JPS5864875A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain information about an objective to be photographed with high accuracy, by moving the information between unit elements of a solid-state image pickup element to the location of the unit element through the use of an electrooptic element. CONSTITUTION:An objective 1 is formed on a CCD5 through an electrooptic element 4 made of LiNbO3 and lenses 2 and 3. In scanning the image forming plane by one field, (1, 1) on X and Y axes is taken as the start point for the scanning, in synchronizing with signals phiH and phiV from a synchronizing panel 9 without applying a voltage to the element 4 at first. A voltage VH is applied to the element 4 at the 1/4 period, the optical axis is deflected horizontally and the optical information of the objective 1 is moved to the position (2, 1). Similarly, at the 2/4 period, voltages VH, VV are applied to the element 4, the image is moved to the position (2, 2), at the 3/4 period, the voltages VH, VV are applied to the element 4, the image is moved to the position (1, 2) and the operation is completed at the final period of obtain double resolution of the CCD5 both longitudinally and laterally.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an imaging device suitable for use in a device section in which a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD is applied to a saturation sensor 49.

Recently, solid-state imaging devices such as COD have been applied to a wide range of fields.

For example, by combining a CCD and a recording medium, the CCDK converts it into an electrical image signal that is an optical image, records this video signal on a rotating magnetic sheet that is a recording medium, and records it on this rotating magnetic sheet. An electronic still camera has been proposed in which a still image is obtained using a video signal.

However, when a CCD is used in an electronic still camera or the like, the resolution of the still image is poor because the number of COD elements is small. Furthermore, I have the impression that still images based on video signals generally have lower resolution than photographs made using ordinary negative film.

Therefore, conventionally, there is a method of interpolating picture elements using multiple CCD boards, which essentially increases the number of COD elements.
Such conventional methods have a number of disadvantages, such as poor productivity and high costs.

In view of the above, the present invention provides an imaging device that can obtain high-resolution images using at least the number of single elements constituting the solid-state imaging device.

The present invention will be explained below based on FIGS. 1 to 3.

First, the basic principle of the present invention will be explained using C as a solid-state image sensor, for example.
Taking the case of using a CD as an example, explanation will be given with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 exemplarily shows the arrangement of single elements (picture elements) constituting the COD, and it is assumed that the single elements are arranged at the positions marked with ◯. Therefore, the resolution in the case of 3 is 3 in the X-axis direction and 2 in the Y-axis direction. If there is also a single element at the position marked x, 24 single elements will be required as the COD. Therefore, in this invention, the light beam supplied to the CCDK or the CCD itself is moved a predetermined distance (maximum distance between adjacent elements) to the t' field to obtain information at the position of the x mark, that is, inter-element information.
In this case, from a COD consisting of 6 single elements, substantially 24
It is set to 5 so that a CCD consisting of 11 single elements and the resolution of Oka et al. can be obtained.

Now, in FIG. 1, the light beam supplied to the CCDK or the CCD itself is moved twice in the horizontal direction (i.e., 1.
2 position) little by little, and twice in the vertical direction (
In other words, if the robot is moved little by little to a position of 1.2 on the Y axis, position information for a total of 4 pieces of one single-sized rice bowl can be retrieved. Therefore, in this case, the resolution in both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction is tripled, and the resolution in the X-axis direction is 6. Y
The resolution in the axial direction is 4.

According to the invention of 5-Nishiten, information on the quantity of a single element can also be extracted from the same solid-state image sensor.

The purpose is to arbitrarily obtain an image with a higher resolution than the inherent resolution of this element.

[Figure 2 shows an example of the present invention. In this embodiment, the optical system is substantially controlled to move the light beam to increase the resolution.

In Figure 2, (1) is the object, (21, (3) are lenses, and the optical axis of the incident light is slightly shifted between the lenses (2) and (3) depending on the applied voltage. A prism-shaped electro-optical element (4) is provided for the purpose of The light beam can be deflected by utilizing the change in the electro-optic element (4). In this embodiment, a primary electro-optic crystal such as LINbOl or LiTaO3 is used as the electro-optic element (4). Electro-optical element (
For 4), when the light beam (optical axis) is bent in one direction horizontally or vertically, one side may be used, but when the light beam (optical axis) is bent in both directions, a double structure is used as shown in FIG.

(5) is a solid-state image sensor 1 such as a COD, (6) is a frame imager, (7) is an image sensor, (8) is a display device, and (9) is a display device.
) is a synchronous board, and from this synchronous board 111 (9), the voltages vH and vy for bending the optical axis of the incident light from the subject (1) in the horizontal or vertical direction for each field t'1 are applied to the electro-optical elements. (4) k is applied and synchronization signal 1m,
Sv is supplied to C0D(5).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to 9°11EIK and 31i11&, taking as an example the case where the resolution vx is doubled in both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction as described above.

The object (1) is imaged onto the cCD (5) through the lens (2), the electro-optical element (4) and the lens (3). Then, scanning is performed using this imaging m&1 field, and at this time, at time To in FIG. 3 at the start of operation, the electro-optical element (4) K from the synchronous disk (9)
As shown in Figure BK, some voltages vH and vy are not applied, so during time 'ro -T1, the subject (1)
The optical information from the synchronous disk (9) is supplied to the COD (5) by the electro-optical element (4) without bending the optical axis.Then, in the CCU (5), the signals all, eV k from the synchronous disk (9) are
One field is scanned synchronously with the scanning start point at position (1, 1) on the X and Y axes.

And of the next field at time TI! 1i During the planning period, when a voltage vH is applied to the electro-optical element (4) from the synchronization board (9) as shown in FIG. ), the optical axis is bent in the horizontal direction and moved to position (2, 1) on the X and Y axes. Then, one field is scanned with this position (Ll) as the scanning start point.

In other words, in this case, the information indicated by the x mark (t9g-child information) can be obtained.

Then, during the direct blanking period of the next field at time T2, the electro-optical element (4) K is removed from the synchronous disk (9).
When the voltage vHv applied as described above is maintained and a voltage vt- as shown in FIG.
be moved to. Then, one field is scanned with this position (2, 2) as the scanning start point, and inter-element information is obtained in this case as well.

Furthermore, during the vertical blanking period of the next field at time Ts K, the voltage vH9vv applied as described above to the electro-optical element (4) K from the synchronization board (9).

When the application of voltage vH is stopped as shown in the 8th tlAK.

The optical axis is now moved to the position (1, 2) K on the X and Y axes, and one field is scanned from the center position (1, 2) to the scanning start point, and the inter-element information is can get.

Finally, at time T4 FC, the voltage Vv Jb applied to the electro-optical element (4) K moves away as shown in FIG.
Return to step 1) and complete the operation. As a result, inter-element information for all positions indicated by x marks can be obtained. In this case, the scale image resolution is much larger in both the vertical and horizontal directions than the inherent resolution of the CCD (5).

The information retrieved from the COD (5) in this way is sequentially stored four times in the next stage's 7-ray 5 memo 9 (6) and then read out and displayed via the encoder (7).
It is displayed as 1(8)Kt ii images. Therefore, an image with high resolution can be obtained from the display (8).

Note that instead of displaying this image, it may be stored in a high-quality VTR or used for printing.

As described above, according to the present invention, solid-state imaging is performed by applying a voltage to the prism-shaped electro-optical element or moving the solid-state imaging device (substrate) to substantially move the optical axis a predetermined distance in any direction. You can obtain not only information about the single element that makes up the device, but also information about the amount of that single element (5Kt), so you can obtain a resolution higher than the inherent resolution of solid-state image sensors, improving productivity and reducing costs. It can contribute to lower prices.

Note that this resolution substantially depends on the number of displacements to change the optical axis. For example, K11 times in the X-axis direction and Kfn1 in the Y-axis direction.
If the total gI% is changed nxm times, the resolution is improved by a factor of 1 in the X-axis direction and by a factor of m in the Y-axis direction.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiments have been described with reference to the case where the optical axis is changed using a prism-shaped electro-optical element.

For example, a cam mechanism or the like may be used to mechanically move the solid-state imaging device (substrate) V relative to the light beam. In this case, although the structure is complicated, an electro-optical element is not required.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the output of the COD is directly input into the 7-frame memo WFC and used after making a high-quality image, but the output of the COD is transferred to a sheet recorder, VTR, etc. every 7 frames. death.

When desired, this may be played back and viewed by replacing the Ill with the 7-frame memory.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the resolution v is doubled in the X-axis direction and doubled in the Y-axis direction is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the distance of movement of the optical axis is substantially increased to the maximum. By disposing K within the distance between adjacent single elements, any resolution can be obtained in any direction.

The crystal used in the prismatic electro-optical element is not limited to those mentioned above, and other crystals, such as 88N crystal, may be used as long as similar conditions can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1II is a diagram for explaining the basic principle of the present invention, the first intention is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation theory 1jiK of FIG. 2. (1) is a subject, and (4) is a prism-shaped electro-optical element. (5) is a COD, and (9) is a synchronized version. Figure 1X Figure 2Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes a solid-state image sensor and a prismatic electro-optical element arranged in front of the solid-state image sensor with respect to incident light, and the electro-optical element transmits information between the single elements of the solid-state image sensor to the single element. It is possible to obtain high-resolution information by moving the image pickup device to the location of the V4I.