Aptina Imaging Corporation

Rambus Inc.

Micron Technology Incorporated

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC

Other

Bae Systems Imaging Solutions Inc.

John W Ladd

Michael Guidash

Thomas Vogelsang

Craig M Smith

Jay Endsley

Gennadiy A Agranov

James Edward Harris

Xiangli Li

Michael T Ching

Frank Armstrong

Chen Hui Xu

Ulrich C Boettiger

Zhiping Yin

Xiaofeng Fan

Richard A Mauritzson

Richard Scott Johnson

Sergey Velichko

Scott Thomas Smith

Inna V Patrick

Dmitri Jerdev

Peter Parker Altice

Vladimir Korobov

Jeff A Mckee

Satyadev Hulikal Nagaraja

Alberto M Magnani

Joe Kinney

James E Crouch

An apparatus for forming a color image of a scene and a method for utilizing that apparatus are disclosed. The apparatus includes a plurality of pixel sensors. Each pixel sensor includes a first photodetector includes first main photodiode and a first floating diffusion node. The first main photodiode is characterized by a first light conversion efficiency as a function of wavelength of a light signal incident thereon. The first floating diffusion node includes a parasitic photodiode characterized by a second light conversion efficiency as a function of the wavelength. The second light conversion efficiency is different from the first light conversion efficiency as a function of wavelength. A controller generates an intensity of light in each of a plurality of wavelength bands for the pixel sensor utilizing a measurement of the light signal by each of the first main photodiode and the first parasitic photodiode in that photodetector.

Photodetector adapted to provide additional color information

A control pulse is generated a first control signal line coupled to a transfer gate of a pixel to enable photocharge accumulated within a photosensitive element of the pixel to be transferred to a floating diffusion node, the first control signal line having a capacitive coupling to the floating diffusion node. A feedthrough compensation pulse is generated on a second signal line of the pixel array that also has a capacitive coupling to the floating diffusion node. The feedthrough compensation pulse is generated with a pulse polarity opposite the pulse polarity of the control pulse and is timed to coincide with the control pulse such that capacitive feedthrough of the control pulse to the floating diffusion node is reduced.

Feedthrough-compensated image sensor

A pixel array within an integrated-circuit image sensor is exposed to light representative of a scene during a first frame interval and then oversampled a first number of times within the first frame interval to generate a corresponding first number of frames of image data from which a first output image may be constructed. One or more of the first number of frames of image data are evaluated to determine whether a range of luminances in the scene warrants adjustment of an oversampling factor from the first number to a second number, if so, the oversampling factor is adjusted such that the pixel array is oversampled the second number of times within a second frame interval to generate a corresponding second number of frames of image data from which a second output image may be constructed.

High dynamic-range image sensor

A sequence of control voltage levels are applied to a control signal line capacitively coupled to a floating diffusion node of a pixel to sequentially adjust a voltage level of the floating diffusion node. A pixel output signal representative of the voltage level of the floating diffusion node is compared with a reference voltage to identify a first control voltage level of the sequence of control voltage levels for which the voltage level of the floating diffusion node exceeds the reference voltage.

Low-noise, high dynamic-range image sensor

A pixel circuit within an integrated-circuit image sensor includes a photodiode having a pinning layer of a first conductivity type, a floating diffusion node and a transfer gate disposed between the photodiode and the floating diffusion node. A first control input is coupled to the transfer gate, and a second control input is coupled to the pinning layer of the photodiode to enable the depletion potential of the photodiode to be raised and lowered.

Image sensor with depletion-level pixel charge transfer control

Photocharge is accumulated within an image sensor pixel array during a first exposure interval. At conclusion of the first exposure interval, accumulated photocharge is discarded from a first subset of the pixels to emulate absence of incident light with respect to those pixels. After discarding accumulated photocharge from the first subset of the pixels, first and second readout signals are generated, the first readout signals corresponding to respective pixels not included in the first subset and indicative of photocharge accumulated therein, and the second readout signals corresponding to respective pixels included in the first subset.

Dark-emulation image sensor

A pixel within a pixel array of an integrated-circuit image sensor outputs an analog signal representative of accumulated photocharge. First and second analog-to-digital conversions of the analog signal are initiated while the pixel is outputting the analog signal, the first analog-to-digital conversion corresponding to a low-light range of photocharge accumulation within the pixel and the second analog-to-digital conversion corresponding to a brighter-light range of photocharge accumulation within the pixel.

Image sensor with multi-range readout

Systems, methods, for three-dimensional ('3D') and computer-readable media fluid scanning are provided. According to some embodiments, there is provided a method that may include adding a first predetermined amount of fluid into a container, measuring a first fluid height in the container after the adding the first predetermined amount of fluid, adding a second predetermined amount of fluid into the container when the first predetermined amount of fluid is in the container, measuring a second fluid height in the container after the adding the second predetermined amount of fluid, emptying the fluid from the container.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for three-dimensional fluid scanning

A dental instrument device includes a middle body with two ends, a pair of removable instrument tips, a pair of securing collets, and a pair of removable end caps. Each end of the middle body terminates in a middle body/instrument tip connection interface that receives a right-handed instrument tip only in a first orientation and a left-handed instrument tip only in a second orientation differing from the first orientation. The removable instrument tips have a similar middle body/instrument tip connection interface, and a working instrument end with a right-handed or a left-handed orientation. A right-handed instrument tip is releasably connected to the first middle body/instrument tip connection interface, and a left-handed instrument tip is releasably connected to the second middle body/instrument tip connection interface, with the right-handed and left-handed orientations being visually distinguishable one from the other by casual observation of an ordinary observer.

Dental instrument

An image sensor configured to readout an arbitrary number of rows in parallel is described, comprising a rolling global shutter pixel array which can be operated as a true global shutter. Shielding structures may be formed in the pixel array to minimize signal coupling between adjacent pixels when multiple rows are simultaneously reset and read out. A plurality of column select lines may be formed in a given pixel pitch, and the image sensor may utilize read out components and circuitry associated with conventional readout circuits to be used in simultaneously reading out a two-dimensional region of the image sensor. The image sensor may be configured to use charge binning between rows that are reset and read out in parallel to improve power consumption. The image sensor may include redundant output stages with routing circuitry that improves image sensor yield by compensating for yield loss in the output stage.

Image sensors with N-row parallel readout capability

An image sensor may have control circuitry and an array of pixels having corresponding photodiodes. The pixels may be arranged into groups. Photodiodes in each of the groups may share a common charge storage region. Each photodiode has an associated sensitivity provided by a corresponding color filter element. The control circuitry may perform multiple charge transfer operations to transfer charge accumulated in high sensitivity photodiodes in the group to the shared charge storage region, may readout image signals corresponding to the transferred charge, and may combine the image signals to generate final image signals for the photodiodes. The control circuitry may transfer charge accumulated in low sensitivity photodiodes in the group to the shared charge storage region after the image signals generated by the high sensitivity photodiodes have been read out, thereby increasing the maximum signal to noise ratio of the low sensitivity photodiodes without causing charge blooming.

Systems and methods for operating image sensor pixels having different sensitivities and shared charge storage regions

An integrated-circuit image sensor generates, as constituent reference voltages of a first voltage ramp, a first sequence of linearly related reference voltages followed by a second sequence of exponentially related reference voltages. The integrated-circuit image sensor compares the constituent reference voltages of the first voltage ramp with a first signal level representative of photocharge integrated within a pixel of the image sensor to identify a first reference voltage of the constituent reference voltages that is exceeded by the first signal level.

An imaging system may include an image sensor having an array of image pixels. Each image pixel may include an electronic shutter for controlling when a photosensor in the image pixel accumulates charge. The electronic shutter may be operable in an open state during which charge is allowed to accumulate on the photosensor and a closed state during which charge is drained from the photosensor. The electronic shutter may be cycled through multiple open and closed states during an image frame capture. At the end of each open state, the charge that has been acquired on the photosensor may be transferred from the photosensor to a pixel memory element. By breaking up the total exposure time for a pixel during an image frame into shorter, non-continuous periods of exposure time, dynamic scenery image artifacts may be minimized while maintaining the desired total exposure time.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

John W Ladd