摘要 |
Further miniaturization of capsule-type endoscopes is intended. A CCD image sensor composed of an imaging section, a horizontal transfer section, and an output section is incorporated in a capsule-type endoscope. The inside of a human body is basically in a dark state. Therefore, by setting a desired exposure time on the basis of a light emission period of an LED, the CCD image sensor does not require, separately from light-receiving pixels, vertical shift registers that are shielded from light like the storage sections of frame-transfer-type CCD image sensors and the vertical shift registers of interline-transfer-type CCD image sensors. Since no shielded-from-light regions for maintaining signal charges are necessary, the CCD image sensor can be miniaturized accordingly, which enables further miniaturization of capsule-type endoscopes. |