JPS62190980A - High-resolution television camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure resolution and a dynamic range which are requested by providing an optical branching means, image pickup elements provided on the optical paths of branched pieces of luminous flux, multiplexing signals obtained from those image pickup elements, and constituting one image plane on the whole. CONSTITUTION:In the 1st - the 4th quadrant parts 6a-6d of a light image 6, CCD type solid-state image pickup elements 7-10 are arranged fully within frames of the respective quadrants. The solid-state image pickup elements 7-10 are scanned with the output signal of a synchronizing signal generating circuit 11 and output electric signals. The electric signals outputted by the solid-state image pickup elements are A/D-converted by A/D converters 12-15 and stored in memories 16-19 such as frame memories in order. Signals read out by a control part 20 are put together by a synthesizing circuit 21 by the quadratures 6a-6d, i.e. memories 16-19 in order. Consequently, when four solid state image pickup elements with 512X512 picture elements are used, a composite image has resolution of 1,024X1,024 picture elements.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a high-resolution television camera that converts a captured image of a subject into an electrical signal.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, Xj is one of the various diagnostic methods in the medical field.
There is a method using ll, but the obtained XLI image is
It is used for diagnosis by being photographed on film or displayed on a monitor using an X-ray television.

By the way, X-ray television visualizes X-ray images using an image intensifier and captures the image using a vidicon.Compared to a direct viewing system, a brighter image can be viewed from a distance, and It has the advantage that many people can view it at the same time without being exposed to radiation.

However, since image pickup tubes such as videocon amplify the photoelectrons that are photoelectrically converted by irradiating the tube surface with an electron beam and extract them as a video signal, the resolution depends on the diameter of the electron beam and the size of the target mesh. However, even if you try to improve the resolution, there is a limit to it, and the dynamic range is also narrow. For this reason, X-ray films are still widely used in fields that require high resolution and high dynamic range.

On the other hand, in recent years, television cameras using CCD solid-state image sensors have been developed, and in addition to being easy to handle and maintain,
This camera is becoming popular due to its excellent camera range.0 [Problem to be solved by the invention] However, television cameras using CCD type solid-state image sensors have a large number of pixels. Because I can't do it,
It has the disadvantage that it is difficult to increase the resolution.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve these drawbacks, the present invention has a means for branching the incident light beam from a subject, an image sensor provided in the optical path of each of the branched light beams, and a scanning means for scanning these image sensors. be.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a beam of light obtained by visualizing an X-ray image using, for example, an image intensifier, and this beam of light 1 is irradiated onto a half prism 3 via an optical lens 2. This luminous flux is split into two directions by the half prism 3, and each of the branched luminous fluxes is further branched by the half prisms 4 and 5 to form four optical images 6, respectively. First quadrant portion 671 of optical image 6. In the second quadrant portion 6b, the third quadrant portion 6c, and the m4 quadrant portion 6dK, for example, CCD type solid-state image sensors 7 to 10 are arranged across the frames of each quadrant.

Figure 3 shows the solid-state image sensor 7 to 100 positions 1a occupying the optical image 6.
It shows.

The solid-state image sensors 7 to 10 are scanned by the output signal of the synchronization signal generation circuit 11 and output electrical signals corresponding to the charges excited by light. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical signal processing circuit, in which the electrical signals output from the solid-state image sensor are A/D converters 12 to 15.
Memories 16 to 19 such as D-converted frame memory
are stored sequentially. Writing and reading at this time are controlled by the control unit 20. The read signals are synthesized in the synthesis circuit 21, and the synthesis method at this time is based on each quadrant 6a to 6d.
It is good to be able to sequentially read out each memory, that is, every memory 16 to 19.

Also, as with normal television scanning,
In order to display images sequentially from the top of the screen, after reading data corresponding to the first raster of the memory 16, which is the first quadrant, data is read to the first raster of the memory 19, which is the fourth quadrant. Read the corresponding data, and do the same for Memo 1
Starting from the 6th and 19th of the month to the last data.

After reading the data for the first and fourth quadrants in this way, the second quadrant. If the data of the third quadrant is read out, a complete image can be obtained by raster scanning one frame. The image data synthesized by the synthesis circuit 21 is converted into an analog signal by the D/A converter 22 and displayed on the monitor. With this configuration, when four 512 x 512 pixel solid-state image sensors are used, the combined image will have a resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels.

The above explanation assumes that the scanning method is arbitrary; however, when the subject is a moving object, if the solid-state image sensors 7 to 10 are scanned at arbitrary timing, the four images obtained will be different due to the time lag in scanning. Misalignment occurs in the parts that touch each other, making it impossible to obtain a complete composite image. In such a case, as shown in FIG.
By synchronizing and sequentially scanning horizontally and vertically so that the images .about.D are adjacent to each other, it is possible to obtain a composite screen in which the edges of the divided images are connected to each other. In the figure, 1, I[.

(2), . . . n indicate the order of scanning.

FIG. 5 shows an example of scanning using nine solid-state image sensors. In this case, the solid-state image sensor 30°31.33.3
4, the same scanning as described above is performed, but the other solid-state image sensors 32, 35, 36 degrees, 37. Must. Therefore, the solid-state image sensors 36 and 3T are horizontally and vertically scanned so that the scan end points T and U of the horizontal and vertical scans are adjacent to the scan end points R2S of the solid-state image sensors 33 and 34, respectively, and the solid-state image sensor 32 Regarding .35.38,
Horizontal and vertical scanning end points x, y, z are the solid-state image sensor 3
1, 34, and 37 O are horizontally and vertically scanned adjacent to the scanning end points V, S, and U, respectively.

Although the above embodiments have been described using four or nine solid-state image sensors, the number of solid-state image sensors used is not limited to this, and may be two or more. In this case, it is necessary to increase or decrease the number of A/D converters, memo IJs, and D/A converters according to the number of solid-state image sensors used. Further, the half prism may be a half mirror.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention splits the incident light flux from the subject into multiple parts, places an image sensor on each branched optical path, and synthesizes the signals obtained from these image sensors to form one screen as a whole. With this configuration, high resolution can be obtained while using a solid-state image sensor, and the required resolution and dynamic range can be ensured.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an optical path, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an optical image and a solid-state image sensor. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the scanning state. 1... Luminous flux, to 3 5... Half prism, 7 ~
10...Solid-state image sensor, 12-15e...A/D
Converter, 16-19--memory, 21--combining circuit, 22--D/A converter. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a high-resolution television camera that converts an image of a subject into an electrical signal and outputs it, a light branching means for branching the incident light flux from the subject into multiple light fluxes is provided in the optical path of each branched light flux. and a scanning means for scanning each image sensor, and each image sensor has a screen formed by arranging the respective image pickup screens, which has the same angle of view as the screen obtained when capturing the original luminous flux before branching. A high-resolution television camera characterized by being arranged so as to photograph a subject. (2) The high-resolution television camera according to claim 1, wherein the scanning means has a scanning timing that does not cause a shift between images obtained when scanning adjacent image pickup devices.