JPH01120182A - Solid-state image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make readout from an optional position on an image pickup plane, by providing a shift register similar to an H-shift register in parallel with the H-shift register and starting the H-shift register from an optional position. CONSTITUTION:When an enlarged reading-out section 116 is reid out, an H-start register 107 makes transfer until a starting point 117. The pulse number of H-start clocks 108 is controlled so that the pulse number can correspond to the transfer and H-shift register clearing pulses 106 become 'H' at the beginning of an H-blanking period and clear an H-shift register 104. When the blanking period ends and a video outputting period starts, H-start switch group controlling pulses 112 become 'L' and the output of the register 107 is sent to a corresponding cell of the register 104 while the pulses 112 are 'L'. Simultaneously, H-clocks 105 are added and transfer is started at a frequency proportional to the magnitude of the reading-out section 116.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device that is capable of reading from any position on an imaging surface using an X-Y address reading method.

[Prior Art] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a solid-state imaging device using a conventional X-Y address readout method. In Fig. 2, lot is the imaging plane, 1
02 is a readout circuit, 103 is an image sensor output, 104 is H
105 is an H clock that operates this H shift register 104; 301 is an H start pulse that is input to the pulse at the start of the H shift register 104; 113 is an Vertical shift register (hereinafter referred to as ■shift register) that specifies read pixels in the V direction, 1
14 is a clock for operating this V shift register 113, and 115 is a V start pulse to which a pulse is input when the V shift register 113 is started.

The operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be explained using FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing waveforms of each part in the device shown in FIG.
In particular, it is a diagram showing the waveforms of the H, V clock 105° 114 and the H, V, l, and start pulses 301 and 115. 4
01 is V blanking, and 402 is H blanking. ■The shift register 113 has V immediately after V blanking.
Start pulse 115 is input, and at the same time V clock 11 is input.
4 is added. ■The first pulse of the clock 114 detects the V start pulse 115-rHJ (high), and ■
The output of the first register 113-1 is assumed to be rHJ. Immediately after this, ■Start Pal 7! , 115-'Lj
The v clock 114 is sequentially V-/7.
Tresister l l 3-1.113-2゜113-:l
,..., and this V shift register 1
The horizontal line on the imaging surface where the output of No. 13 is "H" is designated as the readout position. The operation of the H shift register 104 is the same as that of the shift register 113 except for the operating speed.

By the way, in a solid-state imaging device having such a configuration, when enlarging and reading out any part of the imaging surface, that is, performing an electronic zoom operation, the H, V shift registers 104, 1
13, transfer must be started from an arbitrary position immediately after H, V blanking 402, 401. 0For example, if you want to read out the enlarged reading section 116 in FIG.
The shift registers 104 and 113 have a readout starting point 117.
must start from the position where it is read.

The waveform when performing such a shift register operation is shown in the fourth waveform.
Shown in Figure (C). In the figure, 403 is a blanking period, and since both the horizontal and vertical lines have similar waveforms, they are shown overlappingly. ■Start pulse 115. For V clock 114, 404 is 1 vertical scan [IV] period, 3
For 01°105, 404 is one horizontal scanning [18] period. Here, Pl is a high-speed transfer lock during the blanking period, and P2 is a clock during the effective image period. Here, the clock speed of PI and P2 is
It depends on the size of 6. For example, assuming that the enlarged readout unit 118 has the same size as the horizontal and vertical lines of the imaging surface, the pulse frequency of the clock P2 during the effective image period is the same as that of the normal station, and the high-speed transfer lock P1 is the same as the blanking period. The number of pulses required is sufficient for the shift register to transfer the remaining portion of the imaging surface. V start pulse 115, which is a clock pulse. The phases of the H start pulse 301, the V clock 114 of the shift register, and the H clock 105 are variable within the blanking period 403, and by controlling these phases, the reading start point 11
Perform the position settings in step 7.

When an arbitrary part of the screen is read out in an enlarged manner as in the case of the image sensor shown in FIG. 2, during the blanking period, H,
V It is necessary to perform high-speed transfer of each shift register 0 For example, looking at the transfer of the H shift register, the number of H pixels = 6OO, the number of H pixels in the enlarged readout section 116 in FIG. 2 = 300. If the H blanking period = 10.91Ls, the high-speed transfer lock frequency of the H shift register 104 is (600-300)/10.94s = 27.5 M
Hz, which requires an extremely high frequency. On the other hand, ■shift register transfer requires a long V blanking period, and also requires a V clock (Fig. 4, (C) P
The frequency of i) can be low and can be easily transferred.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, in a conventional solid-state imaging device, when performing enlarged reading of an arbitrary part of the screen, ■ shift register transfer requires a long V blanking period, and is also necessary. While the frequency of the V clock is low and transfer can be performed easily, the transfer frequency of the H shift register requires an extremely high frequency, and the start position setting of the H shift register requires H blanking. There is a problem in that the control has to be performed every time, making the control complicated.

This invention was made to solve this problem, and without using high-speed transfer of the H shift register,
An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging device that can easily control readout from pixels at arbitrary positions on an imaging surface.

[Means for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a shift register similar to the H shift register in parallel with the H shift register, and allows the H shift register to start from an arbitrary position. This system is designed to enable the following.

[Operation] By configuring as described above, reading from any position on the imaging surface is possible without using high-speed transfer of the H shift register during the H blanking period.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram specifically showing a solid-state imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 0, 106 is an H shift register 1
107 is the H start register which is the second H shift register that determines the start position of the first H shift register 104, and 10B is the H start register that operates the H start register 107. Clock, 109 is an H start register input cabal that starts the H start register 107, 110 is an H start register clear pulse that clears the output of the H start register 107, and 111 is an H that temporarily clears the start input of the H shift register 104.
A start switch group, 112 is an H start switch group control pulse that controls this H start switch group 111, 116 is an enlarged readout part of a part of the screen,
117 and 118 are the reading start and end points.

Further, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing waveforms at various parts in FIG. 1.

Note that the explanation of the operation of the shift register 113 will be omitted since it is the same as the conventional example.

In FIGS. 1 and 3, 201 is a V blanking period, and 202 is an H blanking period.

(2) At the beginning of the blanking period 201, the H start register clear pulse 110 becomes rHJ, and the H start register 107 is cleared. Next, at the same time that the H start register input cabling 109 is input, the transfer is performed by the H start register 108.
6, the H start register 107 transfers up to the read start point 117. The number of pulses of the H start clock 108 is controlled to correspond to this. At the beginning of the H blanking period, the H shift register clear pulse 106 becomes “H” and the H shift register 1
Clear 04. When the H blanking period ends and the video output period begins, the H start switch group control pulse becomes 112g+'l,J, and the output of the H start register 107 is the H shift register 1 only during this rLJ period.
04 is sent to the corresponding cell. That is, when the output of a certain H start register 107-m is -rHJ, the start input of the corresponding H shift register 1041 becomes rHJ only during the H start switch group control pulse 112-rLJ. At the same time, H clock 105 is applied to start the transfer.

It goes without saying that the frequency of this H clock 105 is inversely proportional to the size of the enlarged reading section 116 on the imaging surface.

Incidentally, if the position of the enlarged reading section 116 on the screen is constant, the setting of the H start register 107 shown in FIG. 3(a) need not be performed during that time. Further, the H start register 107 may be configured as a bidirectional shift register.

As described above, a shift register having the same configuration as the H shift register 104 is provided as the H start register 107 in parallel with the H shift register 104, and the H shift register 104
By specifying the start position of 04, it is no longer necessary to set the start position of the H shift register 104 using a high-speed clock during the H blanking period 202.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention provides a second shift register similar to the first H shift register in parallel with the first H shift register, and from the position specified by the H shift register at t52. By making it possible to start the operation of the first H shift register, it becomes possible to easily control reading from a pixel at an arbitrary position on the imaging surface.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram specifically showing a solid-state imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a solid-state imaging device using a conventional X-Y address readout method, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing various parts in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing waveforms of various parts in the apparatus of FIG. 2. In the figure. 101: Imaging surface 102: Readout circuit 103: Image sensor output 104: H shift register 105: H clock 106: H shift register clear barrier 107: H start register 108: H start clock 109: H start register caballus 110: H Start register clear pulse 111: H start switch group 112: H start switch group control pulse 113: V shift register 114: v clock l15: v start pulse 116:
Screen enlargement readout section 117: Enlargement readout start point 118: Enlargement readout end point Agent Patent attorney 1) Haru Kitatake Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a solid-state imaging device using an X-Y address readout method, a first horizontal shift register for specifying a horizontal readout pixel, a second horizontal shift register in parallel with the first horizontal shift register, and a first horizontal shift register are provided. A solid-state imaging device characterized in that the register operation start point is specified by a second horizontal shift register.