JPH06205178A - Picture information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device for photoelectrically converting an optical signal into an electric signal, and a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into an electric signal and an optical signal in the invisible light region. To provide a solid-state imaging device having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting into electric signals and arranged in an array at different arrangement densities, and an image information processing apparatus having the solid-state imaging device, and to provide a wide range. It is possible to detect the optical signal over the range.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information processing apparatus such as a facsimile, an image scanner, a copying machine, etc. And an image information processing apparatus having the following.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional solid-state image pickup device, a charge-coupled device (CCD) type, a MOS type, or U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,791,469 assigned to the inventors Tadahiro Omi and Nobuyoshi Tanaka
An amplifier type device is known in which a capacitive load is connected to the emitter of the phototransistor described in the specification of the publication.

Recently, its applications have been diversified, and solid-state image pickup devices having new functions are required.

For example, in addition to image quality and colorization of a copying machine, it has been required to recognize an invisible image and reproduce and record it.

Examples of such an image, that is, an invisible light image, include an image formed of ink having a characteristic of absorbing infrared rays.

[0006]

In general, a sensor for detecting invisible light is an individual device, which detects an image or the like.
Some new design concept is required for use with a sensor for visible light detection.

As a basic design concept, the present inventors first found out a technique of monolithically incorporating a sensor for detecting visible light and a sensor for detecting invisible light in one semiconductor chip.

However, there is room for further improvement in the above technique.

[0009]

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image information processing apparatus having a small solid-state image pickup device capable of converting an optical signal in a wide wavelength range from visible light to invisible light into an electric signal. is there.

An object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into an electric signal and an optical signal in the invisible light region in a solid-state image pickup device for photoelectrically converting an optical signal into an electric signal. The present invention is achieved by a solid-state image pickup device having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting into electric signals and arranged in an array with different arrangement densities, and an image information processing device having the solid-state image pickup device.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic top view for explaining one embodiment of the present invention. On the main surface side of the substrate 100 of the solid-state imaging device 1, a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements 102, 103, 104 for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into an electric signal.
And a photoelectric conversion element 101 for converting an optical signal in the non-visible light region into an electric signal are aligned in a substantially straight line. Moreover, the arrangement pitch of the element 101 is the elements 102, 103, 1
The arrangement pitch of No. 04 is different. That is, element 10
When the resolution of 2, 103, 104 is 1, the resolution of the element 101 is ½.

Therefore, the optical signal can be detected in a wide range of the non-visible light region and the visible light region, and the high-performance solid-state image pickup device is obtained. Moreover, since the non-visible light element 101 and the visible light elements 102, 103, and 104 are arranged at different arrangement pitches (arrangement densities), one can have high resolution and the other can have low resolution. The required signal can be preferentially made to have a high resolution without increasing the load on the signal processing system. This is particularly effective in the case of reproducing a document image.

That is, when the solid-state image pickup device used in the present invention is used as a line sensor, one pixel 105
, A plurality of elements 102 having the same effective area of photoelectric conversion,
103, 104 and an element 101 having an effective area that is half of that
It consists of and.

As the photoelectric conversion element of the present invention, a photovoltaic element such as a photodiode or a phototransistor or a photoconductive element is preferably used.

As a photoelectric conversion element for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into an electric signal, an element made of a material capable of selectively absorbing only the optical signal in the visible light region or transmitting the visible light region. However, an element having a filter that blocks light in a wavelength region used for photoelectric conversion in another photoelectric conversion element in the invisible light region is used.

Specifically, in order to obtain a black-and-white signal, the constituent material of the element is selected so as to have a selective sensitivity in the wavelength range from 400 nm to 700 nm as the visible light range, or the above-mentioned wavelength range is selected. The element is provided with a filter that selectively transmits light.

Further, in order to obtain an optical signal in a specific region in the visible light region, the element is made of a material having a sensitivity to the specific region, or the light in the specific region is selectively selected. The element is equipped with a filter that passes through.

To obtain color signals such as red (R), green (G) and blue (B), for example,
R region (for example, wavelength region from 580 nm to 700 nm)
Element having selective sensitivity to (R element), element having selective sensitivity to G region (for example, wavelength region of 480 nm to 580 nm) (G element) and B region (for example, wavelength region of 400 nm to 480 nm) A plurality of kinds of elements (elements B) that have specific sensitivity are used.

Of course, in this case as well, the material itself is R, G,
Each element may be configured by one that selectively absorbs light in each region of B, that is, one that has selective sensitivity, or each element having sensitivity in all regions of R, G, and B may have R, G, Each element may be configured by including a filter that selectively transmits light in the B region.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing typical spectral characteristics of transmitted light of the above filter, and the relative sensitivity on the vertical axis corresponds to the visible light transmittance. When each element is given a selective sensitivity by selecting the material, for example, each element is formed by using a material having a light absorption characteristic corresponding to the relative sensitivity as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, as a photoelectric conversion element for converting an optical signal in the invisible light region into an electric signal, for example, an element having a selective sensitivity to ultraviolet rays or infrared rays is used. In this case as well, the material itself constitutes an element with selective sensitivity to light in the invisible light region, or a material having sensitivity in a wide wavelength region including the invisible light region is added to the invisible light region. It is desirable to combine filters having a selective transmittance with respect to light.

For example, FIG. 3 is a graph showing typical spectral characteristics of transmitted light of the above filter, in which the relative sensitivity on the vertical axis corresponds to the transmittance of invisible light. Here, an example of a filter having selective sensitivity in the infrared region (for example, a wavelength region of 750 nm or more) is given, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, in the present invention, the visible light region, the non-visible light region or each of the R, G and B wavelength regions is not clearly distinguished by the value of the wavelength, but the photoelectric conversion element used in the present invention. To obtain each of the required signals, ultraviolet, blue,
It suffices that the green light, the red light, and the infrared light are photoelectrically converted by a necessary amount, and unnecessary light is not substantially photoelectrically converted.

The solid-state image pickup device of the present invention can form a color line sensor by periodically arranging each element of R, G, B, and IR in a line shape as shown in FIG. Preferably, an element in which each pixel in the resolution as a color signal has a selective sensitivity in the R region (R element), an element having a selective sensitivity in the G region (G element),
It is configured to include an element (B element) having a selective sensitivity in the B region and an element (IR element) having a selective sensitivity in the non-visible light region.

A three-dimensional image or a two-dimensional image is used to generate the optical signal to be detected, and a typical example of the two-dimensional image is a plane image of a document or the like. Therefore, when used in a system for reading an image of a document, it is desirable to provide an illumination means for illuminating the document surface. As such an illumination means, a light emitting diode or a xenon lamp,
There are light sources such as halogen lamps. FIG. 4 shows typical light emission distribution characteristics of the light source. The light source is not limited to the one having the characteristics shown in FIG. 4 as long as it can generate the light in the required wavelength region according to the optical signal to be detected. It has been described only with reference to FIG. 4 that infrared light in the R, G, B and invisible light regions can be obtained by using a light source that emits light having the characteristics shown in FIG.

[0026]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, each example of the present invention will be described in detail, but the present invention is not limited to these examples, and is within the scope of the present invention as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved. It is possible to replace each constituent element in step 1 and change the material selection.

(Embodiment 1) A CCD 210 as a solid-state image pickup device according to Embodiment 1 is provided with an IR filter 101, an R filter 102, a G filter 103, and a B filter 104 for each photoelectric conversion element, as shown in FIG. R, G,
A unit array composed of B, IR, R, G, and B is cyclically repeated in a line and delivered. The IR filter 101 is the R, G, B filters 102, 103, 1
It is sequentially vapor-deposited at a ratio of half to 04, and RGB
A pixel 105, which is a set of 3 elements + IR1 / 2 element, constitutes a reading system in which a minimum reading area is formed. That is, when the resolution of R, G, and B is 400 dpi, I
The resolution of R is 200 dpi.

The spectral characteristics of the filter deposited for each of the R, G, and B elements are the same as those in FIG. 2, and the emission distribution characteristics of the halogen lamp 205 as the light source used are the same as those in FIG.

Since the visible light cut filter having the characteristics shown in FIG. 3 is vapor-deposited on the IR element, the IR element 101
In, the component of 700 nm or less is cut and the infrared component is read.

The effects of this embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a schematic top view showing one pixel of a conventional color sensor. The reading resolution is 400dp
i (400 dots per inch) is 1
The reading area of the pixel is 25.4 mm / 40.0 = 63.
5 μm, 21.1 μm × 6 per RGB element
It becomes 3.5 μm. On the other hand, in FIG. 7, one pixel is 4
Although one pixel is shown when it is divided equally into one element, in order to realize a resolution of 400 dpi, since 15.8 μm × 63.5 μm per element, the amount of light received by the pixel composed of RGB is conventionally. To 75%. Therefore, the dynamic range of the signal output by each pixel is reduced as compared with that in FIG. In particular, since the IR element IR that reads the infrared region cuts off all visible light components, it can be considered that almost no signal can be obtained depending on the emission spectrum distribution of the light source used.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the IR element 101 for invisible light is replaced with other elements 102, 103, and 10.
Since the arrangement density is different from that of No. 4, assuming that the resolution of R, G, and B is 400 dpi and the resolution of IR is 200 dpi, the minimum reading area is 63.5 μm × 63.5 μm.
Therefore, the R element 102, the G element 103, the B element 104, and the IR element 101 are each 18.1 μm × 63.5 μ.
m.

Therefore, the R, G, B elements 102, 103,
The effective area of 104 is reduced to 85.7% as compared with FIG. As described above, even if the IR element is added, it is possible to suppress a large decrease in the dynamic range of the output signal.

Furthermore, the effective area of the IR element for invisible light is almost the same as the effective area of the other R, G, B elements, and a large reduction in the dynamic range of the output signal of invisible light is prevented. can do.

(Embodiment 2) In Embodiment 1, C is used to read an original image with RGB3 elements + IR1 / 2 elements as one pixel.
Although the CD has been described, the CCD may be composed of a monochrome (hereinafter, W) element and an IR element as shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 106 denotes a filter having the spectral characteristic shown in FIG. Here, one pixel 107 is composed of W1 element + IR1 / 2 element. Here, if the resolution of W is 400 dpi, the resolution of IR is 200 d.
pi.

(Third Embodiment) In the first and second embodiments, the information outside the visible region is described as the infrared component, but this may be the ultraviolet component UV.

(Scanning Circuit) It is desirable that the solid-state image pickup device described above is constructed as an integrated circuit in which a scanning circuit as a readout circuit is integrally integrated on the same substrate together with a pixel array including photoelectric conversion elements. As such a scanning circuit, a CCD type shift register, a CCD type transfer gate, a shift register using a transistor, and a transfer gate using a transistor are used alone or in appropriate combination. Further, a storage capacitor for storing the photoelectrically converted electric signal may be provided if necessary.

In the configuration of FIG. 10, after the signals of the photodiodes shown in FIG. 1 are transferred to the CCD register, the signals are sequentially read out in the serial format in the order of R, G, B, IR.

FIG. 11 shows another structure. Among the signals of the photodiodes, the R, G and B signals are the visible CCD.
The register IR signal is transferred to the infrared CCD register on the opposite side, and then R, G, B serial format output and IR
The outputs are read individually in parallel.

FIG. 12 shows still another configuration. The signals of the respective photodiode arrays are simultaneously transferred to the respective storage capacitors corresponding to the respective photodiodes, temporarily stored and then sequentially read by the selective scanning circuit. . At this time, since the output from the storage capacitor can be independently performed for each photodiode, each signal of R, G, B, and IR can be read in a parallel format.

FIG. 13 shows still another configuration, that is, visible R,
The G and B signals and the IR signal for infrared are divided into upper and lower parts and read out.

The image information processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with an example of a copying machine.

In this example, the solid-state image pickup device of each of the above-described embodiments is used.

(Structure of Image Scanner) In FIG. 14, reference numeral 201 denotes an image scanner section, which is a section for reading a document and performing digital signal processing. Also, 202
The printer unit is a unit that prints out an image corresponding to the original image read by the image scanner 201 on paper in full color.

In the image scanner unit 201, 20
Reference numeral 0 is a mirror-thick plate, and a platen glass (hereinafter, platen)
The original 204 on 03 is illuminated with the light of the halogen lamp 205, and the reflected light from the original forms an image on the sensor 1 by the lens 209, and full color information red (R), green (G), blue (B). The component and the infrared component (IR) are sent to the signal processing unit 211. It should be noted that the reading unit 207 is at a speed v and is in the electrical scanning direction of the sensor (hereinafter referred to as the main scanning direction)
The original surface is two-dimensionally scanned by mechanically moving in the vertical direction (hereinafter referred to as the sub-scanning direction).

The signal processing unit 211 electrically processes the read signal, decomposes it into magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (BK) components, and sends them to the printer unit 202. To do.

(Structure of Printer Unit) The image signals of M, C, Y and BK sent from the image scanner unit 201 are sent to the laser driver 212. The laser driver 212 modulates and drives the semiconductor laser 213 according to the signal. The laser light is the polygon mirror 214 and the f-θ lens 2
15, the photosensitive drum 217 is scanned via the mirror 216.

Reference numeral 219 is a magenta developing device, 220 is a cyan developing device, 221 is a yellow developing device, 222 is a black developing device, and four developing devices are alternately in contact with the photosensitive drum,
The electrostatic latent images of M, C, Y, and BK formed on the photosensitive drum 217 are developed with corresponding toner.

Reference numeral 223 is a transfer drum, which is a paper cassette 22.
4 or 225, the paper fed from this transfer drum 2
The toner image developed on the photosensitive drum 217 is transferred to a sheet by winding the sheet around the sheet 23.

After the four colors M, C, Y, and BK have been sequentially transferred in this manner, the paper passes through the fixing unit 226 and is discharged.

The output signal of the sensor 1 is sent to the signal processing unit 211, controlled by a CPU (not shown), and various processing is performed. Of these, first, the sequence of pattern recognition will be described step by step.

(Original) FIG. 15 shows an original 63 on which a pattern 631 registered in advance with infrared absorbing paint is printed.
It is 0. On the original 630, in addition to the pattern 631,
Characters and images 632 are printed with general ink. The infrared absorption paint to print has 70
It is infrared light of 0 nm or more and appears almost colorless and transparent to the human eye having sensitivity in the band of 400 to 700 nm, which is extremely difficult to recognize.

FIG. 16 shows the spectral distribution characteristics of the infrared absorbing paint. The infrared absorption amount described above can be detected by cutting the visible light component and extracting only the infrared component by the pixel array 101 in the sensor 1.

(Prescan) Image Scanner Section 20
In No. 1, a prescan is performed as a preprocessing for copying the original 630. The prescan will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 17, the lamp 205 illuminates a white shading plate 640 attached to a part of the platen 203. White shading plate 64
The reflected image of 0 is formed on the sensor 1 via the lens 209. The image of the white shading plate 640 read by the sensor 1 is subjected to signal processing in the signal processing unit 211, illumination unevenness of the lamp 205 and sensitivity unevenness correction data of the sensor 1 are created, and stored for each pixel. Thereafter, the reading unit 207 mechanically moves in the direction of arrow m in the drawing at a speed of speed v by a drive system (not shown) to scan the entire surface of the document. At this time, the visible light components R, G, B elements 102, 103, 10 in the sensor 1
The image of the original document 630 read in step 4 corresponds to the signal processing unit 21.
In 1, the maximum and minimum values of the document density are sampled, and the print density set value for copying is calculated. After that, the reading unit 207 mechanically moves by a drive system (not shown) in the direction of arrow n in FIG. 17 at a speed v, and shifts to an operation of returning to the reading start position, that is, the home position.

(Copying of Document and Detecting Pattern) After the above-described prescan, the reading unit 207 returns to the home position, starts reading the document 630, and at the same time, detects the presence or absence of the pattern 631 on the document 630. The presence / absence of the pattern depends on the R, G, B elements 102 to 1 in the sensor 1.
The read information of 04 and the read information of the IR element 101 are compared. Image reading for reproducing an image is performed by the R, G, B elements 102 to 104, and image reading for detecting the pattern 631 is performed by the IR element 101.

Next, a method of processing the original image signal read by the sensor 1 will be described.

FIG. 18 shows a block diagram of the signal processing unit 211, and FIG. 19 shows a timing chart of the signal processing unit 211.

The output signal (a) of the sensor 1 is the sample and hold (hereinafter, S / H) circuits 121a to 121d.
Entered in. In the S / H circuits 121a to 121d, S / H pulses ((b), (c), () which are synchronized with the output signal of the sensor 1 generated for each R, G, B, IR signal by a clock generation circuit (not shown). d) and (e)) sample and hold each signal ((f), (g),
(H), (i)). Next, the S / H circuits 121a to 121
The output signals of d are A / D converters 122a to 122, respectively.
It is input to d. In the A / D converters 122a to 122d, R, G, and B signals ((f), which are visible light component signals,
(G) and (h) are synchronized with the rising edge of the VRA / D clock ((j)) generated by a clock generation circuit (not shown), and an 8-bit digital signal ((k),
(L) and (m)), and the IR signal ((i)), which is an infrared light component, is synchronized with the rising edge of the IRA / D clock ((n)) to generate an 8-bit digital signal ((o ))
Convert to.

These digital signals are input to the shading correction circuits 124a to 124d and subjected to shading correction. The shading correction is the correction processing described in the above (pre-scan) section, and the created correction data is R, G, B, and IR data in the RAM.
It is held at 123. When image reading and pattern detection are being performed, correction data for each pixel is sequentially output from the RAM 123 to the shading correction circuit 124a.
To 124d, and the data is corrected. The R, G, and B image signals output from the shading correction circuits 124a to 124c are log converters 127a to 127a.
27c and the Makiki circuit 125, and the IR signal is input to the delay circuit 129.

In the Mabiki circuit 125, an average value of two pixels is calculated in order to match the R, G and B image signals read at 400 dpi with the IR image signals read at 200 dpi, and the average value is output as a representative value ( (P), (q),
(R)). For example, averaging R _N-2 and R _N , R _N-2 (A)
Is output as. Next, the determination circuit 12 as the determination means
6, the signals (p), (q), and (r) of R, G, and B processed to 200 dpi by the Makiki circuit 125 and the delay circuit 1 are shown in FIG.
The IR signal (s) delayed for matching the output signal of the Makiki circuit by 29 is sequentially compared, and 20
For each pixel read at a resolution of 0 dpi, it is determined whether or not it is a pattern drawn with infrared absorbing paint based on a reference signal,
The determination result is output to the CPU (not shown).

Regarding signal comparison, it should be noted that printing inks with low saturation and high density often contain carbon black pigments. Is absorbed, it is necessary to separate it from the information of the judgment pattern.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the judgment circuit 126 compares the IR signal value with the minimum value K of the R signal value, the G signal value, and the B signal value, and the IR absorption pattern becomes
Whether or not it is a judgment pattern was separated.

X = IR-const × min (R, G, B) X is obtained for each pixel read at a resolution of 200 dpi, the X of the original is accumulated, and the value is equal to or higher than a set level. When it reaches, the CPU (not shown) functions as a control unit to control the printer to immediately stop copying the original.

If it is determined that there is no pattern drawn with the infrared absorbing paint on the original, the R, G, B image signals are converted into log converters 127a, b, c and masking / UC.
The R circuit 128 performs known brightness-density conversion, masking processing for matching the characteristics of the printer, and undercolor removal processing, and outputs the result to the printer unit.

The image information processing apparatus of the present invention has been described above by way of example, but there are some other modifications.

For example, the wavelength range that can be read by the IR element 101 is 700 nm or more.
The infrared absorbing paint having the spectral distribution shown in (1) has the characteristic of having an extremely narrow band width having a peak at 800 nm.

However, depending on the illumination light source used, 1
It is possible to have energy even in a region exceeding 000 nm.

When such a light source is used, 800 nm
Since it is difficult to determine the absorption due to the unnecessary energy described above, it is desirable to insert a far infrared cut filter having the characteristics shown in FIG. 20 in the IR element 101.

With respect to the R, G, and B elements 102 to 104, the far infrared light has already been cut by the filter deposited on the pixel surface, so this far infrared cut filter is located at any position in the optical path. It doesn't matter.

For example, it is very convenient to dispose the lens before and after the lens 209 because the filter can be easily replaced even if the fluorescent characteristic of the fluorescent paint to be printed on the original changes later.

Further, according to the above-described example, the pattern determination is performed only by the signal comparison of the signal comparison circuit, but the pattern matching is performed according to the shape of the image extracted as a result of the signal comparison to control the copy of the original. May be. In this case, the pattern matching circuit becomes large-scale and complicated, but since the type of the document can be discriminated by the pattern shape,
For example, it is possible to perform control such that copying of in-house manuscripts is permitted by entering a password, while copying of securities and the like is not permitted at all.

[0073]

As described above, according to the present invention, a small-sized sensor can detect an optical signal in a wide wavelength range, and the photoelectric conversion element for reading invisible light information has a resolution of photoelectric conversion element for reading invisible light information. The resolution of the element can be changed, and the dynamic range of the signal output of the element that reads visible light information can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a solid-state imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a spectral characteristic of a color filter used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a spectral characteristic of a visible light cut filter used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a light emission characteristic of a light source used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic top view of the solid-state imaging device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the effect of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the effect of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of a solid-state imaging device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the filter used in Example 2. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a scanning circuit of the solid-state imaging device used in the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing another example of the scanning circuit of the solid-state imaging device used in the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing still another example of the scanning circuit of the solid-state imaging device used in the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing another example of the scanning circuit of the solid-state imaging device used in the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of an image information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram for explaining a document that can be read by the image information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

16 is a diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the infrared absorbing paint used for the document shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram for explaining a document reading operation by the image information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a signal processing system of the image information processing apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 19 is a chart diagram for explaining the operation of the signal processing system in FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the far infrared cut filter used in the present invention.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Shinobu Arimoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Tanioka 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (72) Inventor Takehiko Nakai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor ▲ Kazuo Ei 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. Incorporated (72) Inventor Nobuatsu Sasana 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An illumination unit for illuminating an original to obtain an optical signal, a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in a visible light region obtained from the original into a first electric signal, and a non-visible light region. Image pickup means in which a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting the optical signal of the second electric signal into a second electric signal are arranged in an array at different arrangement densities, and an image forming means for forming an image based on the first electric signal. An image including: a determining unit that determines the second electric signal based on a reference signal; and a control unit that controls the operation of the image forming unit based on the output of the determining unit. Information processing equipment. 2. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements that convert an optical signal in the visible light region into a first electric signal generate a plurality of color separation signals. . 3. The plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into a first electric signal generate three color separation signals of red, blue and green. The image information processing device described. 4. The image information processing according to claim 1, wherein the photoelectric conversion element for converting the optical signal in the invisible light region into the second electric signal absorbs infrared rays and generates infrared signals. apparatus. 5. A plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into a first electric signal generate three color separation signals of red, blue and green, and light in the invisible light region. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photoelectric conversion element that converts a signal into a second electric signal absorbs infrared rays and generates an infrared signal. 6. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photoelectric conversion element includes a photo diode or a photo transistor. 7. Illuminating means for illuminating an original to obtain an optical signal, a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in a visible light region obtained from the original into a first electric signal, and a non-visible light region. An image information processing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements that convert the optical signal of 2 to a second electric signal; and an image pickup unit that is arranged in an array with different arrangement densities. 8. A solid-state imaging device for photoelectrically converting an optical signal into an electric signal, comprising a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for converting an optical signal in the visible light region into an electric signal and converting an optical signal in the invisible light region into an electric signal. A plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are arranged in an array with different arrangement densities.