The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 13, 2018
Filed:
Aug. 29, 2014
Pixim, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Thomas R. Ayers, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
Frederick Thomas Brady, Webster, NY (US);
Jinsuk Kang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Sungin Hwang, Pittsford, NY (US);
Sen Yu, Mountain View, CA (US);
PIXIM, INC., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
An image sensor including an array of pixel elements is operated according to two operation modes to modulate the conversion gain of the pixel to operate the image sensor based on the impinging light conditions. More specifically, an image sensor pixel element is operated in a high conversion gain mode for low light conditions and in a low conversion gain mode for bright light conditions. The low conversion gain mode implements charge sharing between the floating diffusion and the photodiode. The low conversion gain mode further implements partial reset where the photodiode and the floating diffusion are reset to the same potential and to a potential slightly less than the pinning voltage of the photodiode.