Image sensing device correcting defective image values

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11805325-B2
Application number	US-202117494371-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2021
Priority date	Mar 25, 2021
Publication date	Oct 31, 2023
Grant date	Oct 31, 2023

Abstract

Disclosed is an image sensing device including a plurality of defect detectors each suitable for detecting whether a corresponding target image value is defective, and generating detection information corresponding to a result of the detection, a defect scheduler suitable for sequentially outputting one or more defective image values, which are the target image values detected as defective among the plurality of target image values, based on the detection information, and a defect corrector suitable for correcting the output defective image values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image sensing device comprising:
a plurality of defect detectors each suitable for detecting whether a corresponding target image value is defective, and generating detection information corresponding to a result of the detection, wherein the detection information comprises a flag signal indicating whether the corresponding target image value is defective, and a distortion value of the corresponding target image value;
a defect scheduler suitable for sequentially outputting one or more defective image values, which are the target image values detected as defective among the plurality of target image values, based on the detection information; and
a defect corrector suitable for correcting the output defective image values.

2. The image sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the defect scheduler sequentially outputs the defective image values by:
determining priorities based on the detection information, and
sequentially selecting the defective image values according to the priorities.

3. The image sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the distortion value is a sum of differences between the corresponding target image value and peripheral image values of the corresponding target image value.

4. The image sensing device of claim 1 , wherein each of the defect detectors detects whether the corresponding target image value is defective by:
calculating the distortion value based on the corresponding target image value and peripheral image values of the corresponding target image value, and
comparing the distortion value with a reference value.

5. The image sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the defect corrector corrects the output defective image values by generating corrected image values respectively corresponding to the output defective image values based on the respective output defective image values and peripheral image values of the respective output defective image values.

6. The image sensing device of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of selectors each suitable for selectively outputting one of the corresponding target image values and the corrected image value based on a flag signal included in the detection information.

7. An image sensing device comprising:
a plurality of defect detectors each suitable for detecting whether a corresponding target image value is defective, and detection information corresponding to a result of the detection;
a priority controller suitable for determining priorities of one or more defective image values, which are the target image values detected as defective among the plurality of target image values, and generating a plurality of control signals corresponding to the priorities based on the detection information;
an output unit suitable for sequentially outputting the defective image values according to the priorities based on the plurality of control signals; and
a defect corrector suitable for correcting the output defective image values wherein each of the defect detectors detects whether the corresponding target image value is defective by:
calculating a distortion value based on the corresponding target image value and peripheral image values of the corresponding target image value, and
comparing the distortion value with a reference value.

8. The image sensing device of claim 7 , wherein the detection information comprises a flag signal indicating whether the corresponding target image value is defective, and a distortion value of the corresponding target image value.

9. The image sensing device of claim 8 , wherein the distortion value is a sum of differences between the corresponding target image value and peripheral image values of the corresponding target image value.

10. The image sensing device of claim 7 , wherein the output unit comprises:
a plurality of selection circuits suitable for selecting the defective image values according to the priorities; and
at least one buffer circuit suitable for storing at least one defective image value having a second priority or lower among the defective image values.

11. The image sensing device of claim 7 , wherein the defect corrector corrects the output defective image values by generating corrected image values respectively corresponding to the output defective image values based on the respective output defective image values and peripheral image values of the respective output defective image values.

12. The image sensing device of claim 7 , further comprising a plurality of selectors each suitable for selectively outputting one of the corresponding target image values and the corrected image value based on a flag signal included in the detection information.

13. An image sensing device comprising:
an image sensor including a plurality of pixels arranged at intersections of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, and suitable for generating target image values corresponding to pixel signals which are read out from the plurality of pixels; and
an image processor suitable for dividing the target image values into a plurality of groups, sequentially selecting and correcting, according to priorities, one or more defective image values among the target image values for each group, and determining the priorities according to distortion values corresponding to the respective defective image values.

14. The image sensing device of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of distortion values is a sum of differences between a corresponding defective image value and peripheral image values of the corresponding defective image value.

15. An operating method of an image processor, the operating method comprising:
receiving, at each clock, a group of kernel image values each including a target image value and peripheral image values;
calculating, for each of the kernel image values, a distortion degree based on the target image value and the peripheral image values;
detecting, for each of the kernel image values, the target image value as a defective image value based on the distortion degree;
queueing in the one or more kernel image values having the defective image values within the group in a descending order of the distortion degree; and
queueing out the queued-in kernel image values on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis to correct the defective image value.

Assignees

• Sk Hynix Inc

Inventors

• Lee Kyung Ho
• Jang Jae Hun
• Lim Kyoung Mook
• Jang Cheol Jon
• Cho Keun Soo

Classifications

• G06T5/80 Primary

  Geometric correction · CPC title

• H04N25/68 Primary

  applied to defects · CPC title

• H04N25/10

  for transforming different wavelengths into image signals · CPC title

• H04N23/80 Primary

  Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof · CPC title

• G06T5/001

  Physics · mapped topic