Image pickup element, imaging apparatus, and image recognition system using non-polarized light

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10178361-B2
Application number	US-201515539968-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2015
Priority date	Dec 26, 2014
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

To achieve an image pickup element that can utilize polarized light as well as non-polarized light to image or capture an object, an image pickup element is provided to an imaging apparatus that forms an image of an object to be imaged onto a light-receiving surface of an image sensor, acquires a polarized filter image together with a regular luminance image, and executes image processing on the acquired images. The image pickup element includes, on a light-receiving surface LRS of the image sensor IMS, a polarizing filter PFL including at least two kinds of pixels having different transmission and polarization properties from each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An image pickup element provided to an imaging apparatus, the image pickup element comprising:
an image sensor including a light-receiving surface, the imaging apparatus configured to image an image of an object to be imaged onto the light-receiving surface of the image sensor, to acquire a polarized filter image together with a regular luminance image, and to execute image processing on the acquired image;
on the light-receiving surface of the image sensor, a polarizing-filter matrix that includes at least two kinds of pixels including a non-polarizing pixel that transmits all polarized components and a polarizing pixel that transmits a predetermined polarized component; and
a color-filter matrix that includes color pixels having the same pixels as and being arranged in the same manner as the polarizing-filter matrix,
wherein each of the pixels of the polarizing-filter matrix is aligned with a corresponding one of the color pixels of the color-filter matrix.

2. The image pickup element according to claim 1 ,
wherein
the color filter color-separates the image of the object to be imaged.

3. The image pickup element according to claim 2 , wherein the color filter includes three color pixels composed of a red filter, a green filter, and a blue filter.

4. The image pickup element according to claim 1 , wherein the light-receiving surface includes a basic pixel matrix including pixels generating light-receiving signal, each of the pixels of the polarizing-filter matrix being aligned with a corresponding one of the pixels of the basic pixel matrix.

5. The image pickup element according to claim 1 , wherein the polarizing pixel is a vertical polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a vertical direction, the vertical polarizing pixel being less than the non-polarizing pixel.

6. The image pickup element according to claim 1 , wherein the polarizing pixel is a horizontal polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a horizontal direction, the horizontal polarizing pixel being less than the non-polarizing pixel.

7. The image pickup element according to claim 1 , wherein the polarizing-filter matrix includes three kinds of pixels including the non-polarizing pixel and two polarizing pixels, the two polarizing pixels including a horizontal polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a horizontal direction and a vertical polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a vertical direction.

8. The image pickup element according to claim 1 , wherein the polarizing-filter matrix includes two polarizing pixels, the two polarizing pixels including at least a horizontal polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a horizontal direction and a vertical polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a vertical direction, the vertical polarization pixel being less than the horizontal polarization pixel.

9. The image pickup element according to claim 1 , wherein the polarizing-filter matrix includes two polarizing pixels, the two polarizing pixels including at least a vertical polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a vertical direction and a horizontal polarizing pixel configured to transmit only polarized component in a horizontal direction, the horizontal polarization pixel being smaller than the vertical polarization pixel.

10. An imaging apparatus configured to image an image of an object to be imaged onto a light-receiving surface of an image sensor, to acquire a polarized filter image together with a regular luminance image, and to execute image processing on the acquired image, the imaging apparatus comprising:
an image pickup element
comprising, on the light-receiving surface of the image sensor, a polarizing: filter matrix that includes at least two kinds of pixels including a non-polarizing pixel that transmits all polarized components and a polarizing pixel that transmits a predetermined polarized component,
a color-filter matrix that includes color pixels having the same pixels as and being arranged in the same manner as the polarizing filter-filter matrix,
wherein each of the pixels of the polarizing-filter matrix is aligned with a corresponding one of the color pixels of the color-filter matrix.

11. An image recognition system comprising:
an imaging system and a recognition system, wherein
the recognition system includes the imaging apparatus according to claim 10 , and
the recognition system is configured to execute processing for determining the object to be imaged based on an object image acquired by the imaging apparatus.

12. The image apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the light-receiving surface includes a basic pixel matrix including pixels generating light-receiving signal, each of the pixels of the polarizing-filter matrix being aligned with a corresponding one of the pixels of the basic pixel matrix.

Assignees

• Itoh Izumi
• Fujishima Masayuki
• Kimura Sukehiro
• Sekiguchi Hiroyoshi
• Takahashi Yuji
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Itoh Izumi
• Fujishima Masayuki
• Kimura Sukehiro
• Sekiguchi Hiroyoshi
• Takahashi Yuji

Classifications

• H04N23/12 Primary

  with one sensor only · CPC title

• H04N23/10

  for generating image signals from different wavelengths · CPC title

• G02B5/30 Primary

  Polarising elements (light-modulating devices with active elements G02F1/00) · CPC title

• G02B5/201

  in the form of arrays · CPC title

• H04N9/04

  Electricity · mapped topic