US Patent Application 18303687. IMAGE ACQUISITION APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR simplified abstract

IMAGE ACQUISITION APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR

Organization Name

CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Inventor(s)

DAIKI Maeda of Kanagawa (JP)

KIMIHIKO Fukawa of Kanagawa (JP)

TAKASHI Sakai of Kanagawa (JP)

YUICHI Yanagiwara of Tokyo (JP)

IMAGE ACQUISITION APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 18303687 titled 'IMAGE ACQUISITION APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR

Simplified Explanation

The patent application describes an image acquisition apparatus that includes pixels with sub-pixels.

• The apparatus has signal holding units to store signals from the sub-pixels.
• A signal processing unit acquires and processes the signals from the signal holding units.
• The signal processing unit has two modes:

 * In the first mode, it amplifies the signals by a predetermined factor and outputs them individually.
 * In the second mode, it amplifies the signals by different factors (some of which are different from the first mode) and adds them together before outputting.

Original Abstract Submitted

An image acquisition apparatus comprising pixels each including sub-pixels, the apparatus comprising signal holding units for holding signals from the sub-pixels, and a signal processing unit for acquiring and processing each of the signals from the signal holding units, wherein the signal processing unit includes a first mode of amplifying, by a predetermined amplification factor, the signals held by the signal holding units and individually outputting the signals, and a second mode of amplifying, by amplification factors at least some of which are different from the amplification factor in the first mode, the signals held by the signal holding units to add and output the signals.