JPS62131674A - Video synchronizing type image pickup element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain high speed pickup by designing the titled element that an output pulse of a photo sensor constituting a picture element becomes a trigger signal when an optical video image is formed on the said picture element on an image pickup plane so as to drive a storage element of the picture element thereby storing an external information data connected to a data input bus of a storage element. CONSTITUTION:A storage element 4 consists, e.g., of a D flip-flop or a memory and its trigger signal input terminal 5 and an output terminal 10 of a transistor (TR) circuit are connected. When an optical image is formed to a photodetection face of a photo diode 8 on an image pickup face in this state, a TR 9 connected to the photo diode 8 is switched on and voltage of the output terminal 10 changes from an H to an L level. Thus, the storage element 4 corresponding one by one to the photo diode 8 is triggered and the external information data connected to a data input bus 6 is stored. Thus, the titled system is very simple in terms of an electronic circuit, then the circuitry is module as one chip.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image sensor in which each pixel independently stores necessary external information when each pixel receives an image.

Conventional scanning-type image sensors, including CCD image sensors that have been attracting attention in recent years, input the image signal of each pixel according to a predetermined timing. accessed every scan cycle. Therefore, the time resolution of the video information of each pixel cannot be improved below the scanning period of one screen. For this reason, in the field of high-speed measurement technology using video, where the position of the pixel on which the video is formed and the accurate video reception time for each pixel are required, conventional scanning image sensors cannot be applied. The present invention is intended to be applied to the field of high-speed measurement technology, etc., with this point in mind. The basic configuration will be explained below.

The imaging surface is a one-dimensional or two-dimensional photosen) Noarray 1
Configure. Therefore, each photo sensor 2 that is a component thereof corresponds to each pixel. The output terminal 3 of each photosensor 2 is connected to a trigger signal input terminal 5 of a memory element 4 that is associated with each photosensor on a one-to-one basis. Therefore, when an optical image is formed on a certain pixel on the imaging surface, the output pulse of the photosensor 2 constituting that pixel becomes a trigger signal and drives the memory element 4 of that pixel. Stores external information data connected to the data input bus 6. At this time, if the external information data is, for example, output data from a clock circuit, the time at which the pixel received the video is stored. The basic configuration has been described above, and a specific configuration example using currently commercially available elements will be shown below.

A photodiode array 7 is used as the photosensor array, and each photodiode 8 constituting this is connected between the collector and base of a transistor 9. Memory element 4
is composed of, for example, a D flip-flop, memory, etc.
The trigger signal input terminal 5 and the output terminal 10 of the transistor circuit are connected. In this state, when an optical image is formed on the light-receiving surface of a certain photodiode 8 on the imaging surface, the transistor 9 connected to that photodiode 8 is switched on, and the voltage at its output terminal 10 becomes H.
Changes from level to L level. Therefore, the storage element 4 that is in one-to-one correspondence with the photodiode 8 is triggered, and the external information data connected to the data input bus 6 is stored. After that, all you have to do is read it out and process the data as needed. In the above, if a phototransistor array is used instead of the photodiode array 7, the above transistor circuit is unnecessary. As described above, since the configuration of the present invention is extremely simple in terms of electronic circuitry, it is possible to modularize it into a single chip using recent LSI technology.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of a video synchronization type image sensor. FIG. 2 shows an example of a configuration in which a photodiode array is used as the photosensor array. 1. Photosensor array 2. Photosensor 3, photosensor output terminal 4. Memory element 5, memory element trigger signal input terminal 6, memory element data input busf, photodiode array

Claims (1)

[Claims] Each pixel is independent of each other in terms of time, and when an optical image is formed on each pixel, a pulse is output for each pixel in synchronization with this image. An image sensor that triggers an associated storage element to store other necessary external information such as video reception time.