Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC

Kwangbo Cho

Dongsoo Kim

Jae Eun Lim

Sungkuk Hong

Electronic devices may have camera modules that include an image sensor and processing circuitry. An image sensor may include a pixel array having pixel rows and pixel columns. The image pixels in a pixel row may include long-integration pixels and short-integration pixels. Row control signal lines for each pixel row may include a row-select control line, a reset control line, and two transfer control lines or may include a row-select control line, two reset control lines, and a transfer control line. Row control circuitry may be used to operate the pixel array to capture a column-interleaved image with short-exposure pixel values and long-exposure pixel values interleaved in a column-based pattern. The column-interleaved image may be used to form an interpolated short-exposure image and an interpolated long-exposure image from which a column-based interleaved high-dynamic-range image is generated.

Column-based high dynamic range imaging systems

Electronic devices may include time-of-flight image pixels. A time-of-flight image pixel may include first and second charge storage regions coupled to a photosensor and a transfer transistor with a gate terminal coupled to the first storage region. An electronic device may further include a light pulse emitter configured to emit pulses of light to be reflected by objects in a scene. Reflected portions of the emitted pulses of light may be captured along with background light by the time-of-flight image pixels. Time-of-flight image pixels may be configured sense the time-of-flight of the reflected portions of the emitted pulses. The electronic device may include processing circuitry configured to use the sensed time-of-flight of the reflected portions to generate depth images of a scene. Depth images may include depth-image pixel values that contain information corresponding to the distance of the objects in the scene from the electronic device.

Time-of-flight imaging systems

Imaging systems may include camera modules that include an array of image sensors. An image sensor may include multiple image pixel arrays arranged in rows and columns, multiple control circuits for operating the image pixels of that image sensor, and shared readout circuitry for reading out the image pixels of the image pixel arrays of that image sensor. Each control circuit may be operable to select rows of image pixels that extend across a row of image pixel arrays. Shared readout circuitry may include one or more line buffers configured to temporarily store image data captured by image pixels in the selected rows of image pixels. Shared readout circuitry may include selection circuitry configured to readout image data from groups of associated pixels located in separate image pixel arrays. An imaging system may include processing circuitry for processing the image data from each group of pixels.

Method and apparatus for array camera pixel readout

Apparatus and a method for correlated double sampling using an up-counter for parallel image sensors. All bits of a counter are set to one. An offset signal is compared to a first reference signal to define a first period during which the counter is incremented. After the first period, all bits of the counter are inverted. A sensor signal is compared to a second reference signal to define a second period during which the counter is incremented to generate a correlated double sampling value.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Kwangbo Cho