CN108322668B - Imaging method of image sensor - Google Patents
Imaging method of image sensor Download PDFInfo
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- CN108322668B CN108322668B CN201810161262.4A CN201810161262A CN108322668B CN 108322668 B CN108322668 B CN 108322668B CN 201810161262 A CN201810161262 A CN 201810161262A CN 108322668 B CN108322668 B CN 108322668B
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
- H04N23/70—Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
- H04N23/73—Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene by influencing the exposure time
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
- H04N23/70—Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
- H04N23/76—Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene by influencing the image signals
Abstract
The invention discloses an imaging method of an image sensor, wherein photoelectric conversion units corresponding to the rest groups of storage units except a first group of storage units in each vertical register are shielded, and the method comprises the following steps: exposing, wherein the photoelectric conversion unit senses external photons to convert into charges and transfers the charges into a vertical register, whether the current exposure operation is the Nth time is judged, if so, S107 is executed, and otherwise, S105 is executed; s105: executing one vertical moving operation, and transferring one row of charges stored by each storage unit to the next row of storage units by each storage unit; s106: judging whether the vertical moving operation of the S105 is performed with V/N, if so, returning to perform the exposure operation, otherwise, returning to the S105; s107: all the vertical registers transfer the charges stored at the ends close to the horizontal register, and the quality and the precision of the depth map obtained by processing a plurality of pictures at the same time are improved by simultaneously buffering the plurality of pictures in a single image sensor.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of imaging, in particular to an imaging method of an image sensor.
Background
At present, most image sensors (CCD) output a captured picture to a post processor (CPU) through three parts, namely, exposure, vertical transfer and horizontal transfer, wherein the inter-frame interval (i.e., the time interval between adjacent pictures) of the captured picture is the sum of the exposure, vertical transfer and horizontal transfer time of the image sensor.
Specifically, the conventional image sensor includes a photoelectric conversion unit, a vertical register, and a horizontal register, where the photoelectric conversion unit is configured to convert photons into charges for accumulation during exposure; the vertical register is used for caching the charges accumulated by the photoelectric conversion unit after the exposure is finished; the horizontal register is used for buffering a row of charges transferred by all the vertical registers, and the charges pass through the operational amplifier circuits inside the ccds one by one and are then output by the output end.
In some applications, a plurality of pictures collected at the same time need to be processed to realize corresponding functions, such as extraction of depth information. However, due to the limitation of the CCD process, only one image can be acquired at the same time, and in the existing imaging method of the image sensor, the inter-frame interval of the images output by the image sensor is long, so that the quality and precision of the depth map obtained by processing a plurality of images need to be improved.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above technical problems, embodiments of the present invention provide an imaging method for an image sensor, so as to improve quality and accuracy of a depth map obtained by processing a plurality of pictures.
In order to solve the above problems, the embodiments of the present invention provide the following technical solutions:
an imaging method of an image sensor, the image sensor including a plurality of photoelectric conversion units, a plurality of vertical registers and a horizontal register, wherein each vertical register includes a plurality of storage units, each storage unit corresponds to one photoelectric conversion unit, the plurality of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are divided into N groups, which are a first group to an Nth group in turn, wherein the remaining groups of the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are blocked, and N is a positive integer greater than 1, the method comprising:
s101: initializing the image sensor;
s102: performing an exposure operation in which the photoelectric conversion unit continuously senses external photons and converts the external photons into electric charges for storage;
s103: after exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by the photoelectric conversion unit to a vertical register;
s104: judging whether the current exposure operation is the Nth exposure operation or not, if not, executing S105-S106, and if so, executing S107;
s105: executing one vertical moving operation, wherein each group of storage units in the vertical register transfers one row of charges stored by the storage units to the storage units in the next row;
s106: judging whether the vertical moving operation in the S105 is performed by V/N, wherein V represents the vertical height of the image sensor, if so, executing the S102, otherwise, continuing to execute the S105;
s107: all the vertical registers transfer the charges stored at the end close to the horizontal register into the horizontal register, and the horizontal register outputs the charges stored by the horizontal register from the output end through the operational amplifier circuit.
Optionally, the method further includes: repeating S107 until the number of repetitions reaches the vertical height of the image sensor.
Optionally, the plurality of memory cells in the vertical register are equally divided into N groups.
Optionally, the plurality of photoelectric conversion units are divided into N groups on average.
Optionally, the transferring one row of charges stored by each group of memory cells in the vertical register to the next row of memory cells includes:
each group of memory cells in the vertical register simultaneously transfers one row of charges stored by the memory cells to the next row of memory cells.
Optionally, the method for shielding the photoelectric conversion units in the remaining groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof includes:
and carrying out shading treatment on lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
Optionally, the step of performing light shielding processing on the lens area of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit in the remaining group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof includes:
and carrying out blacking on lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
Optionally, the step of performing light shielding processing on the lens area of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit in the remaining group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof includes:
and pasting black adhesive tapes on lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme has the following advantages:
according to the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, a plurality of pictures are cached in a single image sensor at the same time, so that the inter-frame interval of the pictures is greatly reduced, and the quality and the precision of the depth map obtained by processing the plurality of pictures at the same time are improved.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.
FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a prior art imaging method for a graphic sensor;
fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an imaging method of an image sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an imaging method of an image sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which each vertical register in the image sensor is partially blocked;
fig. 4-9 are schematic diagrams illustrating three exposures and three vertical shifts in an imaging method of an image sensor according to another embodiment of the invention.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, but the present invention may be practiced in other ways than those specifically described and will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and therefore the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.
As shown in fig. 1, the imaging method of the conventional image sensor includes:
s01: initializing the image sensor, and resetting a horizontal driving signal and a vertical driving signal of the image sensor to a default level;
s02: performing an exposure operation in which a photoelectric conversion unit in the image sensor continuously senses external photons and converts the photons into charges for storage;
s03: after exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by the photoelectric conversion unit to a vertical register;
s04: executing one vertical shift operation, and transferring one line of charges stored by all the vertical registers to the horizontal register;
s05: executing horizontal transfer operation, wherein the horizontal register outputs the electric charge cached by the horizontal register from an output end through an operational amplifier circuit, and the image sensor outputs a gray value of one pixel every time the horizontal transfer operation is executed;
and repeating S04-S05 until an image is transferred, wherein each time S04-S05 is executed, the image sensor completes the output work of one line of image, and the repetition times of S04-S05 represent the vertical height of the image sensor.
However, in the imaging method of the image sensor, the inter-frame interval of the pictures output by the image sensor is long, so that the quality and the precision of the depth map obtained by processing a plurality of pictures need to be improved.
In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides an imaging method for an image sensor, where the image sensor includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion units, a plurality of vertical registers, and a horizontal register, where each vertical memory includes a plurality of storage units, each storage unit corresponds to one photoelectric conversion unit, the plurality of storage units and corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are divided into N groups, which are sequentially a first group to an nth group, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, and the remaining storage units in the N groups of storage units and corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof and the photoelectric conversion units in the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are shielded so as not to sense external photons. Preferably, in an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units in each vertical register are equally divided into N groups, but the present invention is not limited to this, as long as it is ensured that the number of memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units in the first group of memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units is not greater than the number of memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units in the other groups of memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the photoelectric conversion units included in the image sensor is determined by the resolution of the image sensor, and the number of the vertical registers included in the image sensor is determined by the width of the image sensor, specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, the resolution of the image sensor is 640 × 480, and in this embodiment, the image sensor includes 640 × 480 — 307200 photoelectric conversion units, 640 vertical registers and one horizontal register, and each vertical register includes 480 memory cells, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention is determined as the case may be.
It should be further noted that, since whether the vertical register can store the charges accumulated by the photoelectric conversion unit cannot be controlled, in the embodiment of the present invention, the charges accumulated in the remaining groups of the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are shielded by a shielding process, so that the charges accumulated in the remaining groups of the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof and the storage units thereof except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are only the thermal noise of the image sensor, and do not have the accumulated charges caused by external light, thereby implementing the remaining groups of the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof The storage units in the picture storage device do not receive external light intensity signals and only store pictures output by the previous group of storage units, and the charges are converted and output by the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
The thermal noise of the image sensor can be ignored, and the picture buffered before the storage unit is not influenced, so that in the embodiment of the invention, a single image sensor can buffer a plurality of pictures.
Specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, the shielding, by a shielding process, the remaining groups of the N groups of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units, except for the first group of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units, includes: the lens area of the image sensor corresponding to the remaining group of storage units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof is shielded, so that the remaining group of storage units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof cannot normally sense and accumulate charges, the purpose that the remaining group of storage units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof in the N groups of storage units and the storage units thereof in the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof can only be used for caching the pictures stored in the previous group of storage units is realized, and thus each vertical register in the image sensor can store N pictures after N exposures are performed, and the generation interval of each picture is the sum of the exposure time of the respective picture and (total vertical transfer time/N of the image sensor).
On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, in an embodiment of the present invention, the image sensor is subjected to secondary shielding processing before being shipped from a factory so that external photons are not induced, thereby shielding the remaining groups of the N groups of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except for the first group of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof and the photoelectric conversion units thereof. Specifically, the secondary shielding process may be implemented by adhering an opaque material (such as a black tape or other similar opaque materials), or by applying a black paint, which is not limited in this respect, and is determined as the case may be.
Specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, assuming that the resolution of ccd is 640 × 480, the image sensor includes 640 vertical registers, each vertical register includes 480 memory cells, and the memory cells respectively store the charge amount of each photoelectric conversion unit in the 640 th column after being exposed. In this embodiment, 480 memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units in each vertical register are divided into N groups of equal parts, and the memory cells of the 2 nd to nth groups of equal parts and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units are masked or blackened.
On the basis of the above-described embodiments, in one embodiment of the present invention, the light-shielding processing of the lens region of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit in the remaining group of the N groups of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof other than the first group of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof includes: and blacking lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units. In another embodiment of the present invention, the light-shielding processing of the lens area of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit in the remaining group of the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof includes: and pasting black adhesive tapes on lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units. The present invention is not limited in this regard, as the case may be.
As shown in fig. 2, an imaging method of an image sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:
s101: initializing the image sensor, and resetting a horizontal driving signal and a vertical driving signal of the image sensor to a default level;
s102: and executing exposure operation, wherein in the operation, the photoelectric conversion unit continuously senses external photons and converts the external photons into electric charges for storage, and the operation specifically comprises the following steps: the first group of storage units and the photoelectric conversion units in the corresponding photoelectric conversion units continuously sense external photons and convert the photons into electric charges for storage;
s103: after exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by the photoelectric conversion unit to a vertical register;
s104: judging whether the current exposure operation is the Nth exposure operation or not, if not, executing S105-S106, and if so, executing S107;
s105: executing a vertical shift operation once, wherein each storage unit in each vertical register transfers one row of charges stored by itself to a storage unit in the next row, and preferably, each storage unit in each vertical register transfers one row of charges stored by itself to a storage unit in the next row at the same time, so as to shorten the time for outputting pictures by the image sensor;
s106: judging whether the vertical moving operation in the S105 is performed by V/N, wherein V represents the vertical height of the image sensor, if so, executing the S102, otherwise, continuing to execute the S105; preferably, in an embodiment of the present invention, the steps S105 and S106 are performed simultaneously to shorten the time for the image sensor to output the picture.
S107: all the vertical registers transfer a row of charges stored at the end close to the horizontal register into the horizontal register, and the horizontal register outputs the charges stored by the horizontal register from the output end through the operational amplifier circuit.
Specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, the transferring of a row of charges stored in a respective end of the vertical registers close to the horizontal register into the horizontal register, the outputting of the charges stored in the horizontal register from the output end via the operational amplifier circuit includes:
s1071: performing a vertical shift operation in which all the vertical registers transfer a line of charge stored at the end close to the horizontal register, preferably, the vertical registers transfer a line of charge stored at the end close to the horizontal register simultaneously;
s1072: performing a horizontal transfer operation in which the horizontal register outputs the charges buffered therein through a charge-discharge path to an output terminal of the image sensor. It should be noted that, in the horizontal transfer operation, the number of times the horizontal register performs the horizontal transfer operation is determined by the horizontal width of the image sensor.
On the basis of the above embodiment, in an embodiment of the present invention, the imaging method further includes:
repeating S105-S107 until the repetition number reaches the vertical height of the image sensor, and when the repetition number reaches the vertical height of the image sensor, indicating that one image is transmitted, the image sensor enters an end state and then returns to an initialization state.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since only the storage units in the first group of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units in each vertical register are used for receiving the charges transferred by the photoelectric conversion units, and the storage units in the remaining groups of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units are used for storing the pictures stored by the previous group of storage units, in the embodiment of the present invention, after performing N exposures, the image sensor may store N pictures, and the generation interval of each picture is the sum of the exposure time of each picture and (total vertical transfer time/N of the image sensor).
The larger the time interval between pictures output by the image sensor, the greater the influence on the quality and precision of the depth map finally obtained by processing a plurality of pictures. Therefore, the imaging method of the image sensor provided by the embodiment of the invention can greatly improve the quality and the precision of the depth map obtained by processing a plurality of pictures.
The following describes an imaging method of an image sensor provided in an embodiment of the present invention with reference to specific embodiments. In the embodiment of the present invention, N is 3, that is, the plurality of memory cells and their corresponding photoelectric conversion cells in each vertical register in the image sensor are divided into three groups on average. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is specifically determined by the application of the back end, and N may be any positive integer greater than 1 as long as the quality back end of the image is acceptable. For example, if the scheme of the invention is used in obstacle avoidance application, it is only necessary to ensure that the application at the back end can normally identify the object. The storage units in the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are used for collecting pictures output by the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof, the storage units in the second group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are used for caching the pictures output by the storage units in the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof, and the storage units in the third group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are used for caching the pictures output by the storage units in the second group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof. As shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of each vertical register portion in the image sensor after being blocked (the oblique lines fill the portions in the figure).
Specifically, the imaging method of the image sensor includes:
s201: initializing the image sensor, and resetting a horizontal driving signal and a vertical driving signal of the image sensor to a default level;
s202: executing a first exposure operation, wherein in the operation, the photoelectric conversion unit continuously senses external photons and converts the external photons into electric charges for storage, and the first exposure operation specifically comprises the following steps: the first group of storage units and the photoelectric conversion units in the corresponding photoelectric conversion units continuously sense external photons and convert the photons into electric charges for storage;
s203: as shown in fig. 4, after the exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by itself to the first group of memory cells of each vertical register and the memory cells of the corresponding photoelectric conversion unit;
s204: as shown in fig. 5, each group of memory cells in each vertical register simultaneously transfers one row of charges stored by itself to the next row of memory cells, so that each vertical register transfers charges stored in the memory cells of the first group of memory cells and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof to the memory cells of the second group of memory cells and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof;
s205: judging whether the vertical moving operation in the S204 is performed by V/3, wherein V represents the vertical height of the image sensor, if so, executing the S206, and if not, continuing to execute the S204;
s206: executing a second exposure operation, wherein the photoelectric conversion unit continuously senses external photons and converts the external photons into electric charges for storage;
s207: as shown in fig. 6, after the exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by itself to the first group of memory cells of each vertical register and the memory cells of the corresponding photoelectric conversion unit;
s208: as shown in fig. 7, each group of memory cells in each vertical register simultaneously transfers one row of charges stored in itself to the next group of memory cells, that is, the charges stored in the memory cells of the second group of memory cells and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units are transferred to the memory cells of the third group of memory cells and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units, and the charges stored in the memory cells of the first group of memory cells and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units are transferred to the memory cells of the second group of memory cells and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units;
s209: judging whether the vertical moving operation in the S208 is performed by V/3, wherein V represents the vertical height of the image sensor, if so, executing the S210, and if not, continuing to execute the S204;
s210: executing a third exposure operation, wherein the photoelectric conversion unit continuously senses external photons and converts the external photons into electric charges for storage;
s211: as shown in fig. 8, after the exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by itself to the first group of memory cells of each vertical register and the memory cells of the corresponding photoelectric conversion unit;
s212: each vertical register transfers one row of charges stored by the vertical register to the vertical register of the next row at the same time;
s213: judging whether the vertical moving operation in the S212 is performed by V/3, wherein V represents the vertical height of the image sensor, if so, executing the S214, and if not, continuing to execute the S204;
s214: as shown in fig. 9, each group of memory cells in the vertical register simultaneously transfers one row of charges stored by itself to the next row of memory cells, and each of the vertical registers simultaneously transfers charges stored at an end close to the horizontal register, that is, charges stored in the third memory cell and the memory cell corresponding to the third photoelectric conversion unit are transferred to the horizontal register, charges stored in the second group of memory cells and the memory cell corresponding to the third photoelectric conversion unit are transferred to the third group of memory cells and the memory cell corresponding to the third photoelectric conversion unit, and charges stored in the first group of memory cells and the memory cell corresponding to the first photoelectric conversion unit are transferred to the second group of memory cells and the memory cell corresponding to the second photoelectric conversion unit;
s215: performing a horizontal transfer operation in which the horizontal register outputs the charges buffered therein through a charge-discharge path to an output terminal of the image sensor. It should be noted that, in the horizontal transfer operation, the number of times the horizontal register performs the horizontal transfer operation is determined by the horizontal width of the image sensor.
S216: repeating S214-S215 until the repetition number reaches the vertical height of the image sensor, and when the repetition number reaches the vertical height of the image sensor, indicating that one image is transmitted, the image sensor enters an end state and then returns to an initialization state.
S216: after the process is finished, three pictures are cached in the image sensor, wherein the picture acquired by the first exposure is positioned at the bottommost part, namely the picture acquired by the first exposure is cached in the third group of storage units, and the picture acquired by the third exposure is cached in the first group of storage units which are not shielded.
Generally, the frame rate concept is introduced in the image transmission process, and here we assume that the maximum frame rate of the sensor is 25 frames (the frame rate of the sensor is generally determined by device characteristics), and the total time of image acquisition and transmission per frame is 1s/25 ═ 40 ms. Assuming that the exposure time of the photoelectric conversion unit in the image sensor is 5ms, the image input time is 40 ms-5 ms which is 35 ms; the 35ms time includes a vertical moving time of 6ms, a horizontal moving time of 25ms and a blanking time of about 4ms, and these parameters are determined by device characteristics; the inter-frame interval between pictures output by the image sensor is 40 ms. By using the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the time for vertically moving one third of the pictures is 6ms/3 to 2ms, so that the time between pictures collected by the image sensor is reduced from 40ms in the common scheme to 7ms (5ms exposure time and 2ms vertical moving time), thereby greatly shortening the frame interval of the pictures.
In summary, according to the imaging method of the image sensor provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the inter-frame space of the picture is greatly reduced by buffering multiple pictures in a single image sensor at the same time, so that the quality and the precision of the depth map obtained by processing multiple pictures are improved. It should be noted that the image sensor provided in the embodiment of the present invention can directly divide the plurality of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units in each vertical register in the existing image sensor into M parts according to the number of pictures (for example, M) that the image sensor needs to buffer at the same time, the simultaneous caching of multiple pictures is realized by shielding M-1 parts of storage units in each vertical register and photoelectric conversion units in the corresponding photoelectric conversion units, or the storage units in the vertical registers and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units in the existing image sensors can be increased by M times according to the number (such as M) of pictures which need to be cached simultaneously by the image sensors, and then the M-1 parts of storage units and the photoelectric conversion units in the corresponding photoelectric conversion units are shielded to realize the simultaneous caching of the multiple pictures. The present invention is not limited in this regard, as the case may be.
In the description, each part is described in a progressive manner, each part is emphasized to be different from other parts, and the same and similar parts among the parts are referred to each other.
The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Claims (7)
1. An imaging method of an image sensor is characterized in that the image sensor comprises a plurality of photoelectric conversion units, a plurality of vertical registers and horizontal registers, wherein each vertical register comprises a plurality of storage units, each storage unit corresponds to one photoelectric conversion unit, the plurality of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are divided into N groups which are sequentially a first group to an Nth group, wherein the rest groups of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof are shielded, the number of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof in the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof is not more than the number of the storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof in the other groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units thereof, n is a positive integer greater than 1, the method comprising:
s101: initializing the image sensor;
s102: performing an exposure operation in which the photoelectric conversion unit continuously senses external photons and converts the external photons into electric charges for storage;
s103: after exposure is finished, the photoelectric conversion unit transfers the charges accumulated by the photoelectric conversion unit to a vertical register;
s104: judging whether the current exposure operation is the Nth exposure operation or not, if not, executing S105-S106, and if so, executing S107;
s105: executing one vertical moving operation, wherein each group of storage units in the vertical register transfers one row of charges stored by the storage units to the storage units in the next row;
s106: judging whether the vertical moving operation in the S105 is performed by V/N, wherein V represents the vertical height of the image sensor, if so, executing the S102, otherwise, continuing to execute the S105;
s107: all the vertical registers transfer the charges stored at the end close to the horizontal register into the horizontal register, and the horizontal register outputs the charges stored by the horizontal register from the output end through the operational amplifier circuit.
2. The imaging method of claim 1, further comprising: repeating S107 until the number of repetitions reaches the vertical height of the image sensor.
3. The imaging method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of memory cells in the vertical register are divided into N groups on average; the plurality of photoelectric conversion units are divided into N groups on average.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the self-stored row of charges from each group of memory cells in the vertical register to the next row of memory cells comprises:
each group of memory cells in the vertical register simultaneously transfers one row of charges stored by the memory cells to the next row of memory cells.
5. The imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the method of blocking the photoelectric conversion units in the remaining groups of the N groups of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units comprises:
and carrying out shading treatment on lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except for the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
6. The imaging method according to claim 5, wherein the light-shielding processing of the lens region of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit of the remaining group of the N groups of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units excluding the first group of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units comprises:
and blacking lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the remaining groups of the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
7. The imaging method according to claim 5, wherein the light-shielding processing of the lens area of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit in the remaining group of the N groups of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and their corresponding photoelectric conversion units comprises:
and pasting black adhesive tapes on lens areas of the image sensor corresponding to the photoelectric conversion units in the N groups of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units except the first group of storage units and the corresponding photoelectric conversion units.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN201810161262.4A CN108322668B (en) | 2018-02-27 | 2018-02-27 | Imaging method of image sensor |
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