Auto focus module capable of in-pixel monitoring of amount of received light photographing apparatus using the same
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
G03B-013/00
H04N-005/232
출원번호
US-0632181
(2009-12-07)
등록번호
US-8520128
(2013-08-27)
우선권정보
KR-10-2009-0004514 (2009-01-20)
발명자
/ 주소
Kim, Il-Do
Song, Ki-Sub
Han, Gun-Hee
Cheon, Jin-Min
Lee, Jeong-Hwan
출원인 / 주소
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
대리인 / 주소
The Farrell Law Firm, P.C.
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
0인용 특허 :
8
초록▼
Disclosed are an auto focus (AF) module and a photographing apparatus employing the same. The AF module may include an AF sensor having a plurality of AF pixels and a controller. The controller receives an information regarding the amount of light respectively received by the light receiving element
Disclosed are an auto focus (AF) module and a photographing apparatus employing the same. The AF module may include an AF sensor having a plurality of AF pixels and a controller. The controller receives an information regarding the amount of light respectively received by the light receiving elements of one or more of the plurality of AF pixels from the one or more of the plurality of AF pixels. The controller of the AF sensor may be configured to control the operations, e.g., the light exposure timing, of the plurality of AF pixels based on the information received from the AF pixels.
대표청구항▼
1. A photographing apparatus, comprising: one or more lenses through which light is received into the photographing apparatus;an auto focus (AF) sensor configured to generate AF data; andan AF control unit configured to receive the AF data from the AF sensor and to control focusing of the one or mor
1. A photographing apparatus, comprising: one or more lenses through which light is received into the photographing apparatus;an auto focus (AF) sensor configured to generate AF data; andan AF control unit configured to receive the AF data from the AF sensor and to control focusing of the one or more lenses using the received AF data,wherein the AF sensor includes a plurality of AF pixels and a control element, each of the plurality of AF pixels comprising: a light-receiving element configured to receive a portion of the light received into the photographing apparatus and to produce an output in response to the received portion of the light; anda circuit element configured to generate the AF data using the output of the light-receiving element, andwherein the control element of the AF sensor is configured to receive, from each of a first set AF pixels among the plurality of AF pixels, an information about an amount of light received by the light-receiving element of the respective one of the first set AF pixels, the control element of the AF sensor being configured to control an operation of the plurality of AF pixels based on the information about the amount of received light received from the first set AF pixels. 2. The photographing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first set AF pixels includes each and every one of the plurality of AF pixels. 3. The photographing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a photographing unit configured to output an image signal in response to the light received into the photographing apparatus through the one or more lenses;a signal processing unit configured to receive the image signal from the photographing unit and to perform a signal processing on the received image signal to produce image data;a codec configured to receive the image data from the signal processing unit and to compress the received image data to produce a compressed image data; anda storage unit configured to store therein the compressed image data. 4. The photographing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control element receives the information about the amount of received light of the light-receiving element in real time. 5. The photographing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of AF pixels includes four transistors. 6. The photographing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control element is configured to control a light exposure time of the light-receiving element of each of the plurality of AF pixels using the received information about the amount of received light. 7. The photographing apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of AF pixels further comprises a capacitor connected to the light-receiving element, and wherein the information about the amount of received light of the light-receiving element comprises a level electrical charge present in the capacitor. 8. The photographing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the capacitor is connected to an N-pole of the light-receiving element. 9. The photographing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the light-receiving element comprises a photodiode, and wherein the capacitor comprises an electrode and an area of an n-layer of the photodiode arranged to extend parallel to, and spaced apart form, each other. 10. The photographing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the electrode comprises a poly electrode. 11. The photographing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the area of the n-layer of the photodiode that forms the capacitor together with the electrode is not in contact with a p+ layer of the photodiode. 12. The photographing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the area of the n-layer of the photodiode that forms the capacitor together with the electrode extends to protrude beyond the p+ layer of the photodiode. 13. The photographing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a switching unit arranged between the plurality of AF pixels and the control element,wherein the switching unit is configured to selectively establish communicative connections between select ones of the plurality of AF pixels and the pixel control unit. 14. The photographing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to control the operation of the light-receiving element based on one of: 1) a maximum value from among the amounts of light received by the light-receiving elements of the plurality of AF pixels; 2) an average value of the maximum value and a minimum value from among the amounts of light received by the light-receiving elements of the plurality of AF pixels; and 3) a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value. 15. The photographing apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the control element is configured to terminate light exposure of the light-receiving elements of the plurality of AF pixels when one of maximum value, the minimum value and the difference reaches a reference value. 16. An auto focus (AF) module for controlling focusing of a photographing unit of a photographing apparatus, comprising: an AF sensor configured to generate AF data; anda control unit configured to control the focusing of the photographing unit using the AF data generated by the AF sensor,wherein the AF sensor includes a plurality of AF pixels and a control element, each of the plurality of AF pixels comprising:a light-receiving element configured to receive a portion of light incident upon the photographing unit and to produce an output in response to the received portion light; anda circuit element configured to generate the AF data using the output of the light-receiving element, andwherein the control element is configured to receive, from each of a first set of AF pixels among the plurality of AF pixels, an information about an amount of light received by the light-receiving element of the respective one of the first set of AF pixels, and to control operations of the plurality of AF pixels based on the received information about the amount of received light. 17. The AF module of claim 16, wherein the each of the plurality of the plurality of AF pixels further comprises a capacitor connected to the light-receiving element, and wherein the information about the amount of received light of the light-receiving element comprises a level electrical charge present in the capacitor. 18. The AF module of claim 17, wherein the light-receiving element comprises a photodiode, and wherein the capacitor comprises an electrode and an area of an n-layer of the photodiode arranged to extend parallel to, and spaced apart form, each other. 19. The AF module of claim 16, wherein the control element receives the information about the amount of received light by the light-receiving from each and every one of the plurality of AF pixels. 20. The AF module as claimed in claim 16, wherein the control unit is configured to control the operation of the light-receiving element based on one of: 1) a maximum value from among the amounts of light received by the light-receiving elements of the plurality of AF pixels; 2) an average value of the maximum value and a minimum, value from among the amounts of light received by the light-receiving elements of the plurality of AF pixels; and 3) a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value.
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