JPS616772A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the processing efficiency with the small number of hardware by simultaneously outputting picture element signals of lines which are adjacent each other from plural reading registers in a solid state image pickup element to obtain local area data. CONSTITUTION:The solid state image pickup element 21 includes photodetecting elements 22-25, transfer registers 26-29 and plural reading registers 30-32 and the registers 30-32 are connected in series. The picture signals of three adjacent lines are simultaneously outputted from the reading registers 30-32 and inputted to a processor 42 through shift registers 33-41 to execute picture processing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to an image processing device, particularly a local processing type image processing device.

Conventional configurations and their problems In general, image processing deals with two-dimensionally arranged image data, and the current sequential computer
This is one of the computation processes that computers are not good at. Further, image processing requires a large amount of calculation time and storage capacity. Therefore, various image processing devices have been proposed to speed up image processing.Among the various image processing devices, local processing type image processing devices are the most popular because they can relatively easily configure an image processing system. ,
Best developed.

The present invention is also similar to this local processing type image processing apparatus, and the conventional local processing type image processing apparatus will be described below.

In general, a local processing type image processing device extracts local area data of a certain appropriate size from input image data and performs calculations on this local area data. Image processing of the entire screen is performed by scanning.

Many image operations are performed locally, such as averaging, multi-minute operations, and feature extraction.The complexity of these processes varies depending on the shape and size of the local area, but they are generally 3 x 3.
Image processing is performed on a local area of about 16x16.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional local processing type image processing device.

In Figure 1, 1 is an input image divided into m x n, 2 and 3 are n-bit shift registers, and 4 to 1
2 is a 1-bit shift register, and 13 is a processor. Image data is successively extracted pixel by pixel by scanning from one input screen and transferred to the shift register 4. Further, data that is delayed by one line with respect to the data transferred to the shift register 4 is transferred to the shift register 7 by two n-bit shift registers. Similarly, data delayed by two lines is transferred to the shift register 10 by the second and third n-bit shift registers.

As described above, pixel data delayed by one line is sent to shift registers 4, 7.10, and shift registers 4, 7.
From 10 to 10, the shift registers are 5, 8 and 10, respectively.
Further, image data is transferred from shift register 6.8°11 to shift registers (3, 9, 12) one pixel at a time.

Through the operations described above, the pixel data taken out one pixel at a time from the input image is reconfigured by the shift registers 4 to 12,
It can be sequentially extracted as local area data in a 3×3 neighborhood.

As described above, the processor 13 sequentially performs signal processing on the local area data sequentially extracted by scanning the input image, thereby making it possible to perform image processing for the entire screen.

The conventional local parallel image processing device has been described above, but as a means for obtaining the input image 1, the image memory and the I/O
TV cameras, etc. are considered, and these output signals are
The local area data is reconstructed and extracted by delaying it with the second shift register. However, especially in 2 and 3 n-bit shift registers 2 and 3,
The number of shift registers corresponding to the number of pixels for one line is required, and the amount of hardware is large, which hinders the simplification of the image processing system.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of these conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing device that makes it possible to extract local area data with a small amount of hardware.

Structure of the Invention The present invention uses a solid-state image sensor having a plurality of readout registers as an image input means, and simultaneously outputs signals of pixels in lines close to each other from the plurality of readout registers of the solid-state image sensor to obtain local area data. By obtaining this, an image processing device can be efficiently configured with a small amount of hardware.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, numeral 21 surrounded by a dotted line indicates a solid-state image sensor, here a frame-transfer type solid-state image sensor, 22 to 26 are light receiving elements arranged in one row, and 26 to 29 are transfer registers respectively connected to the light receiving elements, and 30 is a read register.

31.32 is the same read register as 30, and 3
3 to 41 are shift registers for one pixel each,
42 is a processor.

In the solid-state image sensor 21 shown in FIG.
The input image photoelectrically converted according to No. 5 is transferred through the transfer registers 26 to 29 at a vertical scanning period, and sequentially transferred line by line to the readout register 30.

One line of pixel data transferred to the readout register 30 is transferred to the readout register 3Q in a horizontal scanning cycle, and image signals are output pixel by pixel by scanning. The above is the general configuration and operation of a frame transfer type solid-state image sensor, but in the present invention,
The solid-state image sensor has a plurality of readout registers, and in addition to 30 readout registers in FIG. 2, it also has 31 and 32 readout registers,
0, 31, and 32 are connected in series, respectively. By using the above configuration, from the 31 read registers, from the output of the 30 read registers,
An image signal delayed by one line is output, and an image signal delayed by two lines can be obtained from the 32 readout registers.

In this way, the image signals of three adjacent lines are
By inputting this output signal into a 3x3 pixel shift register matrix consisting of 33 to 41, similar to the conventional example shown in Fig. 1, local It is possible to sequentially extract area data, and image processing of the entire screen can be performed by sequentially performing signal processing on the local area data using 42 processors.

As described above, in the present invention, a plurality of one-line delay elements required for extracting local area data are constructed from readout registers of a solid-state image sensor. In solid-state imaging devices, even if a plurality of readout registers are integrated at the same time, the rate of increase in the number of devices, chip size, etc. can be almost ignored, and one-chip integration poses no problem at the current technology level.

In other words, it is now possible to easily integrate a large number of shift registers used to obtain local area data into a solid-state image sensor, and the amount of hardware can be significantly reduced, making it easier to use image processing equipment. Can be simplified.

In FIG. 2, the solid-state image sensor 21 is of a frame transfer type, but it goes without saying that it can also be constructed using a solid-state image sensor of a line transfer type, an interline transfer type, or the like. Still 33
It goes without saying that up to 41 shift registers can be integrated into a solid-state image sensor.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention uses a solid-state image sensor having a plurality of readout registers as an image input means, and the readout registers simultaneously output image data of adjacent lines, thereby obtaining local area data. This eliminates the need for a large number of shift registers, which were required in order to obtain an image, and allows the function to be easily integrated into a solid-state image sensor, making it possible to realize an excellent image processing device with a simple system configuration and a small amount of hardware. be.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a conventional image processing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 21... Solid-state image sensor, 22-26...
・Light receiving element, 26-29...Transfer register, 3
o~32...Read register, 33~41.
River: Shift register, 42: Processor. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao (1st person)
figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] A solid-state image pickup device having a plurality of readout registers is used as an image input means, and signals of pixels of multiple lines close to each other are simultaneously outputted from the plurality of readout registers of the solid-state image pickup device to obtain local area image data. Image processing device.