Patent ID: 6750911
Filing Date: 2004-06-15
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A digital camera comprising:a color filter formed by a plurality of color elements having N (N: integer greater than one) of colors distributed; an imager having a plurality of light receiving elements respectively corresponding to said plurality of color elements; a determiner for determining an exposure period of said imager by evaluating a luminance of an object scene; a sweeper for sweeping at a start timing of the exposure period charges generated by said plurality of light receiving elements; a reader for reading after a lapse of the exposure period the charges generated by at least a part of said plurality of light receiving elements; and a changer for changing a reading scheme of said reader between a first scheme and a second scheme depending upon the exposure period, wherein said plurality of light receiving elements include a plurality of first light receiving elements which respectively correspond to a plurality of first color elements having N colors distributed, and a plurality of second light receiving elements which respectively correspond to a plurality of second color elements having N colors distributed, the first scheme is a scheme for reading only first charges generated by said plurality of first light receiving elements, the second scheme is a scheme for reading at a first timing the first charges, and reading at a second timing second charges generated by said plurality of second light receiving elements so as to mix with each other the read first charges and second charges which correspond to the same color of the color elements, and said changer validates the first scheme when the exposure period is equal to or less than a threshold value, and validates the second scheme when the exposure period is greater than the threshold value.