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:
Apr. 07, 2026
Filed:
Jul. 16, 2023
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Roger A Panicacci, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Ashirwad Bahukhandi, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Andrew Kenneth John Mcmahon, Redwood City, CA (US);
Abstract
An imaging device includes a pixel-circuit and a readout circuit. The pixel-circuit includes a photodetector. The readout circuit is configured to perform a series of iterations, each iteration including (i) accumulating an electrical charge in the photodetector during an integration time, (ii) transferring a portion of the electrical charge accumulated in the photodetector to a floating diffusion, the portion being less than all the electrical charge accumulated in the photodetector, and (iii) coupling a voltage of the floating diffusion to a storage capacitance, to subsequently, in a final iteration, transfer a remaining electrical charge from the photodetector, and to derive an output digital value, indicative of a total energy of the light incident on the photodetector over the series of iterations and the final iteration, from the voltage on the storage capacitance and from the remaining electrical charge transferred in the final iteration.