CN111343395B - Method of reading exposure data of image sensor and image forming apparatus - Google Patents
Method of reading exposure data of image sensor and image forming apparatus Download PDFInfo
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- CN111343395B CN111343395B CN201811556814.8A CN201811556814A CN111343395B CN 111343395 B CN111343395 B CN 111343395B CN 201811556814 A CN201811556814 A CN 201811556814A CN 111343395 B CN111343395 B CN 111343395B
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
- H04N25/50—Control of the SSIS exposure
- H04N25/57—Control of the dynamic range
- H04N25/58—Control of the dynamic range involving two or more exposures
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
- H04N25/70—SSIS architectures; Circuits associated therewith
- H04N25/71—Charge-coupled device [CCD] sensors; Charge-transfer registers specially adapted for CCD sensors
- H04N25/75—Circuitry for providing, modifying or processing image signals from the pixel array
Abstract
The invention provides a method for reading exposure data of an image sensor and an imaging device, wherein the image sensor comprises a pixel array, and the method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor comprises the following steps: controlling the pixel array to respectively carry out N-level exposure; and respectively reading N levels of exposure data of the current row of the pixel array within the exposure reading time of the current row. The method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor can effectively save the area of the memory and reduce the cost of the image sensor.
Description
Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of image sensor technology, and in particular, to a method for reading exposure data of an image sensor, a method for synthesizing a wide dynamic image, an imaging device, and an electronic terminal.
Background
The dynamic range of an image sensor is an important index for measuring the performance of the image sensor, and is determined by the available full well capacity of pixels and the noise of a chip. At a certain noise level, the performance of the image sensor can be improved by increasing the available full well capacity of the pixels, but a larger pixel is usually needed to achieve a higher dynamic range, and if only the available full well capacity of the pixels is increased, the dynamic range of the image sensor is difficult to reach more than 110 dB.
In order to achieve a larger dynamic range of the image sensor, in the related art, multiple exposures (such as three long, medium and short exposures, where the dynamic range of the image is higher than that of the two-exposure technique) are adopted to increase the dynamic range of the image sensor. Specifically, the long-short exposure can record both bright details and dark details in a scene, the medium exposure can record medium-brightness details in the scene, the long exposure can better embody a low-light scene, the medium exposure can better embody a medium-light scene, the short exposure can embody a high-light scene, and then the three times of long, medium and short exposure data are synthesized.
However, based on the prior art conditions, all data acquired by three exposures, namely, the long exposure and the short exposure, need to be output for synthesizing wide dynamic data, so that more storage units are needed for storing data generated by three exposures, the area of a chip is increased, and the cost of the chip is increased.
Disclosure of Invention
The present invention is directed to solving, at least to some extent, one of the technical problems in the related art.
Therefore, a first objective of the present invention is to provide a method for reading exposure data of an image sensor, which can effectively save the area of a memory and reduce the cost of the image sensor.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method for synthesizing a wide dynamic image.
A third object of the invention is to propose a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide an electronic terminal.
To achieve the above object, an embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention provides a method for reading exposure data of an image sensor, where the image sensor includes a pixel array, the method including: controlling the pixel array to respectively carry out N-level exposure; and respectively reading N levels of exposure data of the current row of the pixel array within the exposure reading time of the current row, wherein N is an integer larger than 2.
According to the method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor, the pixel array is controlled to respectively carry out N-level exposure, and the N-level exposure data of the current line is respectively read within the exposure reading time of the current line of the pixel array, so that the area of a memory can be effectively saved, and the cost of the image sensor is reduced.
In addition, the method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor, which is provided by the embodiment of the invention, can also have the following additional technical characteristics:
according to one embodiment of the present invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array includes a pixel unit, M transmission units for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit, and M-1 switching units respectively connected to outputs of two adjacent transmission units, wherein M is equal to or less than M, and M is equal to N-1.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the reading the N-level exposure data of the current line respectively specifically includes: respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N-1 level of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes; reading the signal of the mth floating diffusion node to obtain an exposure signal of a corresponding level before the Nth level of the pixel units of the current row is exposed; transferring the N-th level of exposed photo-generated electrons to the m-th floating diffusion node; controlling the switching unit and the source follower unit to output the exposure signals of the remaining levels, respectively.
Further, the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor further comprises: and selectively reading the N-level exposure data of the current line according to the storage space of the storage line of the memory, so that the read N-level exposure data is stored in a single storage line.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array includes N4T pixel structures, where the N4T pixel structures share a pixel unit, and the reading the N-level exposure data of the current row respectively specifically includes: respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N levels of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding N floating diffusion nodes; and respectively reading signals of N floating diffusion nodes to obtain N-level exposure data of the pixel units of the current row.
In order to achieve the above object, a second aspect of embodiments of the present invention provides a method for synthesizing a wide dynamic image, the method including: according to the method for reading exposure data of the image sensor, the exposure data of the N-level exposure of the image sensor is read; and synthesizing the exposure data of the N-level exposure to obtain a wide dynamic image, wherein N is an integer greater than 2.
According to the method for synthesizing the wide dynamic image, the exposure data of the N-level exposure of the image sensor is read according to the method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor, and the exposure data of the N-level exposure is synthesized to obtain the wide dynamic image, so that the area of a memory can be effectively saved, and the cost of the image sensor is reduced.
To achieve the above object, a third aspect of the present invention provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program that, when executed, implements the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor set forth in the first aspect, or implements the method for synthesizing a wide dynamic image set forth in the second aspect.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the embodiment of the invention can effectively save the area of the memory and reduce the cost of the image sensor.
To achieve the above object, a fourth aspect of the present invention provides an image forming apparatus, including: an image sensor comprising an array of pixels; the image processor is used for controlling the pixel array to respectively carry out N-level exposure, and respectively reading N-level exposure data of a current row of the pixel array within exposure reading time of the current row, wherein N is an integer greater than 2.
According to the imaging device provided by the embodiment of the invention, the image processor is used for controlling the pixel array of the image sensor to respectively carry out N-level exposure, and respectively reading the exposure data of the N-level exposure in the exposure data reading time of the current row of the pixel array, so that the area of a memory can be effectively saved, and the cost of the image sensor is reduced.
In addition, the imaging device provided by the embodiment of the invention can also have the following additional technical characteristics:
according to one embodiment of the present invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array includes a pixel unit, M transmission units for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit, and M-1 switching units respectively connected to outputs of two adjacent transmission units, wherein M is equal to or less than M, and M is equal to N-1.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the image processor is specifically configured to, when reading the multi-level exposure data of the current row respectively, transfer the photo-generated electrons of the N-1 level exposure of the pixel units of the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes, before the nth level exposure of the pixel units of the current row is finished, read a signal of the mth floating diffusion node to obtain an exposure signal of the corresponding level, transfer the photo-generated electrons of the nth level exposure to the mth floating diffusion node, and control the switching unit and the source follower unit to output the exposure signals of the remaining levels respectively.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the imaging apparatus further comprises a memory for storing exposure data; the image processor is further configured to selectively read the N-level exposure data of the current line according to a storage space of a storage line of the memory, such that the read N-level exposure data is stored in a single storage line.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array includes N4T pixel structures, where N4T pixel structures share a pixel unit, and the image processor is specifically configured to transfer the photo-generated electrons of N-level exposure of the pixel units of the current row to corresponding N floating diffusion nodes when reading the multi-level exposure data of the current row, and read signals of N floating diffusion nodes to obtain N-level exposure data of the pixel units of the current row.
In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of a fifth aspect of the present invention provides an electronic terminal, which includes the imaging device set forth in the embodiment of the fourth aspect.
According to the electronic terminal provided by the embodiment of the invention, the area of the memory can be effectively saved and the cost of the image sensor can be reduced through the imaging device.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Drawings
The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional 4T pixel structure;
FIG. 2 is a timing diagram of a conventional 4T pixel readout scheme;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of conventional long and short exposure generation for synthesizing wide motion image data;
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of reading image sensor exposure data according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a pixel array according to one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 6 is a timing diagram of a manner of reading a pixel according to one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 7 is a flow chart of pixel exposure and data acquisition according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another way of processing long, medium and short exposure data according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of another pixel structure for implementing long, medium and short exposures in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram for achieving increased exposure gradients in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a method of compositing wide motion images according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 12 is a block schematic diagram of an imaging device according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 13 is a block schematic diagram of an imaging device according to one embodiment of the invention.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are illustrative and intended to be illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.
A method of reading exposure data of an image sensor, a method of synthesizing a wide dynamic image, an imaging apparatus, and an electronic terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional 4T pixel structure. As shown in fig. 1, the main components of the 4T pixel include: the photoelectric diode PPD, the floating diffusion node FD, the transmission tube TX, the reset tube RST, the source follower tube SE and the row strobe tube Rowsel. The photoelectric diode PPD is used for collecting optical signals, the floating diffusion node FD is used for converting photo-generated electrons into voltage signals, the transmission tube TX is used for controlling the photo-generated electrons to be transferred to the floating diffusion node FD from the photoelectric diode PPD, the reset tube RST is used for resetting the floating diffusion node FD before the electrons are transferred, the source follower tube SE is used for amplifying and buffering the signals, and the Row selector tube Row sel is used for carrying out Row selection and connecting the signals to the column bus.
As shown in fig. 2, a conventional 4T pixel is read by first outputting a high level signal RST to a reset tube RST to reset a floating diffusion FD, reading a reset signal SHS, and then outputting a high level signal TX to a transmission tube TX to open the transmission tube TX, where the transmission tube TX controls photo-generated electrons to be transferred from a photodiode PPD to the floating diffusion FD, reading a signal SHR of the floating diffusion FD after the transfer of the photo-generated electrons, and a difference between the reset signal SHS and the signal of the floating diffusion FD after the transfer of the photo-generated electrons is an effective signal. The image sensor sequentially reads and stores the long and short exposure data of each line, and when the long and short exposure data of the same line are stored in the storage unit, the image processing module can perform wide dynamic synthesis according to the obtained data, as shown in fig. 3, T1row is a long exposure pixel, T2row is a medium exposure pixel, and T3row is a short exposure pixel. Specifically, the conventional implementation of long, medium and short exposure pixels for synthesizing a wide dynamic image is that the current line is long exposed, long exposure data is read, then a medium exposure data line is read, then short exposure data is read, and the long, medium and short exposure data is stored in a storage unit, wherein the distance between the long exposure data line and the medium exposure data line is n lines, and the distance between the medium exposure data line and the short exposure data line is m lines.
It can be understood that if the line pitch of the long and medium exposure data is n lines and the line pitch of the medium and short exposure data is m lines, the memory unit has at least m + n +3 lines, so as to ensure that the memory unit has both the long exposure data and the short exposure data and the medium exposure data, only then the image sensor can obtain the original data for synthesizing the wide dynamic image, but then a larger area is needed to realize the simultaneous storage of the long and medium exposure data in the memory unit.
Therefore, the invention provides a method for reading exposure data of an image sensor, which can read long, medium and short exposure data in the same line, effectively reduce the number of storage units, and when the number of the storage units is more than or equal to three lines, the image sensor can obtain the long and short exposure data for synthesizing a wide dynamic image.
Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method of reading image sensor exposure data according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, an image sensor includes a pixel array. As shown in fig. 4, the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:
s1, the pixel array is controlled to perform N-level exposures, where N is an integer greater than 2, and for example, when N is 3, the 3-level exposures may include a long exposure, a medium exposure, and a short exposure.
S2, during the exposure reading time of the current row of the pixel array, reading the N-level exposure data of the current row respectively.
That is to say, the N-level exposure data of the embodiment of the present invention can be respectively acquired when the current line is read, that is, the N-level exposure data of the current line can be read within the time of reading the current line, and the conventional method needs at least m + N +3 lines to obtain the N-level exposure data of the current line, so the present invention can effectively save the area of the memory and reduce the cost of the image sensor.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array comprises a pixel unit, M transmission units for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit, and M-1 switching units respectively connected with the outputs of two adjacent transmission units, wherein the M transmission unit is also connected with a source following unit, M is less than or equal to M, and M is N-1. The pixel unit may be a photodiode PPD, the transmission unit may include M floating diffusions FD (FD1, FD2, … …, FDM), the switching unit may include M-1 switching tubes TC (TC1, TC1, … …, TCM-1), and the source follower unit may be a source follower tube SE.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, reading the N-level exposure data of the current row respectively specifically includes: respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N-1 level of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes; reading the signal of the mth floating diffusion node to obtain an exposure signal of a corresponding level before the Nth level of the pixel units of the current row is exposed; transferring the N-th level of exposed photo-generated electrons to the m-th floating diffusion node; the switching unit and the source follower unit are controlled to output the exposure signals of the remaining levels, respectively.
Further, the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor further comprises: and selectively reading the N-level exposure data of the current line according to the storage space of the storage line of the memory, so that the read N-level exposure data is stored in a single storage line.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array includes N4T pixel structures, where the N4T pixel structures share a pixel unit, and reading the N-level exposure data of the current row respectively specifically includes: respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N levels of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding N floating diffusion nodes; and respectively reading signals of the N floating diffusion nodes to obtain N-level exposure data of the pixel units of the current row.
In this embodiment, the structure of N4T pixels is described by taking the circuit diagram shown in fig. 5 as an example. Wherein, N is 3, and M is 2.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 6, the pixel is read by resetting the current row, turning on the reset transistor RST and the transmission transistor TX1, resetting the photodiode PPD, then performing a first-stage exposure (long exposure, T long), turning on the switch transistor TC and the reset transistor RST before the first-stage exposure is finished to reset the floating diffusion FD2, turning on the transmission transistor TX2 after the floating diffusion FD2 is reset, transferring the first-stage exposure photo-generated electrons to the floating diffusion FD2, clearing the photo-generated electrons in the floating diffusion FD2, and then performing a second-stage exposure (medium exposure, T Mid).
Before the second-stage exposure is finished, the reset tube RST is opened to reset the floating diffusion node FD1, the floating diffusion node FD1 is cleared, after the reset floating diffusion node FD1 is finished, the transmission tube TX1 is opened, the photo-generated electrons generated by the second-stage exposure are transferred to the floating diffusion node FD1, the photo-generated electrons in the floating diffusion node FD1 are cleared, and then the third-stage exposure (short exposure, T short) is carried out.
Before the third-stage exposure is finished, collecting a voltage signal of a floating diffusion node FD1, which is recorded as V1, then opening a reset tube RST, resetting the floating diffusion node FD1, collecting a reset signal of the floating diffusion node FD1, which is recorded as V2, then opening a transmission tube TX1, transferring third-stage exposure photo-generated electrons into the floating diffusion node FD1, collecting a voltage signal of the floating diffusion node FD1, which is recorded as V3, then opening a reset tube RST, resetting the floating diffusion node FD1, after the resetting of the floating diffusion node FD1 is finished, opening a switching tube TC, sharing signals with the floating diffusion nodes FD2 and FD1, collecting a shared voltage signal, which is recorded as V4, then opening the reset tube RST, resetting the floating diffusion nodes FD1 and FD2, collecting a reset signal of the floating diffusion node FD1 after the resetting is finished, which is recorded as V5.
Wherein, V2-V1 is a second-level exposure signal (middle exposure signal), V2-V3 is a third-level exposure signal (short exposure signal), V5-V4 is a first-level exposure signal (long exposure signal), the obtained first-level exposure signal to third-level exposure signal (long-medium short exposure signal) are stored, and the image processor synthesizes a wide dynamic image according to the obtained first-level exposure signal to third-level exposure signal, and the specific flow is as shown in fig. 7, wherein the sequence from the first-level exposure to the third-level exposure can be flexibly selected.
It should be noted that the above embodiment is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, and the number of the 4T pixel structures is not limited to the above embodiment, and is not described herein again to avoid redundancy.
Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another processing manner of the long, medium and short exposure data according to the present invention, that is, when processing the long, medium and short exposure data of the current line, the long, medium and short exposure data of the current line are selectively output, the short exposure data is output by the pixels in the high brightness region, the medium exposure data is output by the pixels in the medium brightness region, and the long exposure data is output by the low brightness region, so that the effective long, medium and short exposure data can be simultaneously stored only by one line of storage units, which is also beneficial to the reduction of the chip area and the improvement of the data processing speed.
After the long, medium and short exposure signals are obtained, the long, medium and short exposure signals may be subjected to wide dynamic synthesis through an analog-to-digital converter to generate wide dynamic analog signals, and then the wide dynamic analog signals are quantized and processed by an image sensor to generate a wide dynamic image.
In addition, it should be noted that fig. 9 is a circuit diagram of another pixel structure for realizing long, medium and short exposures, and compared with the circuit described in fig. 5, the filling ratio of the pixel is also reduced by adding control lines, FD1 is used for collecting a long exposure signal, FD2 is used for collecting a medium exposure signal, and FD3 is used for collecting a short exposure signal in fig. 9. The purpose of increasing the exposure gradient, further up to the dynamic range, can also be achieved by adding a transistor connected to the photodiode PPD, as shown in fig. 10.
In summary, according to the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor in the embodiments of the present invention, the pixel array is controlled to perform two-stage exposure respectively, and the two-stage exposure data of the current row is read respectively within the exposure reading time of the current row of the pixel array, so that the area of the memory can be effectively saved, and the cost of the image sensor can be reduced.
Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method of synthesizing a wide dynamic image according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 11, the method for synthesizing a wide dynamic image according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of:
s11, reading the exposure data of the N-level exposure of the image sensor according to the method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor, wherein N is an integer greater than 2.
S12, the exposure data of the N-level exposures are synthesized to obtain a wide dynamic image.
It should be noted that details not disclosed in the wide dynamic image synthesis according to the embodiment of the present invention refer to details disclosed in the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted here.
According to the method for synthesizing the wide dynamic image, the exposure data of the N-level exposure of the image sensor is read according to the method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor, and the exposure data of the N-level exposure is synthesized to obtain the wide dynamic image, so that the area of a memory can be effectively saved, and the cost of the image sensor is reduced.
Further, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which when executed implements the above-mentioned method for reading exposure data of an image sensor, or implements the above-mentioned method for synthesizing a wide dynamic image.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the embodiment of the invention can effectively save the area of the memory and reduce the cost of the image sensor.
FIG. 12 is a block schematic diagram of an imaging device according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 12, an image forming apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention includes: an image sensor 10 and an image processor 20.
The image sensor 10 includes a pixel array, and the image processor 20 is configured to control the pixel array to perform N-level exposures respectively, and read exposure data of the N-level exposures respectively within an exposure data reading time of a current row of the pixel array, where N is an integer greater than 2.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the pixel structure of the pixel array comprises a pixel unit, M transmission units for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit, and M-1 switching units respectively connected with the outputs of two adjacent transmission units, wherein the M transmission unit is also connected with a source following unit, M is less than or equal to M, and M is N-1.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the image processor is specifically configured to transfer the photo-generated electrons of the N-1 level exposure of the pixel units of the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes when reading the multi-level exposure data of the current row, respectively, read the signal of the M floating diffusion node to obtain the exposure signal of the corresponding level before the N level exposure of the pixel units of the current row is finished, transfer the photo-generated electrons of the N level exposure to the M floating diffusion node, and control the switching unit and the source follower unit to output the exposure signals of the remaining levels, respectively.
Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 13, the above-mentioned imaging apparatus further includes: a memory 30, the memory 30 is used for storing exposure data, and the image processor 20 is further used for selectively reading the N-level exposure data of the current line according to the storage space of the storage line of the memory 30, so that the read N-level exposure data is stored in a single storage line.
As a specific example, the pixel structure of the pixel array may include N4T pixel structures, where the N4T pixel structures share the pixel unit, and the image processor 20 is specifically configured to transfer the photo-generated electrons of the N-level exposure of the pixel unit of the current row to the corresponding N floating diffusion nodes respectively, and read the signals of the N floating diffusion nodes respectively to obtain the N-level exposure data of the pixel unit of the current row when reading the multi-level exposure data of the current row respectively.
It should be noted that details not disclosed in the imaging device according to the embodiment of the present invention refer to details disclosed in the method for reading exposure data of an image sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted here.
According to the imaging device provided by the embodiment of the invention, the image processor is used for controlling the pixel array of the image sensor to respectively carry out N-level exposure, and respectively reading the exposure data of the N-level exposure in the exposure data reading time of the current row of the pixel array, so that the area of a memory can be effectively saved, and the cost of the image sensor is reduced.
Furthermore, the invention also provides an electronic terminal which comprises the imaging device.
According to the electronic terminal provided by the embodiment of the invention, the area of the memory can be effectively saved and the cost of the image sensor can be reduced through the imaging device.
In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.
Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.
Any process or method descriptions in flow charts or otherwise described herein may be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing steps of a custom logic function or process, and alternate implementations are included within the scope of the preferred embodiment of the present invention in which functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present invention.
The logic and/or steps represented in the flowcharts or otherwise described herein, e.g., an ordered listing of executable instructions that can be considered to implement logical functions, can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. For the purposes of this description, a "computer-readable medium" can be any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection (electronic device) having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette (magnetic device), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber device, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM). Additionally, the computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via for instance optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitable manner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
It should be understood that portions of the present invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the above embodiments, the various steps or methods may be implemented in software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. If implemented in hardware, as in another embodiment, any one or combination of the following techniques, which are known in the art, may be used: a discrete logic circuit having a logic gate circuit for implementing a logic function on a data signal, an application specific integrated circuit having an appropriate combinational logic gate circuit, a Programmable Gate Array (PGA), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or the like.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps carried by the method for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to instructions of a program, which may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when the program is executed, the program includes one or a combination of the steps of the method embodiments.
In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing module, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. The integrated module, if implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium.
The storage medium mentioned above may be a read-only memory, a magnetic or optical disk, etc. Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that variations, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the above embodiments by those of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present invention.
Claims (9)
1. The method for reading the exposure data of the image sensor is characterized in that the image sensor comprises a pixel array, a pixel structure of the pixel array comprises a pixel unit, M transmission units used for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit and M-1 switch units respectively connected with the outputs of two adjacent transmission units, wherein the M-th transmission unit is also connected with a source following unit, M is less than or equal to M, and M is equal to N-1; the method comprises the following steps:
controlling the pixel array to respectively carry out N-level exposure;
respectively reading N levels of exposure data of a current row of the pixel array within exposure reading time of the current row, wherein N is an integer greater than 2; the respectively reading the N-level exposure data of the current line specifically includes: respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N-1 level of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes; reading the signal of the mth floating diffusion node to obtain an exposure signal of a corresponding level before the Nth level of the pixel units of the current row is exposed; transferring the N-th level of exposed photo-generated electrons to the m-th floating diffusion node; controlling the switching unit and the source follower unit to output the exposure signals of the remaining levels, respectively.
2. The method of reading image sensor exposure data of claim 1, further comprising:
and selectively reading the N-level exposure data of the current line according to the storage space of the storage line of the memory, so that the read N-level exposure data is stored in a single storage line.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pixel structure of the pixel array comprises N4T pixel structures, wherein N4T pixel structures share a pixel unit, and the reading the N levels of exposure data of the current row respectively specifically comprises:
respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N levels of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding N floating diffusion nodes;
and respectively reading signals of N floating diffusion nodes to obtain N-level exposure data of the pixel units of the current row.
4. A method of composing a wide motion image, the method comprising:
the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, reading exposure data of N-level exposure of an image sensor, wherein N is an integer greater than 2, the image sensor comprising a pixel array having a pixel structure including a pixel unit, M transfer units for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit, and M-1 switching units respectively connected to outputs of two adjacent transfer units, the M-th transfer unit being further connected to a source follower unit, wherein M is equal to M, and M is equal to N-1; the respectively reading the N-level exposure data of the current line specifically includes: respectively transferring the photo-generated electrons exposed at the N-1 level of the pixel units on the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes; reading the signal of the mth floating diffusion node to obtain an exposure signal of a corresponding level before the Nth level of the pixel units of the current row is exposed; transferring the N-th level of exposed photo-generated electrons to the m-th floating diffusion node; controlling the switching unit and the source follower unit to output exposure signals of remaining levels, respectively;
and synthesizing the exposure data of the N-level exposure to obtain a wide dynamic image.
5. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program when executed implements the method of any one of claims 1-3 or implements the method of claim 4.
6. An image forming apparatus, characterized in that the image forming apparatus comprises:
an image sensor comprising an array of pixels; the pixel structure of the pixel array comprises a pixel unit, M transmission units used for transferring photo-generated electrons of the pixel unit, and M-1 switch units respectively connected with the outputs of two adjacent transmission units, wherein the M-th transmission unit is also connected with a source following unit, M is less than or equal to M, and M is N-1;
the image processor is used for controlling the pixel array to respectively carry out N-level exposure, and respectively reading N-level exposure data of a current row of the pixel array within exposure reading time of the current row, wherein N is an integer greater than 2; the image processor is specifically configured to, when reading the multi-level exposure data of the current row, respectively transfer the photo-generated electrons of the N-1 level exposure of the pixel units of the current row to the corresponding M floating diffusion nodes, read a signal of the mth floating diffusion node before the nth level exposure of the pixel units of the current row is completed, obtain an exposure signal of the corresponding level, transfer the photo-generated electrons of the nth level exposure to the mth floating diffusion node, and control the switch unit and the source follower unit to output the exposure signals of the remaining levels, respectively.
7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 6,
the imaging device further comprises a memory for storing exposure data;
the image processor is further configured to selectively read the N-level exposure data of the current line according to a storage space of a storage line of the memory, such that the read N-level exposure data is stored in a single storage line.
8. The imaging apparatus of claim 6, wherein the pixel structures of the pixel array comprise N4T pixel structures, wherein N of the 4T pixel structures share a pixel unit, and the image processor, when reading the multi-level exposure data of the current row respectively, is specifically configured to transfer the photo-generated electrons of N-level exposure of the pixel units of the current row to corresponding N floating diffusion nodes, and read signals of the N floating diffusion nodes respectively to obtain N-level exposure data of the pixel units of the current row.
9. An electronic terminal, characterized in that it comprises an imaging device according to any one of claims 6 to 8.
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