Array Sensor Color Filtering Segmentation for Photon Sensitivity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image sensors face challenges in achieving high sensitivity and high resolution due to photon loss from color filters and the Bayer array's limitations, which reduce the effective resolution and introduce color moire and false colors.
Innovation Solution
An image processing method and sensor device that utilize an array sensor with color-filter-disposed pixels and clear pixels, where color information is acquired from specific points and used for coloring processing in detected object pixels, enhancing sensitivity and resolution while minimizing color artifacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If color filters are disposed in all pixels to acquire color information, then color reproducibility is improved, but photon loss increases and sensitivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The pixel array is segmented into two functional types: color-filter-disposed pixels for acquiring color information and clear pixels for acquiring luminance information. This segmentation allows each pixel type to optimize its function, with clear pixels capturing all incident photons for high sensitivity and color-filter-disposed pixels providing color data for specific regions
Solution Approach 2:
Color filters are applied locally only to specific pixels rather than uniformly across the entire array. The patent implements a pattern where color filters are disposed in certain pixels (e.g., every other pixel or in specific spatial patterns) while leaving other pixels clear, creating local quality differences that optimize both color acquisition and photon sensitivity
2Loss of information
If color filters are disposed in all pixels, then color information is acquired, but resolution is reduced to 1/4 of the actual pixel count
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging function is segmented between clear pixels that provide full-resolution luminance data and color-filter-disposed pixels that provide color information. By separating these functions, the patent avoids the resolution degradation inherent in traditional Bayer arrays where every pixel is dedicated to a single color channel
Solution Approach 2:
Color information is copied or interpolated from the subset of color-filter-disposed pixels to the corresponding regions in the final image, rather than requiring every pixel to directly measure all three color channels. This allows resolution to be maintained while still acquiring color data
3Measurement precision
If color filters are used in a Bayer array, then color imaging is achieved, but color moire and false colors occur requiring low-pass filtering
Solution Approach 1:
By concentrating color-filter-disposed pixels in specific spatial patterns rather than using a dense Bayer pattern, the patent reduces the spatial frequency of color sampling that causes moire effects. The local quality approach allows strategic placement of color pixels to minimize interference patterns
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the color sampling function from every pixel and concentrates it in a reduced subset of pixels. By taking out the color filter function from the majority of pixels and concentrating it in specific locations, the system reduces the spatial repetition that generates color moire and false color artifacts
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution increases photon sensitivity by reducing photon loss and allows for high-resolution imaging without the resolution degradation caused by color filters, while also improving color reproducibility through accurate color information acquisition.
Implementation Method 1
an array sensor in which a plurality of imaging elements are arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally
Implementation Method 2
some of the imaging elements are configured as color-filter-disposed pixels in which a color filter is disposed in an incident optical path
Data Source
AI summary
Object detection is performed for an image acquired by imaging using an array sensor in which a plurality of imaging elements are arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally, some of the imaging elements are configured as color-filter-disposed pixels in which a color filter is disposed in an incident optical path, and color information acquisition points are formed by the color-filter-disposed pixels. Then, coloring processing in a pixel range of a detected object is performed by referring to color information acquired at the color information acquisition points corresponding to the inside of the pixel range of the detected object.