Patent ID: 6982705
Filing Date: 2006-01-03
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An imaging apparatus comprising: a solid-state image sensing device having an imaging area divided into at least two sub-imaging areas in a horizontal direction in the imaging area, a first optical-black area and a second optical-black area being provided at both edges of the imaging area in the horizontal direction; an extractor to extract first video signals from a plurality of monitoring areas provided in the sub-imaging areas in the vicinity of the border between the sub-imaging areas; and an optical-black clamp processor to apply optical-black clamp processing to second video signals output from the sub-imaging areas by subtracting a first optical-black signal indicating an optical black level in the first optical-black area from the second video signal output from one of the sub-imaging areas and subtracting a second optical-black signal indicating an optical black level in the second optical-black area from the second video signal output from the other of the sub-imaging areas, the optical-black clamp processor including: a detector to detect a level difference between the extracted first video signals; a calculator to calculate an adjusting value per row of pixels, that provides the smallest level difference per row of pixels in a vertical direction in the imaging area based on the detected level difference; a plurality of optical-black clampers each subtracting the first optical-black signal from the second video signal output from one of the sub-imaging areas and subtracting the second optical-black signal from the second video signal output from the other of the sub-imaging areas, thus outputting an optical-black-clamped video signal; and an adjuster to perform adjustments to video-signal levels by multiplying the optical-black-clamped video signal by the adjusting value.