IMAGING ELEMENT, CONTROL METHOD, PROGRAM, AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE

WIPO Patent Application WO/2015/159729

A1

This disclosure pertains to an imaging element, a control method, a program, and an electronic device that make it possible to provide electronic ND functionality with a simpler architecture. This imaging element is provided with a reference-signal generation unit and an analog-to-digital conversion unit. The reference-signal generation unit generates a reference signal that is used as a reference when analog-to-digital conversion is performed on pixel signals outputted from pixels. The analog-to-digital conversion unit, which performs analog-to-digital conversion on the pixel signals, has a comparison unit that compares the pixel signals to the reference signal and a switching unit that switches a capacitance connected to a terminal via which the pixel signals are inputted to the comparison unit. If the exposure time that was used when a previous frame was captured is less than a prescribed first threshold, the switching unit is controlled so as to increase the capacitance connected to the terminal via which the pixel signals are inputted to the comparison unit. This technology can be applied, for example, to a CMOS image sensor.

JPH0723297	DEFECT DETECTOR OF SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP ELEMENT
JPH06225221	SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP ELEMENT
JPH05130515	SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE

OKADA CHIHIRO (JP)

PCT/JP2015/060552

October 22, 2015

April 03, 2015

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SONY CORP (JP)

H04N5/378; H04N5/351; H04N5/355

WO2013084809A1

2013-06-13

JP2013251607A	2013-12-12
JP2013179577A	2013-09-09

NISHIKAWA Takashi et al. (JP)
Nishikawa 孝 (JP)

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