JPH03201883A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the device small and to reduce the cost by turning a means supporting a lens and a solid-state image pickup element around prescribed two orthogonal axes by means of a displacement means. CONSTITUTION:A drive signal is given to displacement means 9, 10 turning a lens 24 and a solid-state image pickup element 30 around two orthogonal axes a, b and they are relatively displayed around the two axes a, b so that a photodetector section of the 2-dimension solid-state image pickup element 30 covers sequentially an incident optical image projected before the displacement to a gap (light dead band area) between the photodetector sections of the image pickup element 30. Then an output of each position of each photodetector detection in displacement is displayed as a new picture element. Thus, the displacement means 9, 10 are used in general-purpose independently of the solid-state image pickup element 30 and its peripheral structure.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an Ill image device using a solid-state V& image element,
In particular, solid-state image sensors have increased the number of display pixels by temporally changing the relative positional relationship between the incident optical image and the pixels and increasing the spatial sampling area to the sensitivity invalid area that exists between the pixels of the solid-state image sensor. Regarding the imaging device used.

[Prior Art J] In recent years, imaging devices such as televisions and video cameras using solid-state imaging devices such as CCDs have been widely put into practical use. In order to improve the resolution of such an imaging device, (1) increasing the number of pixels in the solid-state imaging device; (2) scanning using the relative displacement between the solid-state imaging device and the incident optical image using a mirror, glass plate, piezoelectric element, etc. Measures such as these are being taken.

(Countermeasure 1) requires higher integration of the solid-state image sensor, and there are restrictions on wafer size and process.

Countermeasure (2) can increase the practical number of pixels in operation using a simple method. An example of countermeasure (2) is the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-98977. The solid-state imaging device described in the publication has a two-dimensional solid-state image element in which the light-receiving part of each pixel is two-dimensionally separated by a light-insensitive area, and can be displaced in two directions, X and Y, parallel to the light-receiving surface. In this way, a piezoelectric displacement element is arranged on a two-dimensional solid-state image sensor, and the driving voltage of the piezoelectric displacement element is controlled, so that the light receiving part sequentially moves through the light-insensitive area before displacement, and the The output is displayed as one pixel output.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the solid-state imaging element in the conventional solid-state imaging device, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main parts of the conventional solid-state imaging device.

In the solid-state image sensor 1 shown in FIG. 5, the light receiving portion of each pixel is
The sixth G? The solid-state imaging device I is configured by arranging X- and Y-direction piezoelectric elements 2.3 so that the solid-state imaging device 1 described above can be displaced in two directions, X and Y. The conventional method is
, the drive voltage applied to each of the Y-direction piezoelectric displacement elements 2.3, vIt! By moving the light-receiving parts of each pixel so as to fill the gap (light-insensitive area) between the light-receiving parts, and displaying the output at each position during the displacement of each light-receiving part as one pixel, This is equivalent to improving the resolution in two directions, X and Y.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the conventional solid-state imaging device. In the same figure, a solid-state image sensor (NxN
An X- and Y-direction piezoelectric displacement element 2.3 is attached to the pixel>1, and is configured to be displaced in two directions (X and Y directions) parallel to the light-receiving surface by the drive voltage waveform from the piezoelectric displacement element driver 4. ing.

The solid-state image sensor 1 is driven by a solid-state image sensor dry parameter. The output signal from the solid-state image sensor 1 is sent to the amplifier and A/D.
After passing through the converter, it enters the scan conversion circuit including the frame memory 6.7, from which it is output as a high-resolution image.
/A converter and then provided to a television monitor or the like. The data selector 8 in the scan conversion circuit is connected to the frame memory 6
．． This is for alternately writing and reading 7.

FIG. 8 is a plan view chronologically showing the movement of the light receiving section of the solid-state image sensor. In the figure, the light receiving section moves in the order of 1v, 2, 2, and 1v every frame time of the solid-state image sensor by the above-mentioned driving voltage. If each frame is divided into the first to fourth frames by σf, the display frame time is expressed as the sum of the first to fourth frame times.

Therefore, the solid-state image sensor 1 is stored in the frame memory 6.7 shown in FIG. Display as shown. With the above operation, the number of pixels of the output image is 2NX2N, and the resolution is 2 in both the X and Y directions.
Double.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional imaging device using the solid-state imaging device described above, the means for displacing the incident optical image or the solid-state imaging device is built into the imaging device. ,
This resulted in an expensive imaging device. Furthermore, as imaging devices become more miniaturized, it becomes difficult to incorporate displacement means. Therefore, it has been difficult to make the device more versatile, lower in price, and more miniaturized while increasing the actual number of pixels.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging device using a solid-state image sensor that can easily be made more versatile, lower in price, and ultra-small while increasing the practical number of operational pixels of the solid-state image sensor. shall be.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a light receiving surface of a solid-state image sensor having two-dimensionally arranged pixels, and a subject image formed on the light receiving surface through a lens are provided. In an imaging device having a displacement means for relatively two-dimensional displacement, the displacement means is configured to move the lens around two axes that are orthogonal to the optical axis of the lens, pass through the principal point of the lens, and are orthogonal to each other. An imaging device is provided, characterized in that the imaging device includes means for rotating a lens and means for holding the solid-state imaging device.

[Operation] A drive signal is applied to the means for rotating the lens and the solid-state image sensor around the two mutually orthogonal axes, and the signal is sequentially changed between the two axes so that the light-receiving part of the two-dimensional solid-state image sensor is not displaced. The portion of the incident optical image that was projected in the gap (light insensitive area) between the light-receiving parts of the image sensor is sequentially filled in at the relative 'R' position, and each position during the displacement of each light-receiving part is By displaying the output as a new pixel, as in the conventional example,
In the present invention, which equivalently improves the resolution in the two directions of X and Y, since the displacement means has the above configuration, there is no need to dispose it near the solid-state image sensor. The present invention can be general-purposed without being affected by the structure of the solid-state image sensor or its surroundings, and can support ultra-miniaturization of the entire device.

[Embodiments] Examples of the imaging apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining the concept of the imaging device of the present invention. A solid-state imaging device such as a CCD is attached inside the casing 20, and a lens barrel 22 having a lens or a lens system inside is attached to the front part of the casing 20. That is, the casing 20 is a means for holding a lens (in this specification, a lens system is also abbreviated as a lens) and a solid-state image sensor, and a displacement means for rotating this holding means about the a-axis and the b-axis that are perpendicular to each other. 9°10 is provided.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a side sectional view and a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, which is a more specific version of the configuration shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the a-axis and the b-axis are axes that are orthogonal to the optical axis 26 of the lens 24 and that pass through the principal point 28 of the lens 24 and are orthogonal to each other.

Since the optical axis of the lens 24 is perpendicular to the light-receiving surface of the solid-state image sensor 30, the a-axis and the b-axis are parallel to the light-receiving surface, and further extend in two directions of the two-dimensionally arranged pixels. parallel.

The casing 20 holds a lens 24 via a lens barrel 22, and also holds a solid-state image sensor 30.

This casing 20 is rotatably attached to a rotary frame 34 that is rotatably attached to a fixed frame 32. That is, the rotating frame 34 is attached to the fixed frame 32 via the vertical rotation motor 10, and can rotate around the b-axis. Furthermore, the cage 20 is attached to the rotation frame 34 via a left-right rotation motor 9, and can rotate about the a-axis.

FIG. 4(a) is a block diagram showing the control system of each motor 9, 10 and the processing system of the output signal of the solid-state image sensor 30 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. Solid-state image sensor 3
0 is driven by a driver 40 to transfer charges and read signals, and the output signal is sent to A via an amplifier 42.
/D converter 46 and converted into a digital signal. The motor driver 44 drives the motors 9 and 10 to rotate the gauging 20 vertically and horizontally at timings to be described later. The output signal of the A/D converter 46 is given to four frame memories 50-1.50-2.50-3, 50-4, and the writing control is performed by the writing control circuit 4.
It is done by 8.

That is, upon receiving the signal from the motor driver 44, the A/
The digital output from the D converter 46 is sequentially stored in each frame memory, and the first frame output of the (i, j) pixel is (2i-1, 2) as in the conventional example shown in FIG.
j-1), the second frame output is displayed as (2i, 2j-1), the third frame output is (2i, 2j), and the fourth frame output is displayed as (2t1.2j) pixels. The output signals of each frame memory 50-1 to 50-4 are sent to the data selector 52.
The signal is applied to the D/A converter 54 through the converter 54 to be converted into an analog signal, and then applied to a television monitor or the like.

FIG. 4(b) is a timing chart showing the relationship between the two output signals of the motor driver 44 and the write pulses to each frame memory, which are the four output signals of the write control circuit.

As is clear from the above description, since the motor 9.10 is controlled and the casing 20 rotates around the a-axis and the b-axis, the light-receiving surface of the solid-state image sensor 30 inside the casing 20 is in contact with the spherical surface. It will rotate. Here, the center of the spherical surface in contact with this light-receiving surface is the intersection of the rotation axes of the a and b axes, and is on the optical axis 26 of the lens 24. In addition, the radius of rotation is sufficiently long compared to the spacing between pixels, and the displacement due to rotation of the light receiving surface is
This is approximately the same as the displacement in the Y direction. Therefore, as in the case of the conventional example shown in Fig. 8, it is solid! The light receiving part of the first image element 24 starts at the first frame position 1, rotates around the a-axis to the second frame position 2, then rotates around the b-axis to the third frame position 3, and then rotates around the b-axis to the third frame position 3. By first rotating in the opposite direction around the a-axis and moving to the fourth frame position 4, and finally rotating in the opposite direction around the b-axis and returning to position l,
The number of spatial sample points can be equivalently increased by 2x2, and the resolution can be doubled in both the X and Y directions.

The above operation will be explained in more detail based on timing chart 1 to FIG. 4(b). First, at the initial position 1, the subject image is photoelectrically converted, the photocharges are accumulated and read out, and the image data is written into the frame memory 50-1.Then, the motor 9 is rotated and the interpolated position is 2, the motor 9 is stopped at that position, and a new image is stored and read out by reading one frame of image blankly, and the image is stored in the frame memory 50.
-2, and then write in 1 to 2 using the same procedure sequentially.
The image data at all positions of 4 are stored in the frame memory 50-
Write in 1 to 50-4.

In the present invention, the casing 20, which serves as a holding means for the lens and the solid-state image sensor, is swung vertically and horizontally about two axes, and the rotation angle is such that the image of the solid-state image sensor 30 is formed from the principal point 28 of the lens 24. It is determined by the distance to the surface and the pixel pitch of the solid-state image sensor 30. That is, on the light-receiving surface of the solid-state image sensor 30, the light-receiving section of the pixel interpolates the area other than the small area of the subject image that was receiving light in the initial state. Determine the rotation angle to move left and right by 1/2 pixel pitch.

In addition, the rotation timing (period) is intermittent as in the conventional example, and the casing 2 is placed at each of the interpolation positions 1 to 4.
After rotating 0, the image is stopped for at least one frame, the image there is stored in the corresponding frame memory, and then rotated to the next interpolation position. Therefore, the display timing may be the same as, for example, the conventional example shown in FIG. 8, but the image input timing is relatively slow and intermittent.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed explanation above, according to the imaging device of the present invention, the displacement means for improving the degree of modification of the solid-state imaging device includes the lens and the means for holding the solid-state imaging device. Since it is a means for rotating around two predetermined orthogonal axes, there is no need to dispose this displacement means near the solid-state image sensor, and the entire image sensor can be easily made ultra-small, versatile, and low-cost. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the concept of the imaging device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are side sectional views and front views showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4(a). (b) is a professional diagram showing the electrical circuit of the same embodiment and a time chart for explaining the operation of the block diagram; FIG. 5 is a plan view of the solid-state image sensor; FIG. 6; No. 8121 is a perspective view, a block diagram, and an operation explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional imaging device. 9.10...Motor, 20...Casing,
22... Lens barrel, 24... Lens, 26... Optical axis, 28... Principal point, 30... Solid-state image sensor, 3
2゜34...Frame, 40...Dry nose,
42... Amplifier, 44... Motor dryer, 46... A/D converter, 48... Write control circuit, 50-1, 50-2, 50-3, 50-4
...Frame memory, 52...Data selector,
54...D/A converter, a, b...axis. Inventor Kim 1) Tadashi Sustainability Applicant Representative of Japan Victor Co., Ltd. Patent attorney Tadashi Nihei
Kei No. 2 Figure Figure Figure Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An imaging device having a light-receiving surface of a solid-state image sensor having two-dimensionally arranged pixels and a displacement means for relatively two-dimensionally displacing a subject image formed on the light-receiving surface via a lens. wherein the displacement means rotates the means for holding the lens and the solid-state imaging device about two axes that are perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens, pass through the principal point of the lens, and are orthogonal to each other. An imaging device characterized by: