JPH057346A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the photographed picture of high definition and high quality by increasing the number of effective picture elements by using an ordinary image pickup element. CONSTITUTION:Image pickup light L having passed through a lens 1 is divided into plural beams L1, L2 of equal quantity of light by a beam splitter 2, and they are imaged respectively on image formation surfaces A, B at different positions. Then, picture information from each image pickup element 101 to 104 whose light receiving part is arranged at a divided position not neighboring each other when the image of a subject on each image formation surface A, B is divided into plural parts is synthesized by a picture synthesis circuit 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image pickup tube or CC.
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus including an image pickup plate such as a D or MOS element as an image pickup element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image pickup device is known in which image pickup light from a subject is photoelectrically converted by an image pickup device such as a CCD and an electric signal thereof is processed to display or record a subject image. The image sensor used as this photoelectric conversion element,
Recent advances in integrated circuit technology have made it possible to mass produce those having several hundreds of thousands of pixels, and they are often used in home video cameras. Further, in response to the user's demand for higher image quality, an image pickup device for so-called high-definition planning, which is higher than the current NSTC standard, is being put into practical use from the stage of study. There are 20 image sensors compatible with this high-definition project.
It requires a high degree of integration of about 100,000 pixels, is extremely expensive with advanced manufacturing technology, and has a very high signal read frequency of several tens of megahertz, which is a highly advanced circuit technology. Required.

Therefore, by arranging a plurality of image pickup elements of several hundreds of thousands of pixels used in a general home video camera or the like adjacent to the image forming plane of a subject image, a high resolution equivalent to several millions of pixels is obtained. However, since the image pickup device is usually enclosed in a package, it is not possible to make close contact with each other on the same plane. Therefore, it is unavoidable to use the expensive and highly integrated image pickup device that requires high technology as described above.

[0004]

In the conventional image pickup apparatus, in order to increase the definition, it is necessary to use the highly integrated image pickup element as described above, which is expensive and There was a problem that it required difficult circuit technology.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above problems, and it is possible to increase the number of effective pixels and obtain a high definition without using a highly integrated image pickup device. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image pickup apparatus with improved image quality at low cost by using various circuits.

[0006]

The image pickup apparatus of the present invention comprises dividing means for dividing the image pickup light from a subject into a plurality of light rays with the same light quantity and forming the subject image at different positions, and the subject on each image forming surface. When a plurality of images are divided, a plurality of image pickup devices in which light receiving portions are arranged at division positions that are not adjacent to each other, and an image combining circuit that inputs information from each image pickup device and combines the subject images, Each of the image pickup devices is configured to be controlled by a timing signal from a single clock generation circuit.

[0007]

In the image pickup apparatus of the present invention, the image pickup light from the subject is divided into a plurality of optical paths and guided, and a plurality of subject images are formed at different positions. Then, each subject image is also divided into a plurality of pieces, and the image information output from the image pickup elements arranged at the division positions that are not adjacent to each other is input to the image synthesizing circuit, where the entire subject image is synthesized.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a main block diagram of an image pickup apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an image-forming lens through which the imaging light L from the subject passes, and 2 is used to divide the imaging light L into a plurality of beams L1 and L2 with the same light amount to form a subject image at different positions. Is a beam splitter which is a splitting means, and is composed of a half mirror or the like. 101-10
Reference numeral 4 denotes an image pickup device such as a plurality of CCDs in which light receiving portions are arranged on the image forming planes A and B of the subject image, which are adjacent to each other when the subject image is divided into a plurality of (four in this case) image forming planes A and B. The light receiving unit is located at the division position. That is, each image sensor 1
01 to 104 are enclosed in the package,
The subject image is divided into a plurality of images on the respective image formation planes A and B, and the image pickup devices 101 to 104 are arranged at positions not adjacent to each other so that they do not collide with each other. 3 is each image sensor 10
An image synthesizing circuit that inputs image information from 1 to 104 and synthesizes an entire copy image.

In the image pickup apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the image pickup light L from the subject that has passed through the lens 1 is guided to each optical path divided into two by the beam splitter 2 and becomes beams L1 and L2 having equal light amounts, respectively. Each image plane (focal plane)
Reach A and B. As a result, subject images of the same size and brightness are formed on the respective image forming surfaces A and B. 2A and 2B show the states of the respective image forming planes A and B. FIG. 2A shows the state of the image forming plane A, and FIG. 2B shows the state of the image forming plane B.

On each of the image planes A and B, the subject image is divided into four as described above, and the image pickup devices 101 and 103 receive light at the first and third division positions which are not adjacent to each other on the image plane A. The parts a1 and a2 are located respectively, and the light receiving parts b1 and b2 of the image pickup devices 102 and 104 are located at the second and fourth division positions which are not adjacent to each other on the image plane B, respectively. Then, the image information photoelectrically converted by each of the image pickup devices 101 to 104 is input to the image synthesizing circuit 3, where the image information is synthesized as shown in FIG. 3 to form a complete subject image as a whole.

Here, the total number of effective pixels on each of the image planes A and B is four times that in the case of using a single image pickup device, and equivalently, an image pickup device having four times the number of pixels is used. The same fineness as that obtained by shooting is obtained, and an image with improved image quality is obtained. Also, without using a highly integrated image sensor,
Since a general one used for a home video camera or the like can be used, it can be constructed at a low cost with a simple circuit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same symbols as in FIG. 1 indicate the same components. Note that only the image pickup optical system is shown in FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the number of divisions of the optical path of the imaging light L is four times as large as that of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and three beam splitters 2a, 2b and 2c are provided. Each of the beam splitters 2a, 2b, 2c has a reflectance of 25% (1/4), 33% (1/3), 50% (1 /).
2), the beams L1, L2, L3, and L4 having equal light amounts are respectively sent to the four image forming planes A, B, C, and D, and the image forming planes A, B, C, and D have the same size. And a copy image of brightness is formed. Then, each image plane A, B, C, D
The image of the subject is divided into a plurality of parts, the light receiving parts of the image sensors (not shown) are arranged at the division positions that are not adjacent to each other, and the image information from these image sensors is combined to form the entire object image. There is.

Here, in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 4, the object images on the respective image forming planes A, B, C and D are 16 as shown in FIG.
It is divided into (horizontal 4 × vertical 4), and the light receiving portions of the respective image pickup elements are arranged at four non-adjacent divided positions. That is, in the image plane A shown in FIG. 5A, the light receiving part a1 is located at the first position, the light receiving part a2 is located at the third position, the light receiving part a3 is located at the ninth position, and the light receiving part is located at the eleventh position. a4 are arranged respectively, and on the image plane B shown in FIG. 5B, the light receiving part b1 is located at the second position, the light receiving part b2 is located at the fourth position, the light receiving part b3 is located at the tenth position, and the 12th position is formed. The light receiving parts b4 are arranged at the respective positions. In the image plane C shown in FIG. 5C, the light receiving section c1 is located at the fifth position, the light receiving section c2 is located at the seventh position, the light receiving section c3 is located at the thirteenth position, and the light receiving section is located at the fifteenth position. In the image plane D shown in FIG. 5D, the light receiving portion d1 is located at the sixth position, the light receiving portion d2 is located at the eighth position, the light receiving portion d3 is located at the fourteenth position, and the light receiving portion d3 is located at the fourteenth position. The light receiving parts d4 are arranged at the respective positions.

In the arrangement state of the image pickup devices on the respective image forming planes A, B, C and D as described above, each of the 16 light receiving portions a1 to a1.
The image information of the subject photographed separately at a4, b1 to b4, c1 to c4, and d1 to d4 is combined by the image combining circuit as described above. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the image information is combined, and shows the state of contribution of each light receiving portion to the subject image. In the case of this embodiment, the number of effective pixels on each of the image forming planes A, B, C and D is 16 times that in the case where a single image pickup element is used, and the image pickup element having 16 times the number of pixels equivalently. The same fineness as that obtained by using the image can be obtained, and an image of higher quality can be obtained as compared with the case of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the detailed circuit arrangement of the image pickup apparatus having the arrangement shown in FIG. In the figure, 101 is an image pickup device such as the CCD shown in FIG. 1, 111 is this image pickup device 101.
Driver 121 for driving, S / H circuit for sampling and holding the output of the image sensor 101, 131 for A / D converter for converting the sampled and held analog image information into a digital signal, and 141 for the digital image information. Is an image memory for storing the image pickup unit X1. And this imaging unit X
Image pickup units X2, X3, and X4 having the same configuration as that of No. 1 are provided. That is, each of the image pickup units X2, X3, and X4 includes the image pickup device 10 shown in FIG.
2, 103, 104, drivers 112, 113, 11
4, S / H circuits 122, 123, 124, A / D converters 132, 133, 134 and image memories 142, 14
3, 144 are provided. Reference numeral 4 denotes a single clock generation circuit, which outputs timing signals output from the drivers 111 to 114 and S / S of the imaging units X1 to X4.
The operation timings of the H circuits 121 to 124, the A / D converters 131 to 134, and the image memories 141 to 144 are controlled, and the driving of the image pickup devices 101 to 104 is also controlled. The operation of the image synthesizing circuit 3 is also controlled by the timing signal from the clock generating circuit 4, and the image signal is output from the output terminal 5 to a display unit or a recording unit (not shown).

The image pickup devices 101 to 104 of the image pickup units X1 to X4 have the light receiving portions a1, b1, a2 and b2 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and are divided into four as described above. The image information of the captured subject is stored in the image memory 141.
To 144. This image memory 141-144
The image information stored in 1 is read by a signal from the clock generation circuit 4 and input to the image synthesis circuit 3. Then, the image synthesizing circuit 3 synthesizes the image information of the entire subject, and the image signal of the photographed subject is output from the output terminal 5 as described above.

The circuit configuration of the image pickup apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 can be realized by providing 16 image pickup units shown in FIG. 7, and the image information from each image pickup unit is input to the image synthesizing circuit so that the whole image pickup unit can be obtained. The subject image may be formed.

Here, the above-mentioned image memories 141 to 144 are used.
The image synthesizing circuit 3 can be easily realized by using a commonly used known memory and its control technology. Therefore, its detailed description is omitted. It is also possible to use a larger number of beam splitters than in the above embodiment and increase the number of divisions of the subject image on each imaging plane to obtain an image with higher definition.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the number of image pickup elements can be increased infinitely by arranging the light receiving portions a1 and b1 side by side in the unit shown in FIG. 8A. FIG. 8B shows a case where the light receiving portions a and b are composed of eight. Further, also in the embodiment of FIG. 4, by arranging the light receiving portions a1, b1, c1, d1 vertically and horizontally in the unit shown in FIG. 9A, the number of image pickup elements can be increased infinitely. Figure 9
(B) shows a case where the number of light receiving portions a, b, c, d is 64.

As described above, by dividing the image forming optical path currently used in a commercial multi-plate camera or the like into a plurality of beams by the beam splitter, the equivalent number of pixels can be greatly increased, and the image quality can be improved. You can get an image of. By the way, 40 currently used in home video cameras
When an image sensor of 10,000 pixels is applied to the present invention, it reaches 1.6 million pixels in the embodiment of FIG. 1 and 6.4 million pixels in the embodiment of FIG. 4, and the number of effective pixels is increased infinitely if the image size is further increased. Is possible.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the imaging light from the subject is divided into a plurality of light beams with the same amount of light, and the subject images are formed at different positions. Since the light receiving portions of the image pickup elements are arranged at division positions that are not adjacent to each other when the image is divided into two, and the image information from each image pickup element is combined later, it is possible to use a general image pickup element without using a highly integrated image pickup element. Thus, the number of effective pixels can be increased, and the image quality can be improved at low cost with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of each image plane in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the image information of FIG. 2 is combined.

FIG. 4 is a main configuration diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of each image plane in FIG.

6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the image information of FIG. 5 is combined.

7 is a block diagram showing a detailed circuit configuration of the image pickup apparatus having the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of increasing the number of image pickup devices in the embodiment of FIG.

9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the number of image pickup devices is increased in the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Beam splitter (splitting means) 3 image synthesis circuit 4 clock generation circuit 101 image sensor 102 image sensor 103 image sensor 104 image sensor 141 image memory 142 image memory 143 image memory 144 image memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Splitting means for splitting imaging light from a subject into a plurality of equal amounts of light to form a subject image at different positions, and dividing positions that are not adjacent to each other when the subject image is split on each imaging surface. A plurality of image pickup elements each having a light receiving section disposed therein,
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image synthesizing circuit for synthesizing a subject image by inputting information from each image pickup element. 2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each image pickup element is controlled by a timing signal from a single clock generation circuit.