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  High-speed image pickup method and controller for image pickup deviceUSPTO Application #: 20070019093Title: High-speed image pickup method and controller for image pickup device Abstract: A high-speed image pickup method and controller of an image pickup device are provided. The method includes applying a vertical transmission signal to a vertical transmission register in the form of a field transmission signal, thereby simultaneously transmitting charges accumulated at a plurality of pixels to the vertical transmission register; applying the vertical transmission signal to the vertical transmission register in the form of a line transmission signal, thereby transmitting a charge signal corresponding to each horizontal line in the vertical transmission register to the horizontal transmission register at a high speed, and applying a horizontal transmission signal to the horizontal transmission register, thereby outputting the charge signal of the horizontal transmission register; transmitting the charge signal of the vertical transmission register to the horizontal transmission register at a normal speed when a horizontal line of which the charge signal is transmitted is a first horizontal line, and applying the horizontal transmission signal to the horizontal transmission register, thereby outputting the charge signal of the horizontal transmission register; and transmitting the charge signal of the vertical transmission register to the horizontal transmission register at the high speed when a horizontal line of which the charge signal is transmitted is a second horizontal line, and applying the horizontal transmission signal to the horizontal transmission register, thereby outputting the charge signal of the horizontal transmission register. Accordingly, the high-speed image pickup method and controller can realize high-speed image pickup using a normal image pickup device instead of using a special high-speed image pickup device. (end of abstract) Agent: Mills & Onello LLP - Boston, MA, US Inventors: Je-suk Lee, Si-young Chin USPTO Applicaton #: 20070019093 - Class: 348311000 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070019093. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/000,287, filed on Nov. 2, 2001, which relies for priority upon Korean Patent Application No. 10-2001-0015647, filed on Mar. 26, 2001, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to an image pickup device, and more particularly, to a high-speed image pickup method and controller for a solid-state charge coupled device (CCD) type image pickup device and for a complementary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) image sensor. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] When an image which is too bright is picked up by a camera, the output image is saturated with a large amount of incident light so that a desirable output image cannot be obtained. To prevent this problem, the exposure of a camera is adjusted to control the amount of incident light in a camera system. One of the methods used to adjust the exposure is a high-speed image pickup. The high-speed image pickup is a method of controlling the amount of incident light by reducing the time during which charge accumulates at each pixel in a CCD or CMOS image sensor. [0006] The principle of operation of a CCD according to a high-speed image pickup method will be described. The pixels of the CCD are photosensitive so that they have a voltage proportional to the intensity of light. A vertical transmitting signal applied to the CCD has two functions. The first one is to simultaneously transmit charges accumulated at each pixel of the CCD to a vertical transmission register. The second one is to store a charge signal transmitted to the vertical transmission register in a horizontal transmission register. The first function is performed once throughout a single image at an initial stage, and the second function is performed on every horizontal line. [0007] When a vertical transmission signal is applied to a CCD in the form of a field transmission signal, charges accumulated at each pixel are simultaneously transmitted to a vertical transmission register. In other words, the voltage values of the pixels corresponding to a single image are simultaneously transmitted to the vertical transmission register. Accordingly, the vertical transmission register has single horizontal line image information in a horizontal direction. [0008] When a vertical transmission signal is applied to a CCD in the form of a line transmission signal, charge signals corresponding to individual horizontal lines in an image are sequentially transmitted to a horizontal transmission register starting from a horizontal line at the top of the image. Charge signals corresponding to a single horizontal line are output pixel by pixel in response to a horizontal transmission signal. When a single horizontal line is completely output with such an operation, another vertical transmission signal is applied in the form of a line transmission signal, the next horizontal line is transmitted to the horizontal transmission register, and a horizontal transmission signal is output, thereby outputting pixels one by one. By repeating this process, the pixels of an image are output one by one from the top left to the bottom right. [0009] In the conventional technology, a special high-speed image pickup device is used to adjust a charge accumulation time of an image pickup device such as a CMOS image sensor or to achieve the high-speed image pickup of a CCD. To realize such a high-speed image pickup device, a highly sensitive material should be used. In addition, it is difficult to realize a circuit for reading an image picked up at high speed. Moreover, the special high-speed image pickup device incurs high expense, which is a limitation in making a low price camera system such as a PC (personal computer) camera using a CMOS image sensor. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0010] To solve the above problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a high-speed image pickup method for realizing high-speed image pickup using a general image pickup device without using an additional high-speed image pickup device. [0011] It is a second object of the present invention to provide a high-speed image pickup controller for realizing high-speed image pickup using a general image pickup device without using an additional high-speed image pickup device. [0012] Accordingly, to achieve the first object of the invention, in a first embodiment, there is provided a high-speed image pickup method of a charge coupled device (CCD) type solid-state image pickup device including m (where m is an integer greater than zero) horizontal lines with a plurality of pixels, a vertical transmission register, and a horizontal transmission register. The high-speed image pickup method includes the steps of (a) applying a vertical transmission signal to the vertical transmission register in the form of a field transmission signal, thereby simultaneously transmitting charges accumulated at the plurality of pixels to the vertical transmission register; (b) applying the vertical transmission signal to the vertical transmission register in the form of a line transmission signal, thereby transmitting a charge signal corresponding to each horizontal line in the vertical transmission register to the horizontal transmission register at a high speed, and applying a horizontal transmission signal to the horizontal transmission register, thereby outputting the charge signal of the horizontal transmission register; (c) transmitting the charge signal of the vertical transmission register to the horizontal transmission register at a normal speed when a horizontal line of which the charge signal is transmitted is a first horizontal line, and applying the horizontal transmission signal to the horizontal transmission register, thereby outputting the charge signal of the horizontal transmission register; and (d) transmitting the charge signal of the vertical transmission register to the horizontal transmission register at the high speed when a horizontal line of which the charge signal is transmitted is a second horizontal line, and applying the horizontal transmission signal to the horizontal transmission register, thereby outputting the charge signal of the horizontal transmission register. [0013] In one embodiment, the horizontal line is a horizontal line in an upper portion of an image of the CCD type solid-state image pickup device. The second horizontal line can be expressed by a value obtained by subtracting the value of the first horizontal line from m and indicates a horizontal line in a lower portion of the image of the CCD type solid-state image pickup device. [0014] In a second aspect, there is provided in accordance with the invention a high-speed image pickup controller of a CCD type solid-state image pickup device including m (where m is an integer greater than zero) horizontal lines with a plurality of pixels, a vertical transmission register controlled by a vertical transmission signal, and a horizontal transmission register controlled by a horizontal transmission signal. The high-speed image pickup controller includes a horizontal position generator, an ORing unit, an operation mode selector, a multiplexer, and a comparator. The horizontal position generator generates a vertical counter value indicating the position of a horizontal line in response to the vertical transmission signal, outputs a first horizontal signal when the vertical counter value is smaller than a threshold value n, where n is an integer greater than zero and n<m, indicating a first horizontal line, and outputs a second horizontal signal when the vertical counter value exceeds a threshold value m-n indicating a second horizontal line. The ORing unit receives the first and second horizontal signals and performing an OR operation on them to generate a selection signal. The operation mode selector receives a system clock signal, counts the pulses of the system clock signal to generate a horizontal counter value, generates a first comparison signal when the horizontal counter value is the same as the value of a normal horizontal clock signal, which indicates the number of clock pulses of a single horizontal line during a normal operation, and generates a second comparison signal when the horizontal counter value is the same as the value of a high-speed horizontal clock signal, which indicates the number of clock pulses of a single horizontal line during a high-speed operation. The operation mode selector is controlled by a horizontal reset signal. The multiplexer selects and outputs the second comparison signal as the horizontal reset signal when the selection signal has a first logical level and selects and outputs the first comparison signal as the horizontal reset signal when the selection signal has a second logical level. The comparator outputs the first logical level as the vertical transmission signal when the value of a vertical clock signal, which indicates the number of clock pulses in the active interval of the vertical transmission signal, is smaller than the horizontal counter value, and outputs the second logical level as the vertical transmission signal when the value of the vertical clock signal exceeds the horizontal counter value. [0015] In one embodiment, the horizontal position generator comprises a vertical counter, a first horizontal comparator, a second horizontal comparator and a vertical comparator. The vertical counter generates the vertical counter value in response to the vertical transmission signal received from the comparator, the vertical counter being controlled by a vertical reset signal. The first horizontal comparator outputs the first horizontal signal when the vertical counter value is smaller than the threshold value n indicating the first horizontal line. The second horizontal comparator outputs the second horizontal signal when the vertical counter value exceeds the threshold value m-n indicating the second horizontal line. The vertical comparator generates the vertical reset signal for resetting the vertical counter when the vertical counter value is the same as the value of a field line signal which indicates the number of horizontal lines of a single field. [0016] In one embodiment, the operation mode selector includes a horizontal counter, a first comparator and a second comparator. The horizontal counter receives the system clock signal and generates the horizontal counter value under the control of the horizontal reset signal. The first comparator generates the first comparison signal when the horizontal counter value is the same as the value of the normal horizontal clock signal. The second comparator generates the second comparison signal when the horizontal counter value is the same as the value of the high-speed horizontal clock signal. [0017] In one embodiment, the number of clock pulses of each of the vertical clock signal, the normal horizontal clock signal and the high-speed horizontal clock signal is predetermined by a user. The first horizontal line can be a horizontal line in an upper portion of an image of the CCD type solid-state image pickup device. The second horizontal line can be expressed by a value obtained by subtracting the value of the first horizontal line from m and indicates a horizontal line in a lower portion of the image of the CCD type solid-state image pickup device. The active interval of the vertical transmission signal can be an interval for which a charge signal of the vertical transmission register is transmitted to the horizontal transmission register. [0018] In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a high-speed image pickup method of a complementary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) image sensor including m (where m is an integer greater than zero) horizontal lines with a plurality of pixels and an analog-to-digital converter. The method includes the steps of (a) applying a vertical selection signal in response to a vertical shift clock signal, thereby enabling a first horizontal line among the m horizontal lines; (b) applying a vertical transmission signal, thereby outputting a charge signal of the first horizontal line to the analog-to-digital converter; (c) applying a vertical erasure signal, thereby erasing the charge signal of the first horizontal line; (d) shifting the vertical selection signal in response to the vertical shift clock signal, thereby enabling a second horizontal line; (e) applying the vertical erasure signal, thereby erasing a charge signal of the second horizontal line; (f) shifting the vertical selection signal in response to the vertical shift clock signal, thereby enabling a horizontal line following the first horizontal line; and (g) applying the vertical transmission signal, thereby outputting a charge signal of the horizontal line following the first horizontal line to the analog-to-digital converter. [0019] In one embodiment, the first horizontal line is an arbitrary horizontal line among the m horizontal lines. The second horizontal line can be an arbitrary horizontal line between the first horizontal line and the m-th horizontal line. The vertical eraser signal can be enabled twice during a single period of a horizontal synchronizing signal. A rate at which the vertical shift clock signal is enabled can be adjusted. [0020] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a high-speed image pickup controller of a CMOS image sensor including m (an integer greater than zero) horizontal lines with a plurality of pixels and an analog-to-digital converter. The controller includes a vertical shifter, a vertical erasure signal generator, and a vertical transmission signal generator. The vertical shifter receives a vertical selection signal in response to a vertical shift clock signal and generates an internal vertical selection signal to enable a first horizontal line or a second horizontal line among the m horizontal lines. The vertical erasure signal generator receives a system clock signal, generates a vertical erasure signal for erasing a charge signal of a horizontal line, and applies the vertical erasure signal to the first or second horizontal line. The vertical transmission signal generator receives the system clock signal, generates a vertical transmission signal for outputting a charge signal of a horizontal line, and applies the vertical transmission signal to the first horizontal line and a horizontal line following the first horizontal line. [0021] In one embodiment, the first horizontal line is an arbitrary horizontal line among the m horizontal lines. The second horizontal line can be an arbitrary horizontal line between the first horizontal line and the m-th horizontal line. The vertical eraser signal can be enabled twice during a single period of a horizontal synchronizing signal. A rate at which the vertical shift clock signal is enabled can be adjusted. Continue reading... Full patent description for High-speed image pickup method and controller for image pickup device Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this High-speed image pickup method and controller for image pickup device patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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