Patent 7598478 was granted and assigned to Konica Minolta Holdings on October, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An image pickup device wherein the range in the amount of incident light (dynamic range) for obtaining an appropriate image can be expanded, and shutter and aperture functions are provided. A light shielding element for light shielding a photoelectric conversion section and an actuator for driving the light shielding element are provided on the pixel of the image pickup device using the MEMS technology, and the amount of light shielding is controlled for each pixel, whereby the dynamic range is expanded, and shutter and aperture functions are also provided.