CN113286092A

CN113286092A - Pixel processing circuit, method and device and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN113286092A
Application number: CN202110410423.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李沛德; 龚柳青
Original assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Hangzhou Co Ltd
Current assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Hangzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-16
Filing date: 2021-04-16
Publication date: 2021-08-20
Anticipated expiration: 2041-04-16
Also published as: CN113286092B

Abstract

The application discloses a pixel processing circuit, a pixel processing method, a pixel processing device and electronic equipment, belongs to the technical field of communication, and can solve the problem that the image quality of an image shot by the electronic equipment is poor. The pixel processing circuit includes: the first RST reset gate is coupled to the control logic module. One end of the control logic module is connected with one end of the first RST reset gate, and the other end of the first RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module; the control logic module is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition that the first control signal is received, the first RST reset gate is used for adjusting the exposure of the pixels of the three channels corresponding to the shot object under the first working state, and the first circuit module is used for processing the light rays corresponding to the shot object. The embodiment of the application is applied to the process of pixel processing of three channels.

Description

Pixel processing circuit, method and device and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The present application belongs to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a pixel processing circuit, a method, an apparatus, and an electronic device.

Background

Generally, in order to improve the quality of an image captured by an electronic device, it is possible to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the image. Specifically, after external light (i.e., light corresponding to a photographed object) passes through a lens of the electronic device, when the external light is filtered by the infrared filter, the transmittance of the light is improved to improve the signal intensity value of the light projected onto a photodiode (pixel) of the sensor (sensor), so as to achieve the purpose of improving the signal-to-noise ratio of an image; and the photodiode can convert the sensed optical signal into an electrical signal, form a digital signal matrix (i.e., an image) through an amplifying circuit and an AD (analog-to-digital) conversion circuit, and then the sensor can output the image to an Image Signal Processor (ISP) for processing and optimization to convert into a picture close to a scene seen by human eyes.

However, since a large amount of noise is also introduced when an image is processed by the ISP, the image noise is increased again, and the image quality of the image captured by the electronic device is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

An embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing circuit, a method, a device, and an electronic apparatus, which can solve the problem of poor image quality of an image captured by the electronic apparatus.

In order to solve the technical problem, the present application is implemented as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing circuit, including: the first RST reset gate is coupled to the control logic module. One end of the control logic module is connected with one end of the first RST reset gate, and the other end of the first RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module; the control logic module is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition that the first control signal is received, the first RST reset gate is used for adjusting the exposure of the pixels of the three channels corresponding to the shot object under the first working state, and the first circuit module is used for processing the light rays corresponding to the shot object.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing method, where the pixel processing method includes: acquiring at least one trigger time of a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of pixels of three channels corresponding to a shot object, and each trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels; in the process of exposing the pixels of the target channel, triggering a first control signal at a target time to control and adjust the exposure of the pixels of the target channel, wherein the target channel is a channel corresponding to at least one triggering time in the three channels, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target channel.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing apparatus, including: the device comprises an acquisition module and a trigger module. The acquisition module is used for acquiring at least one trigger time of a first control signal, the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of pixels of three channels corresponding to a shooting object, and each trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels. The triggering module is used for triggering a first control signal at a target time in the process of exposing the pixels of the target channel so as to control and adjust the exposure of the pixels of the target channel, the target channel is a channel corresponding to at least one triggering time in the three channels, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target channel.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, which includes the pixel processing circuit as described in the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides an electronic device, which includes a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, and when executed by the processor, the program or instructions implement the steps of the method according to the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a readable storage medium, on which a program or instructions are stored, which when executed by a processor implement the steps of the method according to the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to execute a program or instructions to implement the method according to the second aspect.

In an embodiment of the present application, a pixel processing circuit includes a control logic block, a first RST reset gate, and a first circuit block. The control logic module can control the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition that the first control signal is received, so that the exposure of pixels of three channels corresponding to the shooting object is adjusted through the first RST reset gate, namely, algorithms in an ISP image processing stage are operated and realized at a sensor end, the problem that more noise is introduced when the image is processed through the ISP subsequently is solved, and the noise component is reduced from the front end, so that the image noise can be inhibited to a greater extent, and the image quality of the image shot by the electronic equipment is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a voice coil motor;

fig. 3 is a second schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view of a conventional sensor;

fig. 5 is a third schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a fourth schematic diagram of a pixel processing circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a novel sensor provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a pixel processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a pixel processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic hardware structure diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 is a second schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It will be appreciated that the data so used may be interchanged under appropriate circumstances such that embodiments of the application may be practiced in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein, and that the terms "first," "second," and the like are generally used herein in a generic sense and do not limit the number of terms, e.g., the first term can be one or more than one. In addition, "and/or" in the specification and claims means at least one of connected objects, a character "/" generally means that a preceding and succeeding related objects are in an "or" relationship.

The following explains some concepts and/or terms involved in the pixel processing circuit, the method, the device and the electronic apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application.

Camera sensor (sensor): is the core of the camera and the most critical technology in the camera. Sensors are generally classified into two types: one is a widely used CCD (charge coupled) element, and the other is a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) device. In contrast to conventional cameras, which use "film" as their information recording carrier, the "film" of a digital camera is its imaging photosensitive element, which is the "film" of the digital camera that is not to be replaced and is integral with the camera.

The CMOS devices currently used, like the CCD, are semiconductors that can record light changes in digital cameras. The CMOS fabrication technology uses semiconductors made of two elements, silicon and germanium, so that N (negatively charged) and P (positively charged) semiconductors coexist on the CMOS, and the currents generated by these two complementary effects can be recorded and interpreted as images by the processing chip.

The camera lens (lens) is the most important component in the camera because its quality directly affects the quality of the captured image. The lens can be divided into two categories of zooming and fixed focus. The zoom lens has variable focal length and variable visual angle, namely, the zoom lens can be pushed and pulled; the fixed focus lens is a lens of which the focal length cannot be changed into only one focal length or only one visual angle.

A CMOS Camera Module (CMOS Camera Module) is a Camera Module that is mainly used in a current mobile phone, and is composed of a Lens (Lens), a Voice Coil Motor (Voice Coil Motor), an infrared Filter (IR Filter), an image sensor (CMOS), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC).

The CCM has the working flow that the voice coil motor drives the lens to reach the position with accurate focusing, external light passes through the lens and is filtered by the infrared filter to irradiate on a photosensitive diode (pixel) of the image sensor, the photosensitive diode converts a sensed optical signal into an electric signal, a digital signal matrix (image) is formed by an amplifying circuit and an AD (analog-to-digital conversion) circuit, and the electric signal matrix is processed by a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and is compressed and stored.

Generally, after the sensor outputs image data (i.e. raw image) of a digital signal, an Image Signal Processor (ISP) may further process and optimize the image data to convert it into a picture close to a scene seen by human eyes. The algorithm modules of the ISP include vignetting correction, color calibration, white balance calibration, gamma (gamma) calibration, etc., and these image algorithms often introduce more noise (i.e., noise that degrades the image) while calibrating, which affects the image quality of the picture.

In order to solve the above technical problems, in the embodiments of the present application, a pixel processing circuit is designed based on a novel sensor, and a voltage logic determination device, a RST2 reset gate, a control logic device, and the like are added to operate some algorithms in an ISP at a sensor end, so that the degradation of noise by the image algorithm of the ISP after the sensor is plotted can be suppressed, that is, noise components are reduced from a front end, so as to suppress image noise to a greater extent, and at the same time, a dynamic range of the sensor can be improved, and a final image quality signal-to-noise ratio and user experience can be improved.

Example one

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing circuit, and fig. 1 shows a pixel processing circuit provided by the embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 1, the pixel processing circuit may include: a control logic module 11, a first Reset transistor (RST) Reset gate 12, and a first circuit module 13.

One end of the control logic module 11 (which may also be referred to as a control logic device) is connected to one end of the first RST reset gate 12, and the other end of the first RST reset gate 12 is connected to the first circuit module 13. The control logic module 11 is configured to control the first RST reset gate 12 to be in a first working state when receiving the first control signal; the first RST reset gate 12 is used for adjusting the exposure of the pixels of the three channels corresponding to the shooting object in a first working state; the first circuit module 13 is configured to process light corresponding to a shooting object.

Note that, in fig. 1, the first RST reset gate 12 terminates the power supply block (VDD) as yet another.

The pixel processing circuit can be applied to electronic devices, pixel processing devices, lens modules, and the like; the pixel processing circuit is a circuit in the sensor, and is used for processing the light projected to the sensor through the lens and the optical filter, such as exposure, reset, signal conversion, and the like, and will be described in detail in the following embodiments, which are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the module structure (i.e., the lens module) includes a lens, a filter (e.g., an infrared filter), a sensor, an ISP, and the like.

Wherein, the lens group (lens) is used for focusing and condensing, the lens group is wrapped and fixed by a Voice Coil Motor (VCM), the upper and lower ends of the VCM are linked with the elastic sheet; when focusing, the motor generates electromagnetic force by electrifying, the electromagnetic force is finally kept in balance with the elastic force of the elastic sheet, and the position of the motor can be controlled by the size of the electrification, so that the motor and the lens group are pushed to the focusing position.

As shown in fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of the voice coil motor, the structure of the voice coil motor includes: an upper cover (cover)14, an upper Spring plate (Spring-Top)15, a shell (Yoke)16, a Coil (Coil)17, a Label (Label)18, a Magnet (Magnet)19, a lens holder (sensor holder)20, a lower Spring plate (Spring-Btm)21, a Base (Base)22, a Terminal (Terminal)23 and the like.

Wherein, the upper cover has the function of protecting the motor; the upper spring leaf generates acting force on the motor when being deformed so as to balance the electromagnetic force with the sum of the lower spring leaf; the shell is a main frame of the motor fixing part, has a magnetic conduction function, and improves the effective utilization rate of the magnets; the coil generates upward thrust under the action of a magnetic field of the magnet when current is supplied to the coil, and drives other parts of the moving part to move together; a label for recording and identifying motor information when lettering by laser; the magnet generates a magnetic field, so that the electrified coil generates electromagnetic force under the action of the magnetic field, and the moving part carrier drives the lens to move together; the lower spring leaf generates acting force on the motor when being deformed so as to balance the electromagnetic force with the sum of the upper spring leaf; the integrated motor is directly assembled with a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC), and the split motor is matched with a lens holder; and the electronic equipment supplies power to the motor through the terminal.

The light penetrates through the lens and is projected to the optical filter, so that unnecessary light projected to the sensor is filtered by the optical filter, the sensor is prevented from generating false color/ripple, the effective resolution and the color reducibility of the sensor are improved, and the light passing through the optical filter can be sensed by the sensor.

After the sensor senses light, the sensor converts the light signal into an electric signal, the electric signal is amplified and converted into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) module, a raw image is formed, and the digital signal is output to an image processing system (such as an ISP).

It should be noted that the sensor (i.e., the image sensor) is a semiconductor chip, and the surface of the semiconductor chip has hundreds of thousands to millions of photodiodes/photodiodes, each of which is covered with a Micro-lens (Micro-lens) and a color filter array (color filter array). The micro-lenses are used to direct light into the photodiodes and the color filter matrix filters the light to allow only light of a particular wavelength band, for example, of a particular color. The photodiode senses the light and generates electric charges to convert the light into an electric signal.

The image processing system may perform image processing on the raw image, for example, by processing through algorithm modules of ISPs (automatic exposure, AE), Automatic Focus (AF), Automatic White Balance (AWB), Optical Black (OB), shading (shading), and gamma (gamma), so as to obtain and store an exposure ratio of three channels of red, green, and blue (R/G/B) (i.e., an exposure ratio of three channels).

In the embodiment of the present application, a sending timing sequence of a first control signal (which may also be referred to as a forced control signal) may be set according to a pre-stored exposure ratio of three R/G/B channels (i.e., a three-channel exposure ratio required for obtaining correct white balance), so that the control logic module 11 controls the first RST reset gate 12 to be in the first working state through triggering of the first control signal, so as to adjust the exposure amount of pixels in the three channels, thereby implementing an AWB function at a sensor end.

It is understood that in the embodiment of the present application, each pixel in the sensor has its own independent exposure control capability. Under a high-brightness environment, when the proportion of the exposure of R/G/B is obtained, the exposure of the pixels of three channels can be adjusted by forcing a control signal, so that the AWB function of the sensor end is realized.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the control logic module 11 is specifically configured to control the first RST reset gate 12 to be in the first working state according to the receiving time of the first control signal; the first RST reset gate 12 is specifically configured to clear the exposure amount of the pixel of the channel corresponding to the first control signal according to the receiving time in the first operating state.

In the embodiment of the present application, for any channel of the three channels, the first RST reset gate 12 may be activated at a certain time point by forcing a control signal, so as to reset the exposure amount of the pixel of the any channel (i.e., perform Photodiode (PD) reset, i.e., empty the photoelectrons in the PD), thereby implementing control of the exposure capability of the sensor end.

Illustratively, assuming that the exposure time is 1 millisecond (ms), the exposure of the R/G/B three channels in 1ms is 2, 10 and 5 respectively. In order to realize the AWB function at the sensor end, the exposure of the R/G/B three channels needs to be consistent, and the exposure of the G channel and the exposure of the B channel can be respectively adjusted by a forced control signal according to the proportion (namely 2:10:5) of the exposure of the R/G/B three channels, for example, by taking the exposure of the R channel as a reference/benchmark. Specifically, for the G channel, at the 0.8ms, the first RST reset gate 12 is controlled to be in an operating state by a forced control signal, so that the first RST reset gate 12 clears the exposure amount of the G channel before 0.8ms, that is, the G channel starts to be re-exposed from the 0.8ms, so that when the G channel is exposed to 1ms and the exposure is finished, the exposure amount of the G channel (i.e., 0.2 multiplied by 10) is the same as the exposure amount of the R channel (i.e., both are 2); for the B channel, at the 0.6ms, the first RST reset gate 12 is controlled to be in an operating state by a forced control signal, so that the first RST reset gate 12 clears the exposure amount of the B channel before 0.6ms, namely, the B channel is re-exposed from the 0.6ms, and thus the exposure amount of the B channel (namely, 0.4 multiplied by 5) is the same as the exposure amount of the R channel (namely, 2) when the B channel is exposed to 1ms and the exposure is finished.

It should be noted that when the environment where the shooting is performed changes, the above processing procedure may be repeated to implement dynamic refresh of the AWB of the sensor.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, as shown in fig. 3 (a), the first circuit module 13 specifically includes at least one of the following: a second RST reset gate 24, a floating switch (TG)25, a row Selector (SET)26, a signal amplifier (SF)27, a Photodiode (PD)28, a lumped element (FD)29 (e.g., resistor, capacitor, inductor, etc.) and current, power supply modules (VDD, Vout, DC, etc.), and the like. As shown in fig. 3 (B), the first circuit module 13 is a corresponding schematic structural diagram.

The pixel structure shown in fig. 3 a is also referred to as a fixed Photodiode Pixel (PPD) structure. The PPD structure includes a light sensing region of PPD, i.e., a Photodiode (PD) and 4 transistors, i.e., a reset transistor (RST), a floating switch (TG), a row Selector (SET) and a signal amplifier (SF), and thus is also referred to as a 4T pixel structure. In the PPD structure, introduction of a Correlated Double Sampling (CDS) circuit is allowed, kTC noise introduced by reset, 1/f noise and offset (offset) noise introduced by a metal-oxide-semiconductor (mos) transistor, and the like are eliminated.

Wherein, the process of working through the PPD structure is as follows:

(1) and (6) exposing. The electron-hole pairs generated by light irradiation are separated by the presence of the PPD electric field, and the electron moves to the n region and the hole moves to the p region.

(2) And resetting. At the end of the exposure, the RST is activated (i.e., the second RST reset gate 24), resetting the readout region (i.e., the n + region) to a high level.

(3) The reset level is read out. After the reset is completed, the reset level is read out, wherein offset noise and 1/f noise of the mos tube and kTC noise introduced by the reset are contained, and the read-out signal is stored in the first capacitor.

(4) And (4) transferring electric charges. TX is activated to transfer charge completely from the photosensitive region to the n + region (n positive region) for readout, a mechanism here similar to charge transfer in a CCD.

(5) The signal level is read out. The voltage signal of the n + region is read out to the second capacitor. The signals here include: signals generated by photoelectric conversion, offset generated by an operational amplifier, 1/f noise and kTC noise introduced by resetting.

(6) And (6) outputting the signals. Signals stored in the two capacitors are subtracted (for example, CDS is adopted, most of noise in a photodiode can be eliminated), and the obtained signals are subjected to analog amplification and then subjected to ADC sampling, so that digital signal output can be performed.

As shown in fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram of an amplification principle of a conventional sensor, an amplifier (e.g., column amplifiers) of the conventional sensor is on the column ADC, or after the column ADC, only the whole pixel amplification can be realized by the amplifier of the conventional sensor, and the function of channel division or pixel division amplification cannot be realized.

The sensor (neotype sensor promptly) in this application embodiment adds a plurality of amplifier circuit, and every amplifier circuit controls a passageway respectively for the sensor possesses the function that can do AWB, can also make different passageways do the exposure of different degrees simultaneously, reaches the purpose that promotes dynamic range.

With reference to (a) in fig. 1 and 3, as shown in fig. 5, the other end of the first RST reset gate 12 is connected to one end of the PD 28 in the first circuit block 13; the forced control signal may activate the first RST reset gate 12 to reset the Photodiode (PD) (i.e., clear the photo-electrons in the PD, i.e., reset the exposure amount) at a certain time point after the second RST reset gate 24 is performed, so as to control the exposure capability of the pixel, if the exposure time after the second RST reset gate 24 is performed is 100ms, the first RST reset gate 12 may perform forced reset 500ms after the second RST reset gate 24 is performed, so as to expose the pixel for only 50 ms.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the pixel processing circuit further includes: and a voltage logic judgment module. One end of the voltage logic judgment module is connected to the first circuit module 13, and the other end of the voltage logic judgment module is connected to the other end of the control logic module 11. The voltage logic determining module is configured to determine whether to output a second control signal, where the second control signal is used to control the first RST reset gate 12 to empty photoelectrons in the photodiode during the pixel exposure process. The control logic module 11 is further configured to control the first RST reset gate 12 to be in the second working state when the second control signal is received and the first control signal is not received, and the first RST reset gate 12 is further configured to empty photoelectrons in the photodiode in the second working state to restart pixel exposure.

It should be noted that the pixel exposure process can be understood as follows: the process of the sensor (i.e. the pixel) receiving light starts from the start of the first RST reset gate until the time period of signal readout (i.e. the output of the forcing control signal).

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, when the voltage value of the photodiode is equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photodiode, the voltage logic determining module is specifically configured to output a second control signal and a count signal, where the count signal is used to indicate the number of times that the first RST reset gate 12 clears the photoelectrons in the photodiode.

With reference to fig. 5, as shown in fig. 6, the pixel processing circuit further includes: and a voltage logic judgment module 30. The two ends of the voltage logic judging module 30 are connected with the two ends of the PD 28, the other end of the voltage logic judging module 30 is connected with the other end of the control logic module 11, and the voltage logic judging module 30 is configured to judge whether the pixel is saturated or not, and when the pixel is saturated, control to empty photoelectrons in the PD by outputting a reset signal, and output a count signal to the system.

It should be noted that, for the conventional sensor, in a high brightness or high light ratio scene, part of the pixels may be saturated, i.e. only 1024 may be output, and thus the sensing capability of the high brightness information may be lost (i.e. the maximum output value is 1024 for higher than 1024 is not sensed).

For the new sensor, when the PD voltage is the electric field voltage in the PD (i.e. representing the pixel photosensitive saturation), the voltage logic determination module (also referred to as the voltage logic determination device) may be triggered to output the reset signal (i.e. the second control signal), control the first RST reset gate 12 to start and clear the photoelectrons in the PD, so as to restart the exposure, and simultaneously the voltage logic determination module may output the counting signal to the system for counting. After exposure is completed, the system adds the value of the count signal x 1024 as the final photosensitive digital value of the pixel (i.e. the actual exposure of the pixel) according to the finally obtained digital signal value in the PD (i.e. the value of photoelectrons in the PD after the last clearing of internal photoelectrons and the re-exposure), so as to realize the high dynamic photosensitive function of the pixel and improve the photosensitive dynamic range of the sensor.

As shown in Table 1, the color filter matrix of the novel sensor is a distribution table, i.e. the pixel distribution of R/G/B three channels.

TABLE 1

R	Gr	R	Gr	R	Gr
						Gb	B	Gb	B	Gb	B
R	Gr	R	Gr	R	Gr
						Gb	B	Gb	B	Gb	B
R	Gr	R	Gr	R	Gr
						Gb	B	Gb	B	Gb	B

With reference to table 1, as shown in fig. 7, for a schematic structural principle of the novel sensor, for each pixel in the sensor, the pixel of each of the three R/G/B channels has an independent exposure control capability, and the three channels of each pixel may be respectively subjected to pixel processing (for example, resetting the exposure of the pixel) to implement an AWB function at the sensor end.

It should be noted that, when the forcing control signal participates in the control, the second control signal will be masked by the control logic module 11 to implement a corresponding function according to the forcing control signal, that is, when the forcing control signal and the second control signal are simultaneously sent to the control logic module 11, the control logic module 11 only controls the first RST reset gate 12 to perform a corresponding operation (for example, adjusting the exposure amount of a pixel of a certain channel) according to the received forcing control signal.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, after the image is processed through the above processing procedure, the processed image may be subjected to image compression to be compressed into a JPEG image, and stored in the electronic device or displayed through a display unit of the electronic device.

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing circuit, which comprises a control logic module, a first RST reset gate and a first circuit module. The control logic module can control the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition that the first control signal is received, so that the exposure of pixels of three channels corresponding to the shooting object is adjusted through the first RST reset gate, namely, algorithms in an ISP image processing stage are operated and realized at a sensor end, the problem that more noise is introduced when the image is processed through the ISP subsequently is solved, and the noise component is reduced from the front end, so that the image noise can be inhibited to a greater extent, and the image quality of the image shot by the electronic equipment is improved.

Example two

The pixel processing method according to the embodiment of the present application can be applied to an electronic device, a pixel processing apparatus, a lens module, or the like, and the following embodiment will describe an example in which the pixel processing method is applied to an electronic device.

The embodiment of the present application provides a pixel processing method, and fig. 8 shows a flowchart of the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application may include

steps

201 and 202 described below.

Step 201, the electronic device acquires at least one trigger time of the first control signal.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first control signal is used to control and adjust an exposure amount of pixels in three channels corresponding to a shooting object, and each of the at least one trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels.

In the embodiment of the application, aiming at three channels of each pixel, the exposure of the pixels of the three channels can be adjusted by triggering the first control signal; the electronic device can determine at which time to adjust the exposure of the pixel of the channel corresponding to the time by triggering the first control signal according to the at least one triggering time.

It should be noted that the trigger time of the first control signal corresponds to the reception time of the first control signal.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first control signal may be triggered by a user at a corresponding time, or a corresponding time preset in the electronic device, so that the electronic device triggers the first control signal at the corresponding time.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, before the step 201, the pixel processing method provided in this embodiment of the present application further includes the following step 301, and the step 201 may be specifically realized by the following step 201 a.

Step 301, the electronic device obtains the ratio of the exposure of the pixels in the three channels.

In the embodiment of the application, the ratio of the exposure of the pixels of the three channels is calculated by the ISP through the AWB function, namely the ratio of the exposure of the pixels of the three channels required by the AWB function.

Step 201a, the electronic device determines at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the ratio of the exposure of the pixels of the three channels.

In this embodiment of the application, the electronic device may calculate, according to the ratio of the exposure amounts of the pixels in the three channels, a trigger time (one channel corresponds to one trigger time) that can implement the AWB, so as to adjust the exposure amount of the pixel in the channel corresponding to the current trigger (i.e., zero clearing the exposure amount of the pixel in the channel) by triggering the first control signal at the corresponding time.

Step 202, in the process of exposing the pixels of the target channel, the electronic device triggers a first control signal at the target time to control and adjust the exposure amount of the pixels of the target channel.

In an embodiment of the present application, the target channel is a channel corresponding to at least one trigger time in three channels, and the target time is a trigger time corresponding to the target channel.

Alternatively, in this embodiment of the application, the step 202 may be specifically implemented by the step 202a described below.

Step 202a, in the process of exposing the pixels of the target channel, the electronic device triggers a first control signal at the target time to clear the exposure amount of the pixels of the target channel before the target time, and re-exposes the pixels of the target channel.

It should be noted that the electronic device includes the pixel processing circuit, and for related contents related to the pixel processing method, reference may be made to descriptions in the pixel processing circuit in the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described here again.

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing method, and an electronic device can determine at least one trigger time of a first control signal and trigger the first control signal at a target time in the process of exposing pixels of a target channel so as to control and adjust the exposure of the pixels of the target channel. According to the scheme, the electronic equipment can trigger the first control signal at the corresponding time to adjust the exposure amount of the pixel of the channel corresponding to the time in the process of exposing the pixel of any channel according to the trigger time corresponding to at least one channel, namely, algorithms in the ISP image processing stage are operated at the sensor end to avoid the problem that more noise is introduced when the image is processed through the ISP subsequently, and the image noise can be inhibited to a greater extent in a mode of reducing the noise component from the front end, so that the image quality of the image shot by the electronic equipment is improved.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, after the step 202, the pixel processing method provided in this embodiment of the present application further includes the following step 401.

Step 401, in the pixel exposure process, if it is detected that the voltage value of the photodiode is equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photodiode, the electronic device clears the photoelectrons in the photodiode to restart the pixel exposure.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, after the step 401, the pixel processing method provided in this embodiment of the present application further includes a step 402 described below.

Step 402, after the pixel exposure is completed, the electronic device determines a target exposure amount according to the target number of times and the target value.

In the embodiment of the present application, the target number is the number of emptying photoelectrons in the photodiode, the target value is the number of photoelectrons in the photodiode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure amount is the actual exposure amount of the pixel.

It should be noted that, for the method for determining the target exposure amount, reference may be made to the description in the above embodiments, and details are not repeated here.

In the embodiment of the application, under the scene of high brightness or large light ratio, when detecting that the pixel is saturated in sensitization, can be through emptying the photoelectron in the photosensitive diode to restart and carry out the pixel exposure, then based on the number of times of emptying and the photoelectron numerical value in the photosensitive diode after the last pixel exposure, calculate correct exposure, can realize the high dynamic sensitization function of pixel, promote the sensitization dynamic range of sensor.

It should be noted that, in the pixel processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the execution main body may be a pixel processing apparatus, or a control module for executing the pixel processing method in the pixel processing apparatus. In the embodiment of the present application, a pixel processing method executed by a pixel processing apparatus is taken as an example to describe the pixel processing apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of a pixel processing device related to the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the pixel processing device 70 may include: an acquisition module 71 and a triggering module 72.

The obtaining module 71 is configured to obtain at least one trigger time of a first control signal, where the first control signal is used to control and adjust exposure of pixels in three channels corresponding to a shooting object, and each trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels. The triggering module 72 is configured to trigger the first control signal at a target time during exposure of a pixel of a target channel, so as to control and adjust an exposure amount of the pixel of the target channel, where the target channel is a channel corresponding to at least one triggering time in three channels, and the target time is a triggering time corresponding to the target channel.

In a possible implementation manner, the triggering module 72 is specifically configured to trigger the first control signal at the target time, so as to clear the exposure amount of the pixel of the target channel before the target time, and re-expose the pixel of the target channel.

In a possible implementation manner, the obtaining module 71 is further configured to obtain the ratio of the exposure of the pixels in three channels before obtaining the at least one trigger time of the first control signal. The obtaining module 71 is specifically configured to determine at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to a ratio of the exposure amounts of the pixels in the three channels.

In a possible implementation manner, the pixel processing apparatus 70 provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes: and clearing the module. And the emptying module is used for emptying photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode to restart pixel exposure if detecting that the voltage value of the photosensitive diode is equal to the voltage value of an electric field in the photosensitive diode in the pixel exposure process.

In a possible implementation manner, the pixel processing apparatus 70 provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes: and determining a module. The determining module is used for determining a target exposure amount according to a target frequency and a target value after pixel exposure is completed and the pixel exposure is restarted, wherein the target frequency is the frequency of emptying photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode, the target value is the value of the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure amount is the actual exposure amount of the pixel.

The embodiment of the application provides a pixel processing device, because the exposure of the pixel of the channel corresponding to the time can be adjusted by triggering the first control signal at the corresponding time in the process of exposing the pixel of any channel according to the triggering time corresponding to at least one channel, that is, some algorithms in the ISP image processing stage are operated at the sensor end, so as to avoid the problem that more noise is introduced when the image is processed by the ISP subsequently, and the noise component is reduced from the front end, so that the image noise can be suppressed to a greater extent, and the image quality of the shot image is improved.

The pixel processing device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device, or may be a component in a terminal, an integrated circuit, or a chip. The device can be mobile electronic equipment or non-mobile electronic equipment. By way of example, the mobile electronic device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm top computer, a vehicle-mounted electronic device, a wearable device, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a netbook or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and the like, and the non-mobile electronic device may be a server, a Network Attached Storage (NAS), a Personal Computer (PC), a Television (TV), a teller machine or a self-service machine, and the like, and the embodiments of the present application are not particularly limited.

The pixel processing device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device having an operating system. The operating system may be an Android (Android) operating system, an ios operating system, or other possible operating systems, and embodiments of the present application are not limited specifically.

The pixel processing device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the above method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect, and for avoiding repetition, details are not repeated here.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 10, an electronic device 90 is further provided in this embodiment of the present application, and includes a processor 91, a memory 92, and a program or an instruction stored in the memory 92 and executable on the processor 91, where the program or the instruction is executed by the processor 91 to implement the processes of the foregoing method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect, and no further description is provided here to avoid repetition.

It should be noted that the electronic device in the embodiment of the present application includes the mobile electronic device and the non-mobile electronic device described above.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an electronic device implementing an embodiment of the present application.

The electronic device 100 includes, but is not limited to: a radio frequency unit 101, a network module 102, an audio output unit 103, an input unit 104, a sensor 105, a display unit 106, a user input unit 107, an interface unit 108, a memory 109, and a processor 110.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the electronic device 100 may further comprise a power source (e.g., a battery) for supplying power to various components, and the power source may be logically connected to the processor 110 through a power management system, so as to implement functions of managing charging, discharging, and power consumption through the power management system. The electronic device structure shown in fig. 11 does not constitute a limitation of the electronic device, and the electronic device may include more or less components than those shown, or combine some components, or arrange different components, and thus, the description is not repeated here.

The processor 110 is configured to obtain at least one trigger time of a first control signal, where the first control signal is used to control and adjust exposure of pixels in three channels corresponding to a photographic subject, and each trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels; and in the process of exposing the pixels of the target channel, triggering a first control signal at a target time to control and adjust the exposure of the pixels of the target channel, wherein the target channel is a channel corresponding to at least one triggering time in the three channels, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target channel.

The embodiment of the application provides an electronic device, because the exposure amount of the pixel of the channel corresponding to the time can be adjusted by triggering the first control signal at the corresponding time in the process of exposing the pixel of any channel according to the triggering time corresponding to at least one channel, that is, some algorithms in the ISP image processing stage are implemented at the sensor end, so as to avoid the problem that more noise is introduced when the image is processed by the ISP subsequently, and the mode of reducing the noise component from the front end can suppress the image noise to a greater extent, thereby improving the image quality of the shot image.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 110 is specifically configured to trigger the first control signal at the target time, to clear an exposure amount of the pixel of the target channel before the target time, and to re-expose the pixel of the target channel.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 110 is further configured to obtain a ratio of the exposure of the pixels in three channels before obtaining the at least one trigger time of the first control signal. The processor 110 is specifically configured to determine at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the acquired ratio of the exposure amount of the pixels of the three channels.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the processor 110 is further configured to empty photoelectrons in the photodiode to resume pixel exposure if it is detected that the voltage value of the photodiode is equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photodiode during pixel exposure.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the processor 110 is further configured to determine, after the pixel exposure is completed, a target exposure amount according to a target number of times of emptying the photo electrons in the photo diode and a target value, where the target number is a number of times of emptying the photo electrons in the photo diode, the target value is a value of the photo electrons in the photo diode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure amount is an actual exposure amount of the pixel.

The electronic device provided by the embodiment of the application can realize each process realized by the method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect, and for avoiding repetition, the details are not repeated here.

The beneficial effects of the various implementation manners in this embodiment may specifically refer to the beneficial effects of the corresponding implementation manners in the above method embodiments, and are not described herein again to avoid repetition.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the input Unit 104 may include a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) 1041 and a microphone 1042, and the Graphics Processing Unit 1041 processes image data of a still picture or a video obtained by an image capturing device (such as a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The display unit 106 may include a display panel 1061, and the display panel 1061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 107 includes a touch panel 1071 and other input devices 1072. The touch panel 1071 is also referred to as a touch screen. The touch panel 1071 may include two parts of a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 1072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and a joystick, which are not described in detail herein. The memory 109 may be used to store software programs as well as various data including, but not limited to, application programs and an operating system. The processor 110 may integrate an application processor, which primarily handles operating systems, user interfaces, applications, etc., and a modem processor, which primarily handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 110.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a readable storage medium, where a program or an instruction is stored on the readable storage medium, and when the program or the instruction is executed by a processor, the program or the instruction implements the processes of the foregoing method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effects, and in order to avoid repetition, details are not repeated here.

The processor is the processor in the electronic device described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer readable storage medium, such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and so on.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to execute a program or an instruction to implement each process of the foregoing method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effect, and in order to avoid repetition, the details are not repeated here.

It should be understood that the chips mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as system-on-chip, system-on-chip or system-on-chip, etc.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element. Further, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatus of the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing the functions in the order illustrated or discussed, but may include performing the functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in a reverse order based on the functions involved, e.g., the methods described may be performed in an order different than that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the method of the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases, the former is a better implementation manner. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes instructions for enabling a terminal (such as a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present application.

While the present embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise embodiments described above, which are meant to be illustrative and not restrictive, and that various changes may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A pixel processing circuit, comprising: the control logic module, a first reset triode RST reset gate and a first circuit module;

one end of the control logic module is connected with one end of the first RST reset gate, and the other end of the first RST reset gate is connected with the first circuit module; the control logic module is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to be in a first working state under the condition that a first control signal is received, the first RST reset gate is used for adjusting the exposure of the pixels of three channels corresponding to a shooting object under the first working state, and the first circuit module is used for processing the light corresponding to the shooting object.

2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the control logic module is specifically configured to control the first RST reset gate to be in the first operating state according to a receiving time of the first control signal, and the first RST reset gate is specifically configured to clear an exposure amount of a pixel of a channel corresponding to the first control signal according to the receiving time in the first operating state.

3. The circuit of claim 1 or 2, wherein the pixel processing circuit further comprises: a voltage logic judgment module;

one end of the voltage logic judgment module is connected with the first circuit module, and the other end of the voltage logic judgment module is connected with the other end of the control logic module; the voltage logic judgment module is used for judging whether a second control signal is output or not, and the second control signal is used for controlling the first RST reset gate to empty photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode in the pixel exposure process;

the control logic module is further configured to control the first RST reset gate to be in a second operating state when the second control signal is received and the first control signal is not received, and the first RST reset gate is further configured to empty the photoelectrons in the photodiode in the second operating state to restart pixel exposure.

4. The circuit of claim 3, wherein the voltage logic determination module is further configured to output the second control signal and a count signal indicating a number of times that the first RST reset gate clears photoelectrons in the photodiode, when a voltage value of the photodiode is equal to a voltage value of an electric field in the photodiode.

5. A method of pixel processing, the method comprising:

acquiring at least one trigger time of a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of pixels of three channels corresponding to a shot object, and each trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels;

and in the process of exposing the pixels of the target channel, triggering the first control signal at a target time to control and adjust the exposure of the pixels of the target channel, wherein the target channel is a channel corresponding to the at least one triggering time in the three channels, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target channel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein triggering the first control signal at a target time to control adjusting an exposure of pixels of the target channel comprises:

and triggering the first control signal at the target time to clear the exposure of the pixels of the target channel before the target time, and re-exposing the pixels of the target channel.

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein at least one trigger time for said acquiring the first control signal is preceded by the method further comprising:

acquiring the ratio of the exposure of the pixels of the three channels;

the acquiring at least one trigger time of the first control signal includes:

and determining at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to the ratio of the exposure of the pixels of the three channels.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

in the pixel exposure process, if the voltage value of the photosensitive diode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of the electric field in the photosensitive diode, the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode are cleared, and the pixel exposure is restarted.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein after said emptying photoelectrons from said photodiode to resume pixel exposure, said method further comprises:

after the pixel exposure is finished, determining a target exposure amount according to a target frequency and a target numerical value, wherein the target frequency is the frequency of emptying photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode, the target numerical value is the numerical value of the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure amount is the actual exposure amount of the pixel.

10. A pixel processing apparatus, characterized in that the pixel processing apparatus comprises: the device comprises an acquisition module and a trigger module;

the acquisition module is used for acquiring at least one trigger time of a first control signal, the first control signal is used for controlling and adjusting the exposure of pixels of three channels corresponding to a shot object, and each trigger time corresponds to one of the three channels;

the triggering module is configured to trigger the first control signal at a target time in a process of exposing pixels of a target channel to control and adjust an exposure amount of the pixels of the target channel, where the target channel is a channel corresponding to the at least one triggering time in the three channels, and the target time is the triggering time corresponding to the target channel.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the triggering module is specifically configured to trigger the first control signal at the target time to clear an exposure amount of the pixel of the target channel before the target time, and to re-expose the pixel of the target channel.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein the obtaining module is further configured to obtain a ratio of exposures of the pixels of the three channels before obtaining at least one trigger time of the first control signal;

the acquisition module is specifically configured to determine at least one trigger time of the first control signal according to a ratio of exposure amounts of pixels in the three channels.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the pixel processing apparatus further comprises: clearing the module;

and the emptying module is used for emptying photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode to restart pixel exposure if the voltage value of the photosensitive diode is detected to be equal to the voltage value of an electric field in the photosensitive diode in the pixel exposure process.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the pixel processing apparatus further comprises: a determination module;

and the determining module is used for determining a target exposure amount according to a target frequency and a target numerical value after the emptying module empties the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode so as to restart pixel exposure and after the pixel exposure is finished, wherein the target frequency is the frequency of emptying the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode, the target numerical value is the numerical value of the photoelectrons in the photosensitive diode after the last pixel exposure, and the target exposure amount is the actual exposure amount of the pixel.

15. An electronic device, characterized in that the electronic device comprises a pixel processing circuit according to any of claims 1-4.

16. An electronic device comprising a processor, a memory and a program or instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the pixel processing method according to any one of claims 5 to 9.

17. A readable storage medium, on which a program or instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the pixel processing method according to any one of claims 5 to 9.