Patent · US Expired

Imaging apparatus that reads out an electrical charge from a part of its plurality of photoelectrical conversion elements

US6686962B1 · kind B1 · utility

8Cited by
15References
3Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 23, 1999
Grant dateFeb 3, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 23, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N25/443
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A video camera apparatus has a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements, which convert input light to electrical charges, these being disposed in a matrix arrangement, and a drain section which drains off the electrical charges from a series of the photoelectric conversion elements arranged in a horizontal row. Each of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements detects one of a prescribed plurality of colors, the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements being divided into a plurality of fixed patterns that are repeated with respect to the detected colors in the vertical direction. By draining off the electrical charges that are stored in photoelectric conversion elements of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements other than photoelectric conversion elements within a prescribed area, the electrical charges stored in photoelectric conversion elements within the prescribed area are read out a plurality of times during one field period. The prescribed area is defined in units that are fixed patterns.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.