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:
Aug. 06, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 17, 1998
Masahiro Shoda, Gyoda, JP;
Shigeru Kato, Kawasaki, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The invention pertains to solid-state imaging devices and methods of operating the imaging devices for imaging objects having a wide dynamic range of illumination levels. The imaging device preferably comprises a two-dimensional array of photosensors, such as photodiodes, arranged in columns and even and odd rows. The photosensors accumulate signal charges corresponding to the incident light flux for an accumulation time. In one embodiment, the even and odd rows accumulate signal charges for different accumulation times. The signal charges from adjacent rows and the same column are preferably summed. In addition, the accumulation times for the even and odd rows preferably alternate between a first and a second accumulation time. Alternatively, alternate image fields acquire signal charge for alternating accumulation times. The longer accumulation time is set so that one or more of the photosensors saturates.