Imaging apparatus and solid-state imaging device used therein
An imaging apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle that runs on a road surface includes: a light source that emits illumination light which is infrared light; a solid-state imaging device that images a subject and outputs an imaging signal indicating a light exposure amount; and a computator that computes subject information regarding the subject by using the imaging signal. The solid-state imaging device includes: first pixels that image the subject by receiving reflected light that is the illumination light reflected off the subject; and second pixels that image the subject by receiving visible light. Information indicated by an imaging signal outputted from the first pixels is information regarding a slope of the road surface, and information indicated by an imaging signal outputted from the second pixels is information regarding an appearance of the road surface.
1. An imaging apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle that runs on a road surface, the imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits illumination light which is infrared light;
a solid-state imaging device that images a subject and outputs an imaging signal indicating a light exposure amount; and
a computator that computes subject information regarding the subject by using the imaging signal,
wherein the solid-state imaging device includes: first pixels that image the subject by receiving reflected light that is the illumination light reflected off the subject; and second pixels that image the subject by receiving visible light,
the first pixels output an imaging signal corresponding to information regarding a slope of the road surface,
the second pixels output an imaging signal corresponding to information regarding an appearance of the road surface,
an imaging region to be imaged by the solid-state imaging device is an area located in front of the imaging apparatus, and includes a first region that is imaged by at least the first pixels and a second region that is imaged by the second pixels,
one of the first region and the second region is situated around the other of the first region and the second region,
the computator computes the subject information based on information from the first region and information from the second region,
a computation performed by the computator computing the subject information includes a computation for estimating the slope of the road surface of a region imaged by the second pixel, based on the information regarding the slope of the road surface and the information regarding the appearance of the road surface, and
the subject information includes information indicating the slope of the road surface of the region imaged by the second pixel which is estimated by the computation.
2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the appearance of the road surface is information regarding a roadside boundary.
3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first pixels and the second pixels are placed in alternate rows to form a stripe pattern.
4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging apparatus performs one of forward monitoring and backward monitoring.
5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the imaging apparatus performs one of diagonal monitoring and lateral monitoring, and
an illumination angle of the illumination light in a horizontal direction of the vehicle and a viewing angle of an imaging region in the horizontal direction of the vehicle are substantially equal.
6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject is an object on a road surface,
the solid-state imaging device successively performs imaging, and
when the object is imaged in the first region at a first time, and then imaged in the second region at a second time that is time when a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the first time, information regarding a distance to the object at the first time is used to compute the subject information at the second time.
7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the subject is an object on a road surface,
the solid-state imaging device successively performs imaging, and
when the object is imaged in the second region at a first time, and then imaged in the first region at a second time that is time when a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the first time, information regarding an appearance of the object at the first time is used to compute the subject information at the second time.
8. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the solid-state imaging device successively performs imaging, and
the computation performed by the computator includes associating information from one of the first region and the second region at a first time with information from the other of the first region and the second region at a second time that is different from the first time.
9. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, when the subject is an object that is continuously situated in the first region and the second region, a computation result of the first region is associated with computation of the subject information in the second region.
10. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first region includes a first a region where reflected light that is the illumination light reflected off a road surface reaches the solid-state imaging device and a first b region where the reflected light does not reach the solid-state imaging device.
11. The imaging apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein, when the subject is an object that is continuously situated in the first region and the second region, a computation result of the first a region is associated with computation of the subject information in a region other than the first a region.
12. A solid-state imaging device used in an imaging apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle that runs on a road surface and includes a light source that emits illumination light which is infrared light, the solid-state imaging device, and a computator that computes subject information regarding a subject by using an imaging signal, the solid-state imaging device comprising:
first pixels that image the subject by receiving reflected light that is the illumination light reflected off the subject; and
second pixels that image the subject by receiving visible light,
wherein the first pixels output an imaging signal corresponding to information regarding a slope of the road surface,
the second pixels output an imaging signal corresponding to information regarding an appearance of the road surface,
an imaging region to be imaged by the solid-state imaging device is an area located in front of the imaging apparatus, and includes a first region that is imaged by at least the first pixels and a second region that is imaged by the second pixels,
one of the first region and the second region is situated around the other of the first region and the second region,
the computator computes the subject information based on information from the first region and information from the second region,
a computation performed by the computator computing the subject information includes a computation for estimating the slope of the road surface of a region imaged by the second pixel, based on the information regarding the slope of the road surface and the information regarding the appearance of the road surface, and
the subject information includes information indicating the slope of the road surface of the region imaged by the second pixel which is estimated by the computation.