CN113301262B

CN113301262B - Pixel processing circuit, method and device and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN113301262B
Application number: CN202110412034.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李沛德; 杨渊明
Original assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Hangzhou Co Ltd
Current assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Hangzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-16
Filing date: 2021-04-16
Publication date: 2023-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2041-04-16
Also published as: CN113301262A

Abstract

The application discloses a pixel processing circuit, a pixel processing method, a pixel processing device and electronic equipment, belongs to the technical field of communication, and can solve the problem of poor image quality of an image shot by the electronic equipment. The pixel processing circuit includes: the first RST reset gate is coupled to the first circuit block. One end of the control logic module is connected with one end of the first RST reset gate, and the other end of the first RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module; the control logic module is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition of receiving the first control signal, the first RST reset gate is used for adjusting the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in the pixel matrix corresponding to the shooting object under the first working state, and the first circuit module is used for processing the light rays corresponding to the shooting object. The embodiment of the application is applied to the process of processing at least one row and/or at least one column of pixels.

Description

Pixel processing circuit, method and device and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a pixel processing circuit, a pixel processing method, a pixel processing device and electronic equipment.

Background

With the development of terminal technology, the shooting requirements (such as image quality) of the electronic device by the user are higher and higher, so that in order to improve the image quality of the image shot by the electronic device, the signal to noise ratio of the image can be improved by improving the signal to noise ratio of the sensor, so as to ensure the image quality of the shot image. However, in the process of improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensor, the sensor also has problems of corresponding noise (for example, fixed pattern noise (fixed pattern noise, FPN)) and bad pixel and bad line of the image, so that the image quality of the image shot by the electronic device is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

An embodiment of the application aims to provide a pixel processing circuit, a pixel processing method, a pixel processing device and electronic equipment, which can solve the problem of poor image quality of an image shot by the electronic equipment.

In order to solve the technical problems, the application is realized as follows:

in a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a pixel processing circuit, including: the first RST reset gate is coupled to the first circuit block. One end of the control logic module is connected with one end of the first RST reset gate, and the other end of the first RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module; the control logic module is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition of receiving the first control signal, the first RST reset gate is used for adjusting the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in the pixel matrix corresponding to the shooting object under the first working state, and the first circuit module is used for processing the light rays corresponding to the shooting object.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing method, including: acquiring at least one triggering time of a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each triggering time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix; in the process of exposing the target pixel, triggering a first control signal at the target time to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel, wherein the target pixel is any row of pixels or any column of pixels corresponding to at least one triggering time in a pixel matrix, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target pixel in at least one triggering time.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing apparatus, including: the device comprises an acquisition module and a triggering module. The system comprises an acquisition module, a control module and a control module, wherein the acquisition module is used for acquiring at least one triggering time of a first control signal, the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure quantity of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each triggering time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix. The triggering module is used for triggering the first control signal at the target time in the process of exposing the target pixel, so as to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel, wherein the target pixel is any row of pixels or any column of pixels corresponding to at least one triggering time in the pixel matrix, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target pixel in the at least one triggering time.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide an electronic device comprising a pixel processing circuit according to the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide an electronic device comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instruction stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the program or instruction when executed by the processor implementing the steps of the method according to the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a readable storage medium having stored thereon a program or instructions which when executed by a processor implement the steps of the method according to the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and where the processor is configured to execute a program or instructions to implement a method according to the second aspect.

In an embodiment of the application, a pixel processing circuit includes a control logic module, a first RST reset gate, and a first circuit module. Under the condition that a first control signal is received, the control logic module can control the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state so as to adjust the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object through the first RST reset gate, and as the light sensitivity of the pixels of different rows and different columns is different, the problems of fixed pattern noise, bad pixel and bad line of an image exist, and the like, the exposure of the pixels of a certain row (certain rows) and/or the pixels of a certain column (certain columns) is adjusted through the first RST reset gate, so that the exposure of the pixels of different rows and different columns is the same, the fixed pattern noise and the bad pixel and bad line of the image can be removed, the uniformity of the image is improved, and the picture quality of the image shot by the electronic equipment is improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a voice coil motor;

FIG. 3 is a second schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a conventional sensor;

FIG. 5 is a third schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a novel sensor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a pixel processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a pixel processing device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a second schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments herein without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the present application.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged, as appropriate, such that embodiments of the present application may be implemented in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein, and that the objects identified by "first," "second," etc. are generally of a type and not limited to the number of objects, e.g., the first object may be one or more. Furthermore, in the description and claims, "and/or" means at least one of the connected objects, and the character "/", generally means that the associated object is an "or" relationship.

The following explains some concepts and/or terms related to the pixel processing circuit, the method, the device and the electronic equipment provided in the embodiments of the present application.

Camera sensor (sensor): is the core of the camera and is also the most critical technology in the camera. Sensors are generally divided into two types: one is a widely used CCD (charge coupled) element, and the other is a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) device. In comparison with conventional cameras, the conventional camera uses "film" as a carrier on which information is recorded, whereas the "film" of the digital camera is an imaging photosensitive element thereof, which is an unreplaced "film" of the digital camera and is integral with the camera.

The CMOS device used at present is a semiconductor capable of recording a change in light in a digital camera, like a CCD. The CMOS manufacturing technology is to use the semiconductor made of two elements, silicon and germanium, so that the semiconductor with N (negatively charged) and P (positively charged) levels coexist on the CMOS, and the current generated by the complementary effects can be recorded and interpreted into an image by the processing chip.

The camera lens (lens) is the most important component in a camera, because its quality directly affects the quality of photographed imaging. Lenses can be divided into two categories, zoom and fixed focus. The zoom lens is a lens with a variable focal length and a variable visual angle, namely a lens capable of being pushed and pulled; fixed focus lenses are lenses in which the focal length cannot be changed to have only one focal segment, or to have only one viewing angle.

The CMOS camera module (CMOS Camera Module) is a camera module currently used in the mainstream of mobile phones, and is composed of a Lens, a Voice Coil Motor, an infrared Filter, an image sensor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC).

The CCM work flow is that the voice coil motor drives the lens to reach the accurate focusing position, external light passes through the lens, the external light passes through the filter of the infrared filter and irradiates on a light-sensing diode (pixel) of the image sensor, the light-sensing diode converts a sensed light signal into an electric signal, a digital signal matrix (namely an image) is formed through an amplifying circuit and an AD conversion circuit, and then the digital signal matrix (namely an image) is processed by a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP) and compressed and stored.

In general, the noise of the sensor is divided into two types, one is random noise and one is fixed pattern noise. For random noise, the noise can be reduced by multi-frame averaging, while for fixed pattern noise, no specific solution exists at present. In addition, the fixed pattern noise is caused by the difference of the light sensing capability of different pixels, and the reason is that the image is damaged, so that the image quality of the image is affected.

In order to solve the technical problem, the embodiment of the application designs a pixel processing circuit based on a novel sensor, and adds a voltage logic judging device, a RST2 reset gate, a control logic device and the like to obtain images with no difference in sensitization among rows and columns, remove fixed pattern noise and bad pixel bad lines of the images, and improve the final image quality signal to noise ratio and user experience.

Example 1

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing circuit, and fig. 1 shows the pixel processing circuit provided by the embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 1, the pixel processing circuit may include: a control logic block 11, a first Reset transistor (Reset, RST) Reset gate 12, and a first circuit block 13.

One end of the control logic module 11 (may also be referred to as a control logic device) is connected to one end of the first RST reset gate 12, and the other end of the first RST reset gate 12 is connected to the first circuit module 13. The control logic module 11 is configured to control the first RST reset gate 12 to be in a first operating state when receiving the first control signal; the first RST reset gate 12 is configured to adjust exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object in a first operating state; the first circuit module 13 is configured to process light corresponding to a subject.

In this embodiment of the present application, the pixel matrix corresponding to the shooting object may be understood as: when shooting an object, light rays corresponding to the object reach the light sensing diode through the optical filter, and the light sensing diode is used for processing the light rays to form a pixel matrix.

In fig. 1, the first RST reset gate 12 is connected to the power supply module (VDD).

It should be noted that the pixel processing circuit may be applied to an electronic device, a pixel processing device, a lens module, or the like; the pixel processing circuit is a circuit in the sensor, and is used for processing the light projected to the sensor through the lens and the optical filter, such as exposure, reset, signal conversion, etc., which will be described in the following embodiments, and will not be described herein.

In the embodiment of the present application, the module structure (i.e., lens module) includes a lens, a filter (e.g., an infrared filter), a sensor, an image signal processor (image signal processor, ISP), and the like.

The lens group (lens) is used for focusing and focusing, and is wrapped and fixed by a Voice Coil Motor (VCM), and the upper end and the lower end of the voice coil motor are linked with the elastic sheet; when focusing, the motor generates electromagnetic force through electrifying, the electromagnetic force is balanced with the elastic force of the elastic sheet finally, the position of the motor can be controlled through the electrifying size, and then the motor and the lens group are pushed to the focusing position.

As shown in fig. 2, the structure of the voice coil motor is shown schematically, and the structure of the voice coil motor includes: an upper cover (cover) 14, an upper Spring piece (Spring-Top) 15, a housing (Yoke) 16, a Coil (Coil) 17, a tag (Label) 18, a Magnet (Magnet) 19, a mirror holder (mirror holder) 20, a lower Spring piece (Spring-Btm) 21, a Base (Base) 22, a Terminal (Terminal) 23, and the like.

Wherein, the upper cover has the function of protecting the motor; an upper spring piece for generating a force to the motor when the upper spring piece is deformed so as to balance the electromagnetic force with the lower spring piece; the shell is a main frame of the motor fixing part and has a magnetic conduction effect, so that the effective utilization rate of the magnet is improved; the coil generates upward thrust under the action of the magnetic field of the magnet when current is applied to the coil so as to drive other parts of the moving part to move together; the label is used for recording and identifying motor information when the laser is used for carving characters; a magnet for generating a magnetic field, so that the electrified coil generates electromagnetic force under the action of the magnetic field, and the moving part carrier drives the lens to move together; a lower spring plate for generating a force to the motor when the lower spring plate is deformed so as to balance the electromagnetic force with the upper spring plate; a base, the integrated motor is directly assembled with a flexible circuit board (flexible printed circuit, FPC), and the split motor is matched with a mirror holder; and the terminal is used for supplying power to the motor through the electronic equipment.

The light is projected to the optical filter through the lens, so that unnecessary light projected to the sensor is filtered by the optical filter, the sensor is prevented from generating pseudo color/ripple, the effective resolution and color reproducibility of the sensor are improved, and the light passing through the optical filter can be perceived by the sensor.

The sensor is loaded with a photosensitive difference matrix (such as FPN photosensitive difference matrix) before being sensitized, and converts the optical signals into electric signals after being sensitized, and the electric signals are amplified and converted into digital signals by an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) module to form a raw image which is output to an image processing system (such as ISP).

It should be noted that the sensor (i.e., image sensor) is a semiconductor chip, and has several hundred thousand to several million photodiodes/photodiodes on its surface, and each photodiode is covered with a Micro-lens (Micro-lens) and a color filter matrix (color filter array). Microlenses are used to direct light into the photodiodes, while color filter matrices filter light, allowing only light of a particular color (for example) to pass through the corresponding band. The photodiode senses light and generates electric charges to convert the light into an electric signal.

The image processing system may perform image processing on the raw image, for example, by an algorithm module of ISP such as Automatic Exposure (AE), automatic Focus (AF), automatic white balance (automatic white balance, AWB), optical Black (OB), coloring (shading), gamma (gamma), etc., and determine an exposure ratio of each row and each column of pixels by calculating and storing a distribution matrix of brightness values of each row and each column of pixels.

In this embodiment of the present application, the sending timing of the first control signal (may also be referred to as a forced control signal) may be set according to the pre-stored brightness value of each row and each column of pixels, so that the control logic module 11 controls the first RST reset gate 12 to be in the first working state by triggering of the first control signal, so as to adjust the exposure of a certain row (certain row) of pixels and/or a certain column (certain column) of pixels in the pixel matrix, so that the exposure of pixels in different rows and columns is the same, and thus Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN) and dead pixel bad lines of an image are removed.

It should be noted that, the fixed image noise is a specific row and column in the sensor, and there is a fixed difference between the light sensing capability of the fixed image noise and the light sensing capability of other rows and columns due to manufacturing process differences, component differences, column amplifier differences, material uniformity, internal various disturbances, internal electronic circuit design defects, and the like. It can be understood that in the embodiment of the application, each pixel in the sensor has the independent exposure control capability, so as to have the inhibition effect on the FPN and the dead pixel line; because the light sensitivity of a certain pixel, a certain row of pixels or a certain column of pixels is different from that of a normal pixel, when the brightness value of each row of pixels is obtained, the exposure of a certain row (certain row) of pixels and/or a certain column (certain column) of pixels can be adjusted by a forced control signal so as to obtain an image with no difference in light sensitivity among each row and each column of pixels, thereby achieving the purpose of removing fixed pattern noise and the dead pixel and the dead line of the image.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the control logic module 11 is specifically configured to control the first RST reset gate 12 to be in the first working state according to the receiving time of the first control signal; the first RST reset gate 12 is specifically configured to clear the exposure of a row of pixels or a column of pixels corresponding to the first control signal according to the receiving time in the first operating state.

In this embodiment, for any row of pixels or any column of pixels in the pixel matrix, the first RST reset gate 12 may be activated at a certain time point by a forced control signal to reset the exposure of the any row of pixels or any column of pixels (i.e. perform a Photo Diode (PD) reset, i.e. empty photoelectrons in the PD), so as to realize control of the exposure capability of the sensor end.

Illustratively, assuming an exposure time of 1 millisecond (ms), the luminance values of the first, second, and third rows of pixels in a pixel matrix (e.g., a pixel matrix of 3*3) are 2, and 4, respectively (only row pixels in the pixel matrix are illustrated herein as examples). In order to avoid FPN, dead pixels and dead lines caused by large differences among pixels in each row, the exposure amounts of the pixels in the three rows need to be consistent, and the exposure amount of the pixels in the third row can be adjusted by using a forced control signal according to the brightness value of the pixels in each row and each column, for example, by taking the minimum brightness value as a reference. Specifically, at 0.5ms, the first RST reset gate 12 is controlled by the forced control signal to be in an operating state, so that the first RST reset gate 12 clears the exposure of the third row of pixels before 0.5ms, that is, the third row of pixels is re-exposed from 0.5ms, so that when the exposure of the third row of pixels is completed from 1ms, the exposure of the third row of pixels (that is, 0.5 times 4) is the same as the exposure of the first row of pixels and the second row of pixels (that is, both are 2).

It should be noted that, when the environment where the photographing is located changes, the above processing procedure may be repeated to realize dynamic refreshing of pixels in each row and each column in the sensor.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, as shown in (a) of fig. 3, the first circuit module 13 specifically includes at least one of the following: a second RST reset gate 24, a floating switch (TG) 25, a row Selector (SET) 26, a signal amplifier (SF) 27, a Photodiode (PD) 28, a lumped element (FD) 29 (e.g., resistor, capacitor, inductor, etc.) and current, a power supply module (VDD, vout, DC, etc.), etc. As shown in fig. 3 (B), the first circuit module 13 is schematically configured.

The pixel structure shown in fig. 3 (a) is also referred to as a fixed diode pixel (pinned photodiode pixel, PPD) structure. The PPD structure includes a photosensitive region of PPD, i.e., a Photo Diode (PD), and 4 transistors, i.e., a reset transistor (RST), a floating switch (TG), a row Selector (SET), and a signal amplifier (SF), and thus is also referred to as a 4T pixel structure. In the PPD structure, the introduction of a Correlated Double Sampling (CDS) circuit is allowed, and kTC noise introduced by reset, 1/f noise introduced by a metal-oxide-semiconductor (mos) tube, offset (offset) noise, and the like are eliminated.

The procedure for working with the PPD structure is as follows:

(1) And (5) exposing. Electron-hole pairs generated by light irradiation are separated by the PPD electric field, electrons move to the n-region, and holes move to the p-region.

(2) Resetting. At the end of the exposure, RST (i.e., second RST reset gate 24) is activated, resetting the read-out region (i.e., n+ region) to a high level.

(3) And (5) reading out the reset level. After the reset is completed, the reset level is read out, which contains the offset noise, 1/f noise and kTC noise introduced by the reset of the mos transistor, and the read signal is stored in the first capacitor.

(4) And (3) transferring electric charges. TX is activated to transfer charge completely from the photosensitive region to the n + region (n positive region) for readout, where the mechanism is similar to charge transfer in a CCD.

(5) And reading out the signal level. The voltage signal of the n+ region is read out to the second capacitor. The signals here include: the signals generated by photoelectric conversion, offset generated by operational amplification, 1/f noise and kTC noise introduced by reset.

(6) And outputting a signal. The signals stored in the two capacitors are subtracted (for example, CDS is adopted, so that most of noise in the light-sensitive diode can be eliminated), and the obtained signals are subjected to analog amplification and then are sampled by an ADC (analog to digital converter), so that the digitized signals can be output.

As shown in fig. 4, an amplification principle of a conventional sensor is schematically shown, and an amplifier (for example, a columnar amplifier (column amplifiers)) of the conventional sensor is arranged on a column ADC, or after the column ADC, only the whole pixel can be amplified by the amplifier of the conventional sensor, and a function of row-by-row or column-by-column amplification cannot be realized.

According to the sensor (namely, the novel sensor) in the embodiment of the application, the plurality of amplifying circuits are added, each amplifying circuit respectively controls one row/column of pixels, so that the sensor has the function of being capable of being used as AWB, and meanwhile, different rows and columns can be used for being exposed to different degrees, and the purpose of improving the dynamic range is achieved.

Referring to fig. 1 and 3 (a), as shown in fig. 5, the other end of the first RST reset gate 12 is specifically connected to one end of the PD 28 in the first circuit module 13; the forced control signal may activate the first RST reset gate 12 to perform a Photo Diode (PD) reset (i.e., to clear photoelectrons in the PD, i.e., to reset the exposure) at a certain time point after the second RST reset gate 24 is executed, so that the exposure capability control of the pixel may be implemented, and if the exposure time after the second RST reset gate 24 is executed is 100ms, the first RST reset gate 12 may perform the forced reset 500ms after the second RST reset gate 24 is executed, so as to achieve the purpose of exposing the pixel for only 50 ms.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the pixel processing circuit further includes: and the voltage logic judging module. One end of the voltage logic judging module is connected with the first circuit module 13, and the other end of the voltage logic judging module is connected with the other end of the control logic module 11. The voltage logic judging module is used for judging whether to output a second control signal, and the second control signal is used for controlling the first RST reset gate 12 to empty photoelectrons in the light-sensitive diode in the pixel exposure process. The control logic module 11 is further configured to control the first RST reset gate 12 to be in the second operating state when the second control signal is received and the first control signal is not received, and the first RST reset gate 12 is further configured to empty photoelectrons in the photodiode to restart the pixel exposure in the second operating state.

It should be noted that the pixel exposure process can be understood as follows: the process of receiving light by the sensor (i.e., pixel point) is started from the first RST reset gate activation until the signal is read out (i.e., the forced control signal is output).

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, in the case that the voltage value of the photodiode is equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photodiode, the voltage logic determining module is specifically configured to output a second control signal and a count signal, where the count signal is used to indicate the number of times the first RST reset gate 12 clears the photoelectrons in the photodiode.

Referring to fig. 5, as shown in fig. 6, the pixel processing circuit further includes: the voltage logic determination module 30. The two ends of the voltage logic judging module 30 are connected with the two ends of the PD 28, the other end of the voltage logic judging module 30 is connected with the other end of the control logic module 11, the voltage logic judging module 30 is used for judging whether the pixel sensitization reaches saturation, and under the condition that the pixel sensitization reaches saturation, a reset signal is output to control and empty photoelectrons in the PD, and a count signal is output to the system.

It should be noted that, for a conventional sensor, in a highlight or high light ratio scene, a portion of pixels will be saturated, i.e. only 1024 can be output, so the sensing capability of the highlight information will be lost (i.e. for a value higher than 1024, it is not sensed, and the maximum output value is 1024).

For the new sensor, when the PD voltage is the intra-PD field voltage (i.e. representing pixel saturation), the voltage logic determination module (also referred to as the voltage logic determination device) may be triggered to output a reset signal (i.e. the second control signal) to control the first RST reset gate 12 to start and clear the photoelectrons in the PD to restart the exposure, and the voltage logic determination module may output a count signal to the system for statistics. After the exposure is completed, the system adds the value of 1024 counting signals as the final photosensitive digital value (i.e. the actual exposure of the pixel) of the pixel according to the final obtained digital signal value (i.e. the value of the photoelectrons in the PD after the final emptying of the photoelectrons in the PD and the re-exposure), so as to realize the high dynamic photosensitive function of the pixel and improve the photosensitive dynamic range of the sensor.

As shown in table 1, the arrangement distribution table of the color filter matrix of the novel sensor is the pixel distribution condition of each row and each column.

TABLE 1

Referring to table 1, as shown in fig. 7, which is a schematic structural diagram of the novel sensor, pixels in each row and each column of the sensor have independent exposure control capability, and pixel processing (for example, resetting the exposure of the pixels) can be performed on the pixels in each row and each column, so that the pixels in each row and each column reach uniformity.

It should be noted that, when the forced control signal participates in the control, the second control signal will be masked by the control logic module 11 to implement a corresponding function according to the forced control signal, that is, when the forced control signal and the second control signal are simultaneously sent to the control logic module 11, the control logic module 11 controls the first RST reset gate 12 to perform a corresponding operation (for example, adjusting the exposure of a pixel in a certain row or a certain column) according to only the received forced control signal.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, after the image is processed through the above processing procedure, the processed image may be subjected to image compression, so as to be compressed into a JPEG image, and stored in the electronic device or displayed through a display unit of the electronic device.

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing circuit, which comprises a control logic module, a first RST reset gate and a first circuit module. Under the condition that a first control signal is received, the control logic module can control the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state so as to adjust the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object through the first RST reset gate, and as the light sensitivity of the pixels of different rows and different columns is different, the problems of fixed pattern noise, bad pixel and bad line of an image exist, and the like, the exposure of the pixels of a certain row (certain rows) and/or the pixels of a certain column (certain columns) is adjusted through the first RST reset gate, so that the exposure of the pixels of different rows and different columns is the same, the fixed pattern noise and the bad pixel and bad line of the image can be removed, the uniformity of the image is improved, and the picture quality of the image shot by the electronic equipment is improved.

Example two

It should be noted that the pixel processing method of the embodiment of the present application may be applied to an electronic device, a pixel processing apparatus, a lens module, or the like, and the following embodiment will be described by taking the application of the pixel processing method to the electronic device as an example.

An embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing method, fig. 8 shows a flowchart of the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application may include the following

steps

201 and 202.

Step 201, the electronic device acquires at least one trigger time of the first control signal.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first control signal is used to control and adjust exposure amounts of at least one row of pixels and at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each triggering time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix.

In this embodiment, for each row of pixels or each column of pixels, the exposure amount of the row of pixels or the column of pixels may be adjusted by triggering the first control signal; the electronic device may determine at which time to trigger the first control signal according to at least one trigger time to adjust an exposure of pixels of a row/column corresponding to the time, each trigger time being different for a row of pixels or a column of pixels in the pixel matrix.

The trigger time of the first control signal corresponds to the receiving time of the first control signal.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the first control signal may be triggered by a user at a corresponding time, or a corresponding time preset in the electronic device, so that the electronic device triggers the first control signal at the time.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, before the step 201, the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes a step 301 described below, and the step 201 may be specifically implemented by a step 201a described below.

Step 301, the electronic device obtains brightness values of all row pixels and all column pixels in the pixel matrix.

In this embodiment of the present application, the ratio of the brightness values of all the row pixels and all the column pixels is the ratio of the exposure amounts of all the row pixels and all the column pixels.

Step 201a, the electronic device determines at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the brightness values of all row pixels and all column pixels.

In this embodiment of the present application, the electronic device may calculate, according to the ratio of the brightness values of all the row pixels and all the column pixels, a trigger time (one trigger time is corresponding to one row/column pixel) corresponding to the photosensitive capability of all the rows and columns, so as to adjust the exposure of the row/column pixel corresponding to the current trigger (i.e., zero clearing the exposure of the row/column pixel) by triggering the first control signal at the corresponding time.

Step 202, in the process of exposing the target pixel, the electronic device triggers the first control signal at the target time to control and adjust the exposure amount of the target pixel.

In this embodiment of the present application, the target pixel is any row pixel or any column pixel corresponding to at least one trigger time in the pixel matrix, and the target time is a trigger time corresponding to the target pixel in the at least one trigger time.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the above step 202 may be specifically implemented by the following step 202 a.

In step 202a, during exposure of the target pixel, the electronic device triggers the first control signal at the target time to clear the exposure of the target pixel before the target time, and re-expose the target pixel.

It should be noted that, the electronic device includes the above pixel processing circuit, and for the relevant content related to the pixel processing method, reference may be made to the description in the pixel processing circuit in the above embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing method, wherein an electronic device can determine at least one triggering time of a first control signal, and trigger the first control signal at a target time in a process of exposing a target pixel so as to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel. In the scheme, the electronic device can adjust the exposure of the row/column pixels corresponding to the time by triggering the first control signal at the corresponding time according to the triggering time corresponding to at least one row/column pixel in the process of exposing any row pixel or any column pixel, and because the light sensitivity of the pixels of different rows and different columns is different, the problems of fixed pattern noise, bad pixels and bad lines appear in the image and the like exist, the exposure of the pixels of a certain row (certain rows) and/or the pixels of a certain column (certain columns) in the pixel matrix is adjusted through the first RST reset gate, so that the exposure of the pixels of different rows and different columns is the same, the fixed pattern noise and the bad pixels of the image can be removed, the uniformity of the image is improved, and the image quality of the image shot by the electronic device is improved.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, after the step 202, the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes a step 401 described below.

In step 401, during the pixel exposure, if the voltage value of the photodiode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photodiode, the electronic device empties the photoelectrons in the photodiode to restart the pixel exposure.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, after the step 401, the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes a step 402 described below.

Step 402, after the pixel exposure is completed, the electronic device determines a target exposure amount according to the target number and the target value.

In this embodiment of the present application, the target number is the number of times of clearing the photoelectrons in the photodiode, the target value is the number of photoelectrons in the photodiode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure is the actual exposure of the pixel.

It should be noted that, for the method for determining the target exposure, reference may be made to the description in the above embodiment, which is not repeated here.

In the embodiment of the application, when the pixel is detected to be photosensitive saturated in a highlight or large-light-ratio scene, the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode can be emptied to restart the pixel exposure, then the correct exposure is calculated based on the number of times of the emptying and the value of the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode after the last pixel exposure, the high-dynamic photosensitive function of the pixel can be realized, and the photosensitive dynamic range of the sensor is improved.

It should be noted that, in the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the execution body may be a pixel processing device, or a control module in the pixel processing device for executing the pixel processing method. In the embodiment of the present application, a pixel processing device is described by taking a pixel processing method performed by the pixel processing device as an example.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of one possible configuration of a pixel processing apparatus involved in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the pixel processing device 70 may include: an acquisition module 71 and a triggering module 72.

The acquiring module 71 is configured to acquire at least one trigger time of a first control signal, where the first control signal is used to control and adjust an exposure amount of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each trigger time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix. The triggering module 72 is configured to trigger the first control signal at a target time in the process of exposing the target pixel, so as to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel, where the target pixel is any row of pixels or any column of pixels in the pixel matrix corresponding to at least one trigger time, and the target time is a trigger time corresponding to the target pixel in the at least one trigger time.

In one possible implementation, the triggering module 72 is specifically configured to trigger the first control signal at the target time, so as to zero the exposure of the target pixel before the target time, and re-expose the target pixel.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring module 71 is configured to acquire the brightness values of all the row pixels and all the column pixels in the pixel matrix before at least one trigger time of acquiring the first control signal. The acquiring module 71 is specifically configured to determine at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the acquired brightness values of all the row pixels and all the column pixels.

In one possible implementation manner, the pixel processing device 70 provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes: and (5) emptying the module. The emptying module is used for emptying photoelectrons in the light sensing diode to restart the pixel exposure if the voltage value of the light sensing diode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the light sensing diode in the pixel exposure process.

In one possible implementation manner, the pixel processing device 70 provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes: and a determining module. The determining module 71 is further configured to determine, after the pixel exposure is completed after the pixel exposure is restarted by the emptying module emptying the photoelectrons in the photodiode, a target exposure according to a target number of times of emptying the photoelectrons in the photodiode and a target value, wherein the target value is a value of the photoelectrons in the photodiode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure is an actual exposure of the pixel.

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing device, which can adjust the exposure of the pixels in the rows/columns corresponding to the time by triggering a first control signal in the corresponding time in the process of exposing the pixels in any row or any column according to the triggering time corresponding to the pixels in at least one row/column.

The pixel processing device in the embodiment of the application may be a device, or may be a component, an integrated circuit, or a chip in a terminal. The device may be a mobile electronic device or a non-mobile electronic device. By way of example, the mobile electronic device may be a cell phone, tablet computer, notebook computer, palm computer, vehicle-mounted electronic device, wearable device, ultra-mobile personal computer (ultra-mobile personal computer, UMPC), netbook or personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), etc., and the non-mobile electronic device may be a server, network attached storage (Network Attached Storage, NAS), personal computer (personal computer, PC), television (TV), teller machine or self-service machine, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited in particular.

The pixel processing device in the embodiment of the application may be a device having an operating system. The operating system may be an Android operating system, an ios operating system, or other possible operating systems, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The pixel processing device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the above method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect, so that repetition is avoided, and details are not repeated here.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 10, the embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device 90, including a processor 91, a memory 92, and a program or an instruction stored in the memory 92 and capable of running on the processor 91, where the program or the instruction implements each process of the embodiment of the method when executed by the processor 91, and the process can achieve the same technical effect, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

The electronic device in the embodiment of the application includes the mobile electronic device and the non-mobile electronic device described above.

Fig. 11 is a schematic hardware structure of an electronic device implementing an embodiment of the present application.

The electronic device 100 includes, but is not limited to: radio frequency unit 101, network module 102, audio output unit 103, input unit 104, sensor 105, display unit 106, user input unit 107, interface unit 108, memory 109, and processor 110.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the electronic device 100 may further include a power source (e.g., a battery) for powering the various components, and that the power source may be logically coupled to the processor 110 via a power management system to perform functions such as managing charging, discharging, and power consumption via the power management system. The electronic device structure shown in fig. 11 does not constitute a limitation of the electronic device, and the electronic device may include more or less components than illustrated, or may combine some components, or may be arranged in different components, which are not described in detail herein.

The processor 110 is configured to obtain at least one trigger time of a first control signal, where the first control signal is used to control and adjust exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each trigger time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix; and triggering a first control signal at a target time in the process of exposing the target pixel to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel, wherein the target pixel is any row of pixels or any column of pixels corresponding to at least one trigger time in a pixel matrix, and the target time is the trigger time corresponding to the target pixel in the at least one trigger time.

According to the electronic device, in the process of exposing pixels in any row or any column according to the triggering time corresponding to the pixels in at least one row or column, the first control signals can be triggered in the corresponding time to adjust the exposure of the pixels in the row or column corresponding to the time.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 110 is specifically configured to trigger the first control signal at the target time, so as to clear the exposure of the target pixel before the target time, and re-expose the target pixel.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the processor 110 is further configured to obtain luminance values of all row pixels and all column pixels in the pixel matrix before obtaining at least one trigger time of the first control signal. The processor 110 is specifically configured to determine at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the acquired brightness values of all the row pixels and all the column pixels.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 110 is further configured to empty the photoelectrons in the photodiode to restart the pixel exposure if the voltage value of the photodiode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photodiode during the pixel exposure.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 110 is further configured to determine, after the pixel exposure is completed after the pixel exposure is restarted by emptying the photoelectrons in the photodiode, a target exposure according to a target number and a target value, where the target number is the number of times the photoelectrons in the photodiode are emptied, and the target value is the value of the photoelectrons in the photodiode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure is the actual exposure of the pixel.

The electronic device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the above method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and details are not repeated here.

The beneficial effects of the various implementation manners in this embodiment may be specifically referred to the beneficial effects of the corresponding implementation manners in the foregoing method embodiment, and in order to avoid repetition, the description is omitted here.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present application, the input unit 104 may include a graphics processor (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU) 1041 and a microphone 1042, the graphics processor 1041 processing image data of still pictures or video obtained by an image capturing device (e.g., a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The display unit 106 may include a display panel 1061, and the display panel 1061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 107 includes a touch panel 1071 and other input devices 1072. The touch panel 1071 is also referred to as a touch screen. The touch panel 1071 may include two parts of a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 1072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, a joystick, and so forth, which are not described in detail herein. Memory 109 may be used to store software programs as well as various data including, but not limited to, application programs and an operating system. The processor 110 may integrate an application processor that primarily handles operating systems, user interfaces, applications, etc., with a modem processor that primarily handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 110.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a readable storage medium, where a program or an instruction is stored, and when the program or the instruction is executed by a processor, the program or the instruction implement each process of the embodiment of the method, and the same technical effects can be achieved, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

Wherein the processor is a processor in the electronic device described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer readable storage medium such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and the like.

The embodiment of the application further provides a chip, the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled with the processor, and the processor is used for running a program or an instruction, implementing each process of the above method embodiment, and achieving the same technical effect, so as to avoid repetition, and not repeated here.

It should be understood that the chips referred to in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as system-on-chip chips, chip systems, or system-on-chip chips, etc.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatus in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing the functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing the functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in an opposite order depending on the functions involved, e.g., the described methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

From the above description of the embodiments, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the above-described embodiment method may be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, but of course may also be implemented by means of hardware, but in many cases the former is a preferred embodiment. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk), including several instructions for causing a terminal (which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method described in the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which are merely illustrative and not restrictive, and many forms may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present application and the scope of the claims, which are also within the protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A pixel processing circuit, the pixel processing circuit comprising: the first reset triode RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module;

one end of the control logic module is connected with one end of the first RST reset gate, and the other end of the first RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module; the control logic module is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition of receiving a first control signal, the first RST reset gate is used for adjusting the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object under the first working state, and the first circuit module is used for processing light rays corresponding to the shooting object;

the control logic module is specifically configured to control the first RST reset gate to be in the first working state according to the receiving time of the first control signal, where the first RST reset gate is specifically configured to clear exposure of a row of pixels or a column of pixels corresponding to the first control signal according to the receiving time in the first working state;

The pixel processing circuit further includes: a voltage logic judging module; one end of the voltage logic judging module is connected with the first circuit module, and the other end of the voltage logic judging module is connected with the other end of the control logic module;

the voltage logic judging module is specifically configured to output a second control signal and a count signal when a voltage value of the light-sensing diode is equal to a voltage value of an electric field in the light-sensing diode, where the count signal is used to instruct the first RST reset gate to empty the number of photoelectrons in the light-sensing diode, and the number of times to empty the photoelectrons in the light-sensing diode is used to determine a target exposure, and the target exposure is an actual exposure of a corresponding pixel.

2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the voltage logic determination module is further configured to determine whether to output a second control signal, the second control signal being configured to control the first RST reset gate to empty photoelectrons in the photodiode during pixel exposure;

the control logic module is further configured to control the first RST reset gate to be in a second working state when the second control signal is received and the first control signal is not received, where the first RST reset gate is further configured to empty photoelectrons in the photodiode in the second working state, so as to restart pixel exposure.

3. A pixel processing method, the method comprising:

acquiring at least one triggering time of a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each triggering time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix;

triggering the first control signal at a target time in the process of exposing a target pixel, so as to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel, wherein the target pixel is any row of pixels or any column of pixels corresponding to the at least one triggering time in the pixel matrix, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target pixel in the at least one triggering time;

the triggering the first control signal at the target time to control and adjust the exposure of the target pixel includes:

triggering the first control signal at the target time to clear the exposure of the target pixel before the target time and re-exposing the target pixel;

the method further comprises the steps of:

after the pixel exposure is completed, determining a target exposure according to a target number and a target value, wherein the target number is the number of times of emptying photoelectrons in the light-sensitive diode, the target value is the number of photoelectrons in the light-sensitive diode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure is the actual exposure of the pixel.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein prior to the acquiring the at least one trigger time of the first control signal, the method further comprises:

acquiring brightness values of all rows of pixels and all columns of pixels in the pixel matrix;

the acquiring at least one trigger time of the first control signal includes:

and determining at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the brightness values of all the row pixels and all the column pixels.

5. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the method further comprises:

in the pixel exposure process, if the voltage value of the light sensing diode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the light sensing diode, the photoelectrons in the light sensing diode are emptied, so that the pixel exposure is restarted.

6. A pixel processing apparatus, characterized in that the pixel processing apparatus comprises: the device comprises an acquisition module, a triggering module and a determining module;

the acquisition module is used for acquiring at least one triggering time of a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of at least one row of pixels and/or at least one column of pixels in a pixel matrix corresponding to a shooting object, and each triggering time corresponds to one row of pixels or one column of pixels in the pixel matrix;

The triggering module is configured to trigger the first control signal at a target time in a process of exposing a target pixel, so as to control and adjust an exposure amount of the target pixel, where the target pixel is any row of pixels or any column of pixels in the pixel matrix corresponding to the at least one trigger time, and the target time is a trigger time corresponding to the target pixel in the at least one trigger time;

the triggering module is specifically configured to trigger the first control signal at the target time, so as to clear the exposure of the target pixel before the target time, and re-expose the target pixel;

the determining module is configured to determine, after the exposure of the pixel is completed, a target exposure according to a target number of times and a target value, where the target number of times is a number of times for emptying photoelectrons in the photodiode, the target value is a value of photoelectrons in the photodiode after the last exposure of the pixel, and the target exposure is an actual exposure of the pixel.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the obtaining module is further configured to obtain luminance values of all row pixels and all column pixels in the pixel matrix before obtaining at least one trigger time of the first control signal;

The acquiring module is specifically configured to determine at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the acquired brightness values of the pixels in all rows and the pixels in all columns.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the pixel processing apparatus further comprises: a emptying module;

and the emptying module is used for emptying photoelectrons in the light sensing diode to restart the pixel exposure if the voltage value of the light sensing diode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the light sensing diode in the pixel exposure process.

9. An electronic device comprising the pixel processing circuit of any one of claims 1-2.

10. An electronic device comprising a processor, a memory and a program or instruction stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the pixel processing method of any one of claims 3-5.

11. A readable storage medium, characterized in that it has stored thereon a program or instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the pixel processing method according to any of claims 3-5.