Image pickup apparatus
View Patent ↗The invention relates to an image pickup apparatus including a pixel section in which plural pixels are arrayed two-dimensionally, an exposure amount control section that determines an exposure amount and controls the pixel section to be continuously exposed plural times, a memory section that can store a pixel signal from the pixel section for plural frames of an output image, a vertical scanning circuit that reads out the pixel signal of the pixel section and stores the pixel signal in the memory section, and a column processing section that reads out the pixel signal stored in the memory section. The vertical scanning circuit sequentially reads out respective pixel signals related to the plural times of exposures and stores the pixel signals in the memory section.
1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
a pixel section in which plural pixels which generate signal charges corresponding to an exposure amount are arrayed two-dimensionally;
an exposure amount control section that determines an exposure amount of pixel section;
a memory section that can store a pixel signal from the pixel section for plural frames of an output image;
a pixel readout control section that reads out the pixel signal of the pixel section and stores the pixel signal in the memory section; and
a memory readout control section that reads out the pixel signal stored in the memory section,
wherein the exposure amount control section performs control to continuously expose the pixel section to light plural times at equal exposure times in one vertical synchronized period,
wherein the pixel readout control section sequentially reads out respective pixel signals related to continuous plural times of exposures and stores the pixel signals in the memory section, and
wherein the memory readout control section (1) performs an averaging operation for respective images related to the continuous plural times of exposures stored in the memory section or, when the pixel readout control section reads out the pixel signal of the pixel section and stores the pixel signal in the memory section, simultaneously and successively performs the averaging operation for the respective images related to the plural times of exposures to obtain an averaging operation result and outputs the averaging operation result to an outside, (2) performs an addition operation for the respective images related to the continuous plural times of exposures based on the averaging operation result, and (3) performs high dynamic range (HDR) combination based on (i) an image obtained as a result of the averaging operation and (ii) on an image obtained as a result of the addition operation.
2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the memory readout control section further writes the averaging operation result in the memory section again and thereafter reads out the averaging operation result from the memory section and amplifies the averaging operation result to thereby generate an image equivalent to an addition operation result of the images related to the plural times of exposures and output the image to the outside.