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:
Dec. 02, 2008
Filed:
Jan. 09, 2004
Mark A. Anderson, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Robert Elsheimer, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Mark A. Anderson, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Robert Elsheimer, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Aptina Imaging Corporation, Grand Cayman, KY;
Abstract
An imaging apparatus including a photo sensor array having an array of sensors is disclosed, each sensor having an active area and a support hardware area adjoining the active area. In the prior art, the support hardware area of each sensor adjoins the active area of the sensor in the same direction. In the present invention, a sensor array has an array of sensors where, for each sensor, the support hardware area adjoins the active area of the sensor in a direction that is radially away from center of the sensor array whereby at least one freed area is defined within the sensor array. One or more reference detectors can be fabricated in the freed areas. This design allows the imaging apparatus to gather better image statistics, overcome shortcomings of the prior art design, or both.