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. 02, 2006
Filed:
Apr. 03, 2002
Willem Johannes Kindt, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Bumha Lee, Mountain View, CA (US);
Willem Johannes Kindt, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Bumha Lee, Mountain View, CA (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
An automatic exposure system is arranged to dynamically adjust the exposure time of a pixel array in an imaging system. A selected group of pixels from the pixel array are evaluated using a non-destructive readout procedure to determine the proper exposure time for the pixel array, while the pixel array is exposed to light that is reflected from a scene. Threshold detectors are employed to compare the signals from the selected group of pixels to a peak level that corresponds to a threshold limit for the pixels. The exposure of the pixel array is terminated when at least one pixel from the selected group of pixels exceeds the threshold limit. The threshold limit may be set to a level that is below total saturation for the pixels such that an overexposure margin is provided. Enhanced image contrast is achieved using automatic exposure time adjustment.