unit in focus detection by reading out the focus detection image signals having been amplified to an amplification degree different from the predetermined amplification degree in the output unit in synchronization with read of the display image signals. 23. An image-capturing device according to claim 22, wherein: the focus detection unit detects the focus adjustment state at the image-capturing optical system by executing a phase difference detection method based upon the focus detection image signals.
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