초록 ▼

An image processing apparatus that enables to make a periodic noise in a captured image less noticeable without making the whole construction thereof complicated. An image pick up unit accumulates electric charges corresponding to an optical image of a target object and transfers the accumulated ele

An image processing apparatus that enables to make a periodic noise in a captured image less noticeable without making the whole construction thereof complicated. An image pick up unit accumulates electric charges corresponding to an optical image of a target object and transfers the accumulated electric charges, and also reads them out as image signals. A control unit drives the image pick up unit to read out the image signals consecutively from the image pick up unit in a field-by-field base in such a manner so as to make the horizontal cycle of each field different from one another.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An image processing apparatus comprising: an image pick up unit configured to convert an optical image of a target object to image signals;a control unit configured to drive said image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals consecutively from said image pick up unit in a field-by-field

1. An image processing apparatus comprising: an image pick up unit configured to convert an optical image of a target object to image signals;a control unit configured to drive said image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals consecutively from said image pick up unit in a field-by-field base;a signal processing unit configured to generate an image from the image signals consecutively read out from said image pickup unit in a field-by-field base; anda setting unit configured to set an image pick up condition of said image pick up unit in a field-by-field base,wherein said control unit executes a control to change a horizontal cycle, at which said image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base, when the image pick up condition set by said setting unit does not satisfy a predetermined condition, and does not execute the control to change the horizontal cycle, at which said image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base, when the image pick up condition set by said setting unit satisfies the predetermined condition. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control unit sets the horizontal cycle of the each field different by making the length of the period other than an active pixel period within each horizontal period of the horizontal cycle different. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control unit sets the horizontal cycle of the each field different by making the length of a blanking period during which the transfer of the electric charges in the horizontal direction in said image pick up unit is stopped within each horizontal period of the horizontal cycle different. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control unit sets the horizontal cycle of the each field different by making the length of an empty transfer period during which a signal that has no accumulated electric charges in said image pick up unit is output within each horizontal period of said horizontal cycle different. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pick up condition comprises an image pick up sensitivity, and said control unit does not execute the control to change the horizontal cycle, at which said image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base when the sensitivity value set by said setting unit is smaller than a predetermined value of the image pick up sensitivity. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pick up condition comprises an exposure time of the image signal read out in said image pick up unit, and said control unit does not execute the control to change the horizontal cycle, at which said image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base when the exposure time set by said setting unit is smaller than a predetermined value of the exposure time of the image signals. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, which is applicable to any one of an image pick up apparatus, a mobile telephone with an image capturing function, or an image reading apparatus. 8. A method of controlling an image pick up apparatus comprising an image pick up unit that converts an optical image of a target object to image signals, the method comprising the steps of: driving the image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals consecutively from the image pick up unit in a field-by-field base;generating an image from the image signals consecutively read out from the image pickup unit in a field-by-field base;setting an image pick up condition of the image pick up unit in a field-by-field base;changing a horizontal cycle, at which the image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base, when the image pick up condition set in the setting step does not satisfy a predetermined condition; andnot changing the horizontal cycle, at which the image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base, when the image pick up condition set in the setting step satisfies the predetermined condition. 9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to execute a method of controlling an image pick up apparatus provided with an image pick up unit that converts an optical image of a target object to image signals, the method comprising the steps of: driving the image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals consecutively from the image pick up unit in a field-by-field base;generating an image from the image signals consecutively read out from the image pickup unit in a field-by-field base;setting an image pick up condition of the image pick up unit in a field-by-field base;changing a horizontal cycle, at which the image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base, when the image pick up condition set in the setting step does not satisfy a predetermined condition; andnot changing the horizontal cycle, at which the image pick up unit is driven, in the field-by-field base, when the image pick up condition set in the setting step satisfies the predetermined condition. 10. An image processing apparatus comprising: an image pick up unit configured to convert an optical image of a target object to image signals;a control unit configured to drive said image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals from said image pick up unit;a signal processing unit configured to generate an image from the image signals read out from said image pickup unit; anda setting unit configured to set an image pick up condition of said image pick up unit,wherein said control unit changes a horizontal cycle by changing a length of a blanking period within the each horizontal period of the horizontal cycle in accordance with the image pick up condition set by said setting unit, so that periodic noises superimposed on the image signal becomes unnoticeable. 11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image pick up condition comprises an image pick up sensitivity, and said control unit does not change the horizontal cycle when a sensitivity value set by said setting unit is smaller than a predetermined value of the image pick up sensitivity. 12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image pick up condition comprises an exposure time of the image signal read out in said image pick up unit, and said control unit does not change the horizontal cycle when the exposure time set by said setting unit is smaller than a predetermined value of the exposure time of the image signals. 13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image processing apparatus is one of an image pick up apparatus, a mobile telephone with an image capturing function, or an image reading apparatus. 14. A method of controlling an image pick up apparatus comprising an image pick up unit that convert an optical image of a target object to image signals, the method comprising the steps of: driving the image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals from the image pick up unit;generating an image from the image signals read out from the image pickup unit;setting an image pick up condition of the image pick up unit; andchanging a horizontal cycle by changing a length of a blanking period within the each horizontal period of the horizontal cycle in accordance with the image pick up condition set in the setting step, so that periodic noises superimposed on the image signal becomes unnoticeable. 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to execute a method of controlling an image pick up apparatus provided with an image pick up unit that converts an optical image of a target object to image signals, the method comprising the steps of: driving the image pick up unit so as to read out the image signals from the image pick up unit;generating an image from the image signals read out from the image pickup unit;setting an image pick up condition of the image pick up unit; andchanging a horizontal cycle by changing a length of a blanking period within the each horizontal period of the horizontal cycle in accordance with the image pick up condition set in the setting step, so that periodic noises superimposed on the image signal becomes unnoticeable.