JPH0451783A - Television camera using ccd image pickup element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the resolution by dispersing picture information into m-sets, using m-sets of relevant CCD image pickup elements and devising the image pickup area so that it is not in duplicate and covers the entire area of picture information. CONSTITUTION:A reflected light 11 from an object 11 is formed to picture information 12 of a prescribed size, dispersed into two sets of picture information 121, 122 by a spectroscope 20, the brightness of an upper half area of the one information 12, is adjusted to a prescribed brightness by a filter 40, the area is picked up by a CCD image pickup element 301 and a lower half area of the other information 122 is picked up by a relevant CCD image pickup element 302. Thus, the pictures picked up by the CCD image pickup elements 301, 302 are combined into the entire picture information 12. Number of picture elements representing a picture of the same shape is nearly doubled in comparison with a conventional system and a picture signal with high resolution is obtained by using plural CCD image pickup elements with low picture element density.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a CCD (charge coupled
This invention relates to the improvement of a television camera using an image sensor (device). For more details, please refer to multiple CCD
The present invention relates to a television camera that uses an image sensor to obtain high resolution.

[Prior Art] A conventional television camera using a CCD image sensor is configured to convert image information obtained from a subject through a lens into an electrical signal using one CCD image sensor and output the electrical signal. In addition, in general, as with LSIs (Large Scale Integrated Circuits), the manufacturing cost of CCD image sensors increases as the chip size increases, and conversely, as the chip size decreases, the number of pixels decreases, resulting in lower resolution. It is known to do.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in television cameras using conventional CCD image sensors, it is not possible to use high-resolution CCD image sensors with large chip sizes due to cost and other reasons. Since all of the image information obtained from the subject was converted into electrical signals using a single image sensor, there was a problem in that a high-resolution image signal could not be obtained. For this reason, there was a problem that it could not be used in television cameras for high-definition television (for example, HDTV). It is an object of the present invention to provide a television camera that can obtain a high-resolution image signal using a device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides image information obtained from a subject through a lens.
A television camera that outputs photoelectric conversion using a CD image sensor is provided with a spectroscope that separates the image information into m pieces of image information (m is an integer of 2 or more), and the CCD image sensor is separated into m pieces of image information by the spectrometer. The main area of each of the imaging areas of the m CCD image sensors does not overlap with each other; In addition, the combined area is at least the entire area of image information obtained from the subject.

In order to make the brightness components of the image signals obtained from the m CCD image sensors uniform, the CCD image sensors other than the CCD image sensor with the minimum brightness of the image information to be imaged among the m CCD image sensors are A brightness adjustment filter is provided on the imaging surface side to make the brightness of image information the same.

[Operation] The image information obtained from the subject through the lens is separated into m pieces of image information by a spectroscope, and the corresponding one of the m CCD image sensors selects one of the m pieces of image information. A part of the image information corresponding to is imaged. m
The imaging areas of the m CCD image sensors are such that their main areas do not overlap with each other, and the combined area is at least the entire area of image information obtained from the subject.
An image signal corresponding to all of the image information is obtained by the image signal from the CD image sensor.

Then, the brightness of the image information to be imaged by the m CCD image sensors is set to be the same on the imaging surface side of the CCD image sensor other than the CCD image sensor with the minimum brightness for the image information to be imaged by the m CCD image sensors. If a brightness adjustment filter is provided for this purpose, the brightness components of the image signals obtained from the m CCD image sensors can be easily made uniform.

[Example] FIG. 1 shows an example of the present invention. In this figure, 10 indicates reflected light (or transmitted light) 11 from the subject.
The image information obtained by
It is a lens that forms an image. 20 is a spectrometer, and this spectrometer 20 converts the image information 12 into two pieces of image information 12 and 12.
It is constructed by combining a first prism 22 having a part of a half mirror for splitting the light into two parts, and a second prism that guides one of the image information 12□ split by the first prism 22 to a predetermined location. There is. 30 and 302 are CCs that image a portion of each of the image information 12□ and 12□.
D image sensor, these CCD image sensors 30□, 30□
As shown in FIG. 2, the respective imaging areas 32□, 32□ are the left half of the image information 121 (corresponding to the upper half of FIG. 1) and the right half (corresponding to the upper half of the image information 12). 1), and the combined area is the entire area of the image information 12 (or 12 □ or 12 □).
On the imaging surface side of □, the CCD image sensor 30 and 30 □
A filter 40 for brightness adjustment is provided to make the brightness of the image information 12□ and 12□ captured by the image information the same.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

(a) Reflected light 11 (or transmitted light) from the subject is imaged by the lens 10 into image information 12 of a predetermined size.

(b) The image information 12 is separated into two pieces of image information 120.12□ by the spectroscope 20, and the upper half (left half in FIG. 2) of one of the image information 121 is filtered by the filter 4.
0, the corresponding CCD image sensor 30 is adjusted to a predetermined brightness.
□ imaged 1, and the other image information 12 □ lower half (second
The area (right half in the figure) is imaged by the corresponding CCD image sensor 30□. For this reason, the CCD image sensor 30
The images taken at □ and 30□ are as shown in Figure 2.
The left half and the right half of the image information 12 are combined to form the entire image information 12. Therefore, compared to FIG. 3 showing image information 50 captured in the imaging area 32 by the CCD image sensor 30 of the corresponding conventional example, the number of pixels representing an image of the same shape is approximately twice that of the conventional example. Therefore, it is possible to perform higher resolution rendering than the conventional example.

In the above embodiment, the imaging area of each of the two CCD image sensors is divided into an upper half (the left half in FIG. 2) and a lower half (the right half in FIG. 2) of the image information obtained from the subject. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the imaging areas of the two CCD image sensors are
It is sufficient that the respective main areas do not overlap with each other and that the combined area covers at least the entire area of image information obtained from the subject. For example, as shown by a dashed line and a dashed double dot line in FIG.
, 30□ imaging areas 32a, 32a2 may overlap in the central area. In this case, the processing of the image information of the overlapping area is corrected by the output image signal processing.

In the above embodiment, 1 spectrometer collects image information obtained from the subject into 2 spectrometers.
The image information is divided into two pieces of image information, and a portion of each of the two pieces of image information obtained by this spectroscopy is imaged with two corresponding CCD image sensors to obtain an image signal corresponding to all of the image information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the spectrometer may be one that spectrally separates the image information obtained from the subject into m pieces of image information (m is an integer of 2 or more), and this m pieces of image information A predetermined area is imaged by corresponding m CCD image sensors, and the main areas imaged by the m CCD image sensors do not overlap with each other, and the combined area is at least image information obtained from the subject. It suffices if it covers the entire area.

[Effects of the Invention] The television camera using the CCD image sensor according to the present invention has the following effects:
As mentioned above, the image information obtained from the subject through the lens is divided into m pieces of image information by the spectroscope, and a portion of the m pieces of image information is imaged by the corresponding m CCD image sensors. However, by combining the image signals from these m CCD image sensors, an image signal corresponding to at least all of the image information obtained from the subject is obtained, so the number of pixels for capturing an image of the same shape is reduced. The resolution is approximately m times that of the conventional example, and the resolution can be higher than that of the conventional example. Therefore, a high-resolution image signal can be obtained using a plurality of CCD image sensors with low pixel density, and a television camera that can obtain high resolution at low cost can be provided.

Then, the brightness of the image information to be imaged by the m CCD image sensors is set to be the same on the imaging surface side of the CCD image sensor other than the CCD image sensor with the minimum brightness for the image information to be imaged by the m CCD image sensors. If a brightness adjustment filter is provided for this purpose, the brightness components of the image signals obtained from the m CCD image sensors can be easily made uniform, which simplifies the subsequent image signal processing. I can do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a television camera using a CCD image sensor according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the imaging areas of the two image sensors in FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example for comparison with FIG. 2; 10... Lens, 11... Reflected light (or transmitted light),
12.121,'2z, 50-image information, 20-...
Spectrometer, 30.30□, 302・CCD image sensor, 32
．． 32□, 32□, 32a, 32a...imaging area,
40... Brightness adjustment filter. Applicant Fujitsu General Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Image information obtained from the subject through the lens is transferred to the CCD
A television camera that outputs photoelectric conversion with an image sensor is provided with a spectrometer that spectrally separates the image information into m pieces of image information (m is an integer of 2 or more), and the CCD image sensor is spectrally divided by the spectrometer. Consisting of m CCD image sensors that capture a part of the corresponding image information among the m pieces of image information,
The imaging areas of the m CCD image sensors are characterized in that their main areas do not overlap with each other, and the combined area is at least the entire area of image information obtained from the subject. TV camera. (2) The brightness of the image information to be imaged by the m CCD image sensors is set on the imaging surface side of the CCD image sensor other than the CCD image sensor with the minimum brightness for the image information to be imaged by the m CCD image sensors. A television camera using a CCD image sensor according to claim 1, further comprising a brightness adjustment filter for making the brightness the same.