A solid state color imaging apparatus includes a solid state image sensor having a plurality of picture elements regularly disposed in a two dimensional pattern along a plurality of horizontal lines. Each horizontal line includes a plurality of picture elements disposed in repetition at a predetermined pitch wherein light incident thereon is converted to a proportional electrical signal. A color filter placed over the picture elements has a plurality of filter elements disposed in regular repetition in horizontal rows and vertical columns. The filter elements are the same kind in each horizontal row scanned sequentially and only the combination is different. When the electric signals are read out from the imaging sensor, each horizontal row of filter elements spatially modulate at least two primary color lights. The mean value of the read out signals is equal and the modulated color signal is the color difference signal. The arrangement of the color filter elements are shown in three different alternative patterns, each for the purpose of attaining high-horizontal resolution, high S/N ratio and simplified signal processing.
There is provided an improvement on a solid-state type color image sensor having a color filter arrangement matching the line sequential color difference signal method. A color filter selected from magenta, yellow and cyan for covering the entire area of each picture cell and a color filter of a different color are superposed one upon the other. The color filters covering predetermined ratios of the areas of associated picture cells are preferably formed collectively in a stripe shape.
The present invention is directed to an arrangement of the color filters of a solid state imaging device for the frame storing operation, two of the four color filters F1, F2, F3 and F4 having the different spectral characteristics from each other are selected and laminated, wherein F1*F2 and F3*F4 are alternately arranged in a horizontal direction, while F2*F3 and F1* F4 are alternately arranged in the horizontal direction while being spaced one horizontal scanning period away from the former line so that the visible spectral characteristics of the three color filters are agreed in each region of the spectral band of the received light, and the combination of the three color filters is different for each region.
There is provided an improvement on a solid-state type color image sensor having a color filter arrangement matching the line sequential color difference signal method. A color filter selected from magenta, yellow and cyan for covering the entire area of each picture cell and a color filter of a different color are superposed one upon the other. The color filters covering predetermined ratios of the areas of associated picture cells are preferably formed collectively in a stripe shape.
A color filter arrangement having complementary color filters for mounting on an image pickup having a plurality of picture elements. The color filters are arranged to overlie respective picture elements and are further arranged to overlap each other over boundaries between respective picture elements with widths wider than the boundaries between the respective picture elements, thereby offsetting any misalignment of the filter arrangement during cementing. Also, an image pickup device including an image pickup arrangement for converting an optical image into electrical image information, the pickup arrangement having a plurality of picture elements including first and second picture elements, and the pickup device further including a color filter member at least consisting of a first part which is provided for the first picture element.
A non-linear digital filter system for image data or other signal data suppresses undesirable noise while enhancing significant characteristics of the data. Data elements in a neighborhood (window) defined around and including an input data element are classified into characteristic classes based on their parameter value range. The class with the maximum population is selected as most representative of the neighborhood. A data value associated with that class is chosen as the output of the filter for the input data element around which the neighborhood is defined, to thereby form a plurality filter. As an alternative, the class holding more than half the data elements in the neighborhood is chosen as most representative, to form a majority filter. In case there is no class containing more than half the elements in a neighborhood, the output of the filter equal the value characteristic of the class in which the input pixel itself falls. In a further heterogeneity filter version, a data element for whose neighborhood there is no majority class is replaced by a "1"; a pixel for whose neighborhood there is a majority class is replaced by a "0". In the case of image data, the "1" value may represent a black intensity or a white intensity, in which case the "0" represents the opposite intensity.
