CMOS image sensor with pseudorandom pixel placement for jaggy elimination

The pixels in the conventional image sensors are placed at lattice positions, and this causes the jaggies at the edge of the slant line we perceive, which is hard to resolve by pixel size reduction. The author has been proposing the method of reducing the jaggies effect by arranging the photo diode at pseudorandom positions, with keeping the lattice arrangement of pixel boundaries that are compatible with the conventional image sensor architecture. In this paper, the author discusses the design of CMOS image sensor with pseudorandom pixel placement, as well as the preliminary evaluation of the fabricated CMOS image sensor.Embargo Period 6 month

A CMOS image sensor with pseudorandom pixel placement for clear imaging

金沢大学理工研究域電子情報学系The picture element (pixel) in conventional image sensors, such as CCD or CMOS imager, are placed in the form of a lattice for ease of implementation. Lattice placement of pixels intrinsically has directional dependency on the clarity of image representation; in other words, the image clarity is significantly dependent on the directions of the objects in the image, such as lines. For example, horizontal lines are perfectly represented by lattice pixels, while slanted lines have jagged edges. In this paper, we propose a pseudorandom pixel placement architecture for clear imaging with solving the directional dependency problems. We also discuss our evaluation of its characteristics based on the designed layout of CMOS image sensor with pseudorandom pixel placement, as well as its implementation. ©2009 IEEE

CMOS image sensor with pseudorandom pixel placement

The picture element (pixel) in conventional image sensors are placed in the form of a lattice for ease of implementation. Lattice placement of pixels intrinsically has directional singularity on the clarity of image representation, and the clarity is significantly dependent on the directions of the objects in the image. For example, horizontal lines are perfectly represented, while slanted lines have jagged edges. In this paper, we describe the CMOS image sensor with the pseudorandom pixel placement that solves the problem of the directional singularity on the clarity of image representation, as well as its evaluation in terms of the clarity of image representation for slant lines. © IEICE 2008

画素配置の擬似的な不規則化による高精度な画像処理システムの開発

本研究は、画像処理において問題となる計算コストの低減を、従来は考慮されなかった画像の構成要素である画素の構造に着目し、画素中の受光部の配置を擬似的に不規則とすることで、少ない画素数と計算コストによって、多画素画像と同等あるいはそれを超える精度での画像処理を実現する方法の検討と評価を行った。具体的には、このような画素配置を持つCMOSイメージセンサの設計と試作を行い、その特性の評価を行い、シミュレーションによって示唆されていた高精細化、特にジャギーの低減の効果を確認することができた。また、本手法の高精度画像処理への適用として、超解像処理をとりあげ、その研究に着手した。In this research, we focused on the pixel structure in order to reduce computational cost in image processing and achieve high accuracy image processing with relatively lower number of pixels. We designed and evaluated CMOS image sensor with pseudorandom pixel placement, and we confirmed the jaggy elimination effect, with is shown in simulation. We also started to applying the pseudorandom pixel placement for high accuracy image processing on super resolution processing.研究課題/領域番号:16K06382, 研究期間(年度):2016-04-01 - 2019-03-3