Patent ID: 8638373

Claim:
An imaging device comprising: an imaging element which obtains an image; and an imaging sensor processing unit which resets an exposure of the imaging element by a feedback control based on an image data obtained by the imaging element, the image sensor processing unit comprising: an image evaluation unit which calculates data for evaluation of the image data obtained by the imaging element; and an exposure controller which sets an exposure of the imaging element based on a plurality of initial values before obtaining the image data and based on the data for evaluation of the image evaluation unit after obtaining the image data, wherein the imaging sensor processing unit continuously executes, by pipeline processing, the following processing of setting an exposure time of the imaging element in a first frame just after start-up of the imaging device, making the imaging element accumulate light with an exposure time set at a former frame in a second frame, and outputting the image data by applying a gain set by the second frame in a third frame, and wherein the image evaluation unit sequentially calculates the data for evaluation of the image data obtained in the third frame and subsequent frames, and the exposure controller determines an optimal exposure based on the data for evaluation obtained in the third frame and subsequent frames and sets the optimal exposure to the imaging device.