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:
May. 05, 2020
Filed:
May. 02, 2018
Applicant:
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Inventors:
Assignee:
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04N 5/378 (2011.01); H04N 5/335 (2011.01); H04N 5/361 (2011.01); H04N 5/365 (2011.01); H04N 5/357 (2011.01); H04N 5/3745 (2011.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H04N 5/378 (2013.01); H04N 5/335 (2013.01); H04N 5/3575 (2013.01); H04N 5/361 (2013.01); H04N 5/3655 (2013.01); H04N 5/3658 (2013.01); H04N 5/3745 (2013.01); H04N 5/37455 (2013.01);
Abstract
Disclosed herein is an image pickup circuit including: amplifying means for amplifying a charge corresponding to an amount of light received by a photodetector, and outputting a pixel signal; ramp signal generating means for generating a ramp signal whose voltage drops with a fixed slope from a predetermined initial voltage; and comparing means for comparing the pixel signal output by the amplifying means with the ramp signal output by the ramp signal generating means. A reference potential of the pixel signal output by the amplifying means and a reference potential of the ramp signal output by the ramp signal generating means are at a same level.