CN-122029832-A - Light detection device and light detection system

Abstract

To achieve size reduction, cost reduction, and energy consumption reduction, and to reduce the amount of output data including event information. A light detection device includes a pixel array unit having a plurality of pixels that detect an event of whether a change in brightness of incident light exceeds a predetermined threshold, a first control unit that switches a frequency at which the event is detected in a first region that is a part of a pixel region including the plurality of pixels and a second region that is at least partially different from the first region, and a second control unit that switches between access control for the first region and access control for the second region.

Inventors

• HIGUCHI YASUSHI
• NIWA ATSUMI

Assignees

• 索尼半导体解决方案公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20241031

Priority Date

20231114

Claims (20)

1. 1. A light detection device, comprising: a pixel array section including a plurality of pixels that detect an event in the case where a change in brightness of incident light exceeds a predetermined threshold; A first control section for switching a frequency of detecting the event between a first region, which is a portion of a pixel region including a plurality of the pixels, and a second region, which is at least partially different from the first region, and And a second control unit that switches between access control for the first area and access control for the second area.
2. 2. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, The first region is a region of interest having a smaller size than the second region, and The first control section detects the event in the first region at a higher frequency than the second region.
3. 3. The light detection device according to claim 1, wherein the first control section switches a resolution for detecting the event between the first region and the second region.
4. 4. The light detecting device as in claim 3, wherein, The first control section detects the event in each of all pixels in the first region, and detects the event in each of two or more of the pixels in the second region.
5. 5. The light detecting device as in claim 3, wherein, The first control section detects the event in each of all pixels in the second region, and detects the event in each of two or more of the pixels in the first region.
6. 6. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, The first region or the second region includes a current addition circuit that performs addition calculation of a current generated by photoelectric conversion generated in each of two or more of the pixels.
7. 7. The light detection device of claim 6, further comprising: And a switch that switches whether or not to add currents generated by photoelectric conversion in each of the two or more pixels adjacent to each other in a first direction or a second direction intersecting the first direction by the current adding circuit.
8. 8. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, Each of the plurality of pixels includes: A photoelectric conversion element generating electric charges according to the light quantity of incident light, and A source follower circuit outputting a voltage according to the electric charge, and The first region or the second region includes a voltage averaging circuit that performs addition calculation and averaging of voltages output from the source follower circuits included in each of two or more of the pixels.
9. 9. The light detection device of claim 8, further comprising: A switch that switches whether or not to add and average voltages output from the source follower circuits of each of the two or more pixels adjacent to each other in a first direction or a second direction intersecting the first direction.
10. 10. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, A plurality of the pixels in the pixel array section perform detection of the event in the first region a plurality of times within one frame period and perform detection of the event once in the second region.
11. 11. The light detection device of claim 1, further comprising: A signal processing circuit that generates event data including detection signals of the events output from the plurality of pixels and additional information related to the detection signals, wherein, The additional information includes at least one of a pixel location of the event, information specifying the first region or the second region in which the event has been detected, and a detection time of the event.
12. 12. The light detection device of claim 1, further comprising: and a signal processing circuit that performs at least one of a filtering process of thinning out detection signals of the event outputted from the plurality of pixels and a compression process of compressing detection signals of the event outputted from the plurality of pixels.
13. 13. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, Each of the plurality of pixels includes an event detection circuit that detects the event, and The threshold used as a reference for detecting the event by the event detection circuit differs between the first region and the second region.
14. 14. The light detecting device of claim 13, wherein, The event detection circuit includes a current-voltage conversion circuit, a buffer, a differentiating circuit, a comparator, and an output circuit, and The frequency of at least one of the buffer, the differentiating circuit, the comparator, and the output circuit is operated to be different between the first region and the second region.
15. 15. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, The plurality of pixels includes a first pixel outputting a pixel signal including gradation information corresponding to a light amount of incident light and a second pixel detecting the event.
16. 16. The light detecting device as in claim 1, wherein, A plurality of the pixels each including two or more pixels arranged in a first direction and having a plurality of pixel groups arranged in a second direction intersecting the first direction, and The pixel array section sequentially outputs a detection signal of the event for each of a plurality of the pixel groups, except for a pixel group in which the event has not occurred.
17. 17. A light detection system, comprising: A light detection device outputting an event signal, and A signal processing device including a signal processing circuit that performs signal processing based on the event signal, wherein, The light detection device includes: a pixel array section including a plurality of pixels detecting an event in the case where a change in brightness of incident light exceeds a predetermined threshold, A first control section for switching a frequency of detecting the event between a first region and a second region other than the first region, the first region being a portion of a pixel region of the pixel array section, and And a second control unit that switches between access control for the first area and access control for the second area.
18. 18. The light detection system of claim 17, wherein, The signal processing means receives the detection signal of the event detected in the first area and first additional information added to the detection signal from the light detection means via a first virtual channel, and receives the detection signal of the event detected in the second area and second additional information added to the detection signal from the light detection means via a second virtual channel.
19. 19. The light detection system of claim 18, wherein, The signal processing device specifies a frame in which the event has occurred based on the first additional information and the second additional information.
20. 20. The light detection system of claim 17, wherein, The signal processing means performs a deblurring process based on the detection signal of the event transmitted from the light detection means.

Description

Light detection device and light detection system Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a light detection device and a light detection system. Background An event-based sensor (EVS) that outputs an event signal in the case where a brightness change of incident light exceeds a threshold value can output the event signal with low power consumption and at a high speed as compared with a normal image sensor, and thus is effective in the case of tracking a moving body moving at a high speed, and so on. There is a possibility that the conventional EVS outputs a large number of event signals in response to the rocking of leaves (such as leaves rocking in the wind) around a moving body of interest. Accordingly, a technique has been proposed in which, independently of an EVS pixel outputting an event signal, a gradation pixel capable of acquiring gradation information is provided to perform pattern recognition, and the detection probability of an event is controlled in units of areas of one or more pixel circuits according to the pattern recognition result (see patent document 1). List of references Patent literature Patent document 1 Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2020-136958 Disclosure of Invention Problems to be solved by the invention In patent document 1, gray-scale pixels are provided in addition to EVS pixels, and pattern recognition is performed in the sensor using the gray-scale pixels, and therefore, the internal configuration of the sensor becomes complicated. Further, in patent document 1, an arbiter that arbitrates a plurality of event signals output from a plurality of EVS pixels is provided, and the internal configuration of the sensor is further complicated. Therefore, in the technology of patent document 1, the sensor becomes large, the cost increases, and the power consumption also increases. Further, patent document 1 does not consider reducing the amount of output data including event information. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a light detection device and a light detection system capable of reducing the size, cost, and power consumption and reducing the amount of output data including event information. Solution to the problem In order to solve the above-described problems, according to the present disclosure, there is provided a light detection apparatus including a pixel array section including a plurality of pixels that detect an event in the case where a brightness variation of incident light exceeds a predetermined threshold; A first control unit for switching the frequency of the detection event between a first region and a second region, the first region being a portion of the pixel region including a plurality of pixels, the second region being at least partially different from the first region, and The second control unit switches between access control for the first area and access control for the second area. The first region may be a region of interest of smaller size than the second region, an The first control section may detect an event in the first region at a higher frequency than the second region. The first control section may switch the resolution for detecting the event between the first area and the second area. The first control section may detect an event in each of all pixels in the first region, and may detect an event in each of two or more pixels in the second region. The first control section may detect an event in each of all pixels in the second region, and detect an event in each of two or more pixels in the first region. The first region or the second region may include a current addition circuit that performs addition calculation of a current generated by photoelectric conversion generated in each of the two or more pixels. A switch may be further included that switches whether to perform addition calculation on the current generated by photoelectric conversion in each of the two or more pixels adjacent to each other in the first direction or the second direction intersecting the first direction by the current addition circuit. Each of the plurality of pixels may include: A photoelectric conversion element generating electric charges according to the light quantity of incident light, and A source follower circuit outputting a voltage according to the charge, and The first region or the second region may include a voltage averaging circuit that performs addition calculation and averaging of voltages output from source follower circuits included in each of the two or more pixels. The display device may further include a switch that switches whether to add and average voltages output from the source follower circuits of each of the two or more pixels adjacent to each other in the first direction or the second direction intersecting the first direction. The plurality of pixels in the pixel array section may perform detection of a plurality of events in a first area and detection of one event in a second area in one frame period.