JP2728116B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an imaging device, and more particularly, to an imaging device having multiple elements.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image pickup device of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-237873.

As shown in FIG. 3, another conventional multi-element image pickup device forms a detector 3 having a required number of elements as an image pickup device or a plurality of chips arranged on one surface, and forms an incident light 2 into an image. The focusing surface of the converging optical system 1 is arranged, and a half prism (or half mirror) 8 is arranged as shown in FIG.
The detector 3 composed of multiple elements is arranged on the image forming plane of the light separated by the light source, or the reflection / transmission spectroscope 9 having the reflection surface and the transmission surface alternately as shown in FIG. The detector 3 composed of multiple elements is arranged on the image forming plane of the light separated by the above, thereby realizing the multiple elements. This reflection / transmission spectroscope 9
Is the magazine OPTICALENGINEERING / April 1991 / Vol.30 No.4
483-488 "Airborne camerabased on one-d
"Imensional linear array" was published by Giora Eytan. 3 to 6, 4 is an amplifier, 5 is an A / D (analog / digital) converter, 6
Denotes a digital multiplexer, and 7 denotes a signal processing unit.

[0004]

However, these conventional methods for increasing the number of elements in an image pickup apparatus have the following problems.

That is, in the method (1), a detector chip having the required number of elements or a module in which detector chips having multiple elements are arranged must be newly manufactured as an imaging device.

Further, since the light is split by the half mirror (or half prism) 8, the amount of light reaching the detector is reduced by half, so that the S / N ratio is reduced.

In the method (1), the amount of light passing through the portion between the reflecting surface and the transmitting surface shown in FIG. 6 which reaches the detector 3 is lower than that of the other portions, and as shown in FIG. There is a problem that the detection level 11 as the output of the detector 3 is reduced at the joint portion of, and the S / N ratio is reduced. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 10 denotes a detection element number of the detector 3 when the detection elements of the three detectors 3 in FIG. Reference numeral 13 denotes a detector output corresponding to transmitted light, and reference numeral 14 denotes a detector output corresponding to reflected light.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems,
Without manufacturing a dedicated multi-element detector for each imaging device,
It is another object of the present invention to provide an imaging apparatus capable of realizing a multi-element detector without lowering the S / N ratio.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a converging optical system for imaging reflected light or radiated light from an object, and a converging optical system placed on an image forming surface of the converging optical system, respectively, A first and a second detector that respectively output partial image data of, and a signal processing unit that processes output signals of the first and the second detectors into overall image data of an object, In the imaging apparatus provided with, the first optical system is disposed between the light-collecting optical system and the first and second detectors and substantially does not transmit incident light from the light-collecting optical system. A reflecting surface for reflecting light toward the detector, and a transmitting surface for transmitting incident light from the light-collecting optical system toward the second detector without substantially reflecting the light; And a reflection / transmission spectroscope in which the transmission surfaces are formed adjacent to each other on one surface; The second detector is disposed on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface such that ends thereof optically overlap each other as an overlap portion, and the signal processing unit Comprises an adder for adding the output signal of the overlap portion of the first detector and the output signal of the overlap portion of the second detector, wherein the adder adds the output signal of the first detector. The output signal of the portion excluding the overlap portion, the output signal of the portion of the second detector excluding the overlap portion, and the output signal of the adder are converted into the overall image data of the object. An imaging device characterized by performing the processing is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, the first detector has a plurality of first detection elements arranged in a line on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface, and the second detector Are a large number of second arrays arranged in a row on the image plane corresponding to the transmission plane.
Wherein the first and second detectors are:
On the imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface, the detection elements at the respective ends are disposed so as to optically overlap as the overlap portion, and the signal processing unit is An output signal of the first detection element in a portion of the first detector excluding the overlap portion, and an output signal of the second detection element in a portion of the second detector excluding the overlap portion. And an output signal of the adder are processed into the overall image data of the object.

Further, according to the present invention, the first detector has a plurality of first detection elements arranged in a line on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface, and the second detector The plurality of second devices are arranged in a row on an imaging surface corresponding to the transmission surface.
Wherein the first and second detectors are:
A row of the first detection elements and a row of the second detection elements optically form a row on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface, and the detection elements at the ends of each other. Are arranged so as to optically overlap with each other as the overlap portion, and the signal processing section is configured to remove the first portion of the first detector other than the overlap portion.
The output signal of the detection element, the output signal of the second detection element except for the overlap portion of the second detector, and the output signal of the adder, the overall signal of the object An image pickup apparatus characterized in that the image pickup apparatus performs processing on simple image data.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an imaging apparatus characterized in that imaging surfaces corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface are at right angles to each other.

As described above, according to the imaging apparatus of the present invention, the detector element that receives only the reflected light and the detector element that receives only the transmitted light of the light passing through the boundary between the reflection surface and the transmission surface are mutually symmetrical. It is optically overlapped so as to see the same part of the object, and an adder for adding both output signals is provided in the signal processing unit of the imaging apparatus.

[0014]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, an imaging device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes like parts indicated by like reference numerals. The image pickup device is disposed on a focusing optical system 1 that forms an image of reflected light or radiation light from an object, and is placed on an image forming surface of the focusing optical system 1, and outputs partial image data of the object. And a signal processing unit 7 that receives output signals of these detectors 3 via an amplifier 4 and processes output signals of the three detectors 3 into overall image data of an object. An imaging device provided with: Each of the three detectors 3 is, for example, a CCD element.

A reflection / transmission spectroscope 9 is placed between the light collecting optical system 1 and the three detectors 3. As shown in detail in FIG. 6, the reflection / transmission spectroscope 9 does not substantially transmit the incident light 2 from the condensing optical system 1 and has one of the three detectors 3 (hereinafter, referred to as an intermediate part). A reflecting surface for reflecting light toward a first detector, and detectors on both sides of the three detectors 3 without substantially reflecting the incident light 2 from the condensing optical system 1 (hereinafter referred to as first detectors). A transmission surface for transmitting light toward the second detector). The reflection surface and the transmission surface are formed adjacent to each other on one surface.

The first and second detectors 3 are arranged on an imaging plane corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface such that their ends overlap as optically overlapping portions.

In FIGS. 1 and 6, the signal processing unit 7
The output signal of the overlap portion of the first detector 3 and the second output signal
And an adder 17 for adding the output signal of the overlap portion of the detector 3 to the output signal of the portion excluding the overlap portion of the first detector 3 and the overlap signal of the second detector 3 The output signal of the portion excluding the portion and the output signal of the adder are processed into the overall image data of the object.

More specifically, the first detector 3 has a large number of first detection elements arranged in a line on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface, and the second detector 3 has a transmission surface. Has a large number of second detection elements arranged in a line on an imaging surface corresponding to the first and second detectors, and the first and second detectors 3 have a first imaging element corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface, The rows of the detection elements and the rows of the second detection elements are arranged so as to optically form one row, and the detection elements at the ends of each other are optically overlapped as an overlapped portion. The signal processing unit 7 includes the first detector 3
, The output signal of the first detection element except for the overlap portion, the output signal of the second detection element except for the overlap portion of the second detector 3, and the output signal of the adder 17. Are processed into the overall image data of the object. Note that the imaging surfaces corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface are at right angles to each other.

Next, the operation of the imaging apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. The incident light 2 collected by the condensing optical system 1 of the imaging device passes through a reflection / transmission spectroscope 9 having a transmission surface and a reflection surface, and is then detected by three detectors 3 arranged on each passing light imaging surface. Photoelectric conversion is performed. The electric signal is input to the amplifier 4 for each detector output. At this time, the signals of the detector elements arranged to overlap the boundary between the reflection surface and the transmission surface of the reflection / transmission spectroscope 9 are also input to the amplifier 4 as a part of the signal train. The signal amplified by the amplifier 4 is A /
After being A / D converted by the D converter 5 into a digital signal, the digital signal is temporarily stored in the memory 15 and immediately read. In the electric switch 16, an output signal of a detection element through which light does not pass through the boundary is directly sent to the digital multiplexer 6, and an output signal of an element which detects light passing through the boundary is sent to the adder 17. The adder 17 adds the detection element outputs corresponding to the same point, which have been input to the adder 17 at the same time, and outputs the result to the digital multiplexer 6 by controlling the timing of reading from the memory 15 in advance.

FIG. 2 is an output profile showing the image data obtained by the image pickup device as a detector output level. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 18 denotes the added detector output. By the above-described operation, the image signal lowered near the boundary of the detector 3 is added as shown in the example of FIG.
As shown at 18 in FIG. 2, the output level becomes equal to the output of the detector that detects the light passing through the reflection surface and the transmission surface of the reflection / transmission spectroscope 9, thereby preventing the S / N ratio from being lowered.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, in order to increase the number of elements of a detector, a reflection / transmission spectroscope having a reflection surface and a transmission surface partially prevents light from being reduced. The imaging light is guided to different detectors, and the output of the detector that receives the light that decreases at the boundary between the two surfaces is added to prevent the output of the detector from decreasing. A multi-element detector can be realized without manufacturing the multi-element detector described above and without causing a decrease in the S / N ratio.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an image output signal level of the imaging device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional imaging device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another conventional imaging device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of still another conventional imaging device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a reflection / transmission spectroscope used in the imaging devices of FIGS. 1 and 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an image output signal level of the imaging device of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Condensing optical system 2 Incident light 3 Detector 4 Amplifier 5 A / D converter 6 Digital multiplexer 7 Signal processing unit 8 Half prism (or half mirror) 9 Reflection / transmission spectroscope 10 Detector output element number 11 Output level 13 Detector output corresponding to transmitted light 14 Detector output corresponding to reflected light 15 Memory 16 Electric switch 17 Adder 18 Added detector output

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A condensing optical system that forms an image of reflected light or radiated light from an object, and a second condensing optical system that is placed on an imaging surface of the condensing optical system and outputs partial image data of the object. An image pickup apparatus comprising: first and second detectors; and a signal processing unit configured to process output signals of the first and second detectors into overall image data of an object. A reflecting surface placed between the system and the first and second detectors and reflecting toward the first detector without substantially transmitting incident light from the condensing optical system; A transmission surface for transmitting incident light from the light collection optical system toward the second detector without substantially reflecting the light, and the reflection surface and the transmission surface are adjacent to each other on one surface. A reflection / transmission spectrometer formed as follows, wherein the first and second detectors are And an image forming surface corresponding to the transmission surface, and arranged so that ends thereof optically overlap with each other as an overlapped portion. An adder for adding an output signal of an overlap portion and an output signal of the overlap portion of the second detector, and an output signal of a portion excluding the overlap portion of the first detector; An imaging apparatus, wherein an output signal of a portion of the second detector excluding the overlapped portion and an output signal of the adder are processed into the overall image data of an object. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first detector includes a plurality of first detection elements arranged in a line on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface, and the second detector includes the transmission surface. Has a large number of second detection elements arranged in a row on the imaging surface corresponding to the, the first and the second detector, the imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface, The detection elements at the ends of each other are arranged so as to optically overlap each other as the overlap portion, and the signal processing unit is configured to remove the overlap portion of the first detector except for the overlap portion. The output signal of the first detection element, the output signal of the second detection element except for the overlap portion of the second detector, and the output signal of the adder, the output signal of the object, The imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed on the entire image data. Location. 3. The first detector includes a plurality of first detection elements arranged in a line on an imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface, and the second detector includes the transmission surface. Has a large number of second detection elements arranged in a row on the imaging surface corresponding to the, the first and the second detector, the imaging surface corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface, A row of the first detection element and a row of the second detection element optically form a row, and the detection elements at the ends of each other optically overlap as the overlap portion, And the signal processing unit is configured to output an output signal of the first detection element in a portion excluding the overlap portion of the first detector and the overlap portion of the second detector. The output signal of the second detection element of the removed portion and the output signal of the adder are: The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that processing the entire image data of the elephant thereof. 4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging planes corresponding to the reflection surface and the transmission surface are at right angles to each other.