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:
Feb. 17, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 04, 1999
Gerald A. May, Saratoga, CA (US);
Harry T. Garland, Los Altos, CA (US);
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A self-diagnosing image sensor ( ) detects and stores maps of functioning and malfunctioning pixels ( ) in a memory ( ) directly coupled to the sensor ( ). The memory ( ) is coupled to an external monitoring computer ( ) which retrieves the pixel map and adjusts the sensor data received from the image sensor ( ) in accordance with the retrieved pixel map. A defect discriminator ( ) is coupled directly to the image sensor ( ) and to the memory ( ) for detecting whether a pixel ( ) malfunctions, and updates the map accordingly. Additionally, if the number of malfunctioning pixels ( ) in the sensor ( ) exceeds a predefined threshold, an alert message is available to the external monitoring computer or display ( ) to warn the user that the sensor ( ) may be generating inaccurate information. An on-plate pixel processor ( ) performs any necessary interpolation of the date responsive to the pixel map, and a complete image is sent to the remote display ( ), without requiring any further processing.